Source: Al Pereira / Getty
The case against Hip-Hop pioneer Afrika Bambaataa alleging that he sexually abused someone is at a critical point, as the victim in the case has filed a request for a default judgment.
According to reports, the “John Doe” in the lawsuit against Bambaataa filed a formal request for a default judgment with the Bronx Supreme Court last Monday (April 11th). Hugo G. Ortega, the plaintiff’s lawyer made the request on the grounds that the Bronx native “failed to appear in this matter or to answer the plaintiff’s complaint, and the time-limited by law for him to do so has expired.” Reportedly, Bambaataa has not been able to be found since last year, which allowed the civil suit to go forward as requested by “John Doe” and his legal team utilizing the New York Child Victim’s Act allowing victims a one-time window to file civil lawsuits seeking compensation for the sexual abuse inflicted upon them as children. The deadline, according to the documents on file would be next month.
Bambaataa’s lawyer, Vivian K. Tozaki, issued a statement on his behalf denying the accusations: “Recently, defamatory statements were published seeking to harm my client’s reputation so as to lower him in the estimation of the community while deterring others from associating or dealing with him. The statements show a reckless disregard for the truth, were published with knowledge of their falsity, and are being made by a lesser-known person seeking publicity. Valuable cultural resources, such as Afrika Bambaataa’s good name and time, should never be used to assist a mediocre person’s asinine quest for social media popularity and superficial gain.”
The victim’s lawsuit alleges that “from 1991, when the Plaintiff was merely 12 years old, to 1995, the Plaintiff was repeatedly sexually abused and sex trafficked at the hands of” Bambaataa. The Zulu Nation, Universal Zulu Nation, and XYZ Corp have also been named in the lawsuit as the plaintiff’s allegations claim that a bulk of the abuse took place at the headquarters of the Universal Zulu Nation in the Bronx at the time. This is not the first allegation of sexual abuse to be directed towards Bambaataa, as Ronald Savage made similar charges back in 2016 claiming that he was forced to perform oral sex on another Zulu Nation member while he was fifteen in addition to being abused by the DJ. The Universal Zulu Nation previously made a statement that removed Bambaataa as their leader in the wake of the allegations.
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