Source: Paras Griffin / Getty
The allegations against T.I. and Tiny may have started off as online hearsay, but after more accusers have come forward telling their own story with the couple, it could potentially be crossing over into criminal court real soon.
According to published reports, the attorney representing several of the accusers is asking two states to investigate rapper Clifford “T.I.” Harris and his wife, singer Tameka “Tiny” Harris, in the wake of sexual assault and abuse and other allegations the couple have denied.
On Monday (Mar 1) New York-based T.A. Blackburn Law issued a press release revealing that more than 30 women have contacted him and have accused the couple and their associates of “forced drugging, kidnapping, rape, and intimidation” in at least two states including California and Georgia. Attorney Tyrone A. Blackburn has sent letters, as viewed by SPIN, to the state attorneys general of California and Georgia asking them to open an investigation.
“These criminal allegations span over fifteen years of methodical, sadistic abuse against women in various venues throughout the country,” the release states. “These individual claims paint eerily consistent allegations of women prior to or upon immediately entering T&T’s home, hotel, or tour bus were coerced by Tiny to ingest drugs or unknowingly administered drugs to impair the victims’ ability to consent to subsequent vile sexual acts.”
Blackburn also detailed some of those allegations in a news conference Monday, adding that the majority of the incidents, which took place in Atlanta date back to 2007, happened in Atlanta before giving a glimpse into the allegations by women who claim anonymously that they had been drugged and raped by the couple and one woman who said a security guard kidnapped her at gunpoint, drove her into the woods and raped her.
In a letter dated February 16, 2020, to Attorney General Xavier Bacerra, obtained by Essence, Blackburn outlined descriptions of what allegedly happened to some of the women, who claim the rapper and his wife sexually abused them, forced them to ingest illegal narcotics, and made terroristic threats against them.
In the letter, the attorney states that one of his clients, referred to as Jane Doe 1, claims she was raped by Tiny and T.I. when she was 17 years old and a virgin. Jane Doe 1 says she was interning with the couple at their Atlanta studio when Tiny offered her a drink. According to her statement, it was the teen’s first-time drinking. At some point, Tiny allegedly instructed the teen to undress. Blackburn said Jane Doe 1 claims she passed out “and woke up the following morning naked on a bed with the other high school intern and another young girl. She was bleeding from her vagina. She felt that she was [menstruating], but then realized that her virginity was taken.” Jane Doe 1 said an employee working for the couple drove her to get a morning-after pill and threatened her to keep her mouth shut or something terrible would happen to her and her family.
To date, 11 women have allegedly approached Blackburn with accusations that the rapper and his wife are guilty of sexual assault. Blackburn said he is currently vetting two other women who say they were also victims of abuse at the hands of T.I. and Tiny.
Meanwhile, five women told The New York Times in detail their encounter with T.I. and Tiny noting that they were drugged or sexually assaulted by the couple or others “in their orbit.”
An attorney for the couple, Steve Sadow, provided a statement to local TV news station WSBTV, saying:
“Clifford (T.I.) and Tameka Harris deny in the strongest possible terms these unsubstantiated and baseless allegations. We are confident that if these claims are thoroughly and fairly investigated, no charges will be forthcoming. These allegations are nothing more than the continuation of a sordid shakedown campaign that began on social media. The Harrises implore everyone not to be taken in by these obvious attempts to manipulate the press and misuse the justice system.”
Despite the couple’s denial of the sexual abuse claims, Blackburn encouraged others to speak up about sexual encounters they may have had with the Atlanta-based superstars. “If any woman or any man who is out there and is going through things, you have a story, come forward,” Blackburn said. “The truth is what needs to be heard.”
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