Jermaine Jackson sued over alleged 1988 sexual assault

nme.com:

Jermaine Jackson is being sued for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman in 1988.The lawsuit for sexual battery, battery, sexual assault and negligence was filed by Rita Butler Barrett on Wednesday (December 27) at Los Angeles County Superior Court.

Jackson’s company Jermaine L. Jackson Music Productions, Inc. and Work Records, Inc. are also named in the suit.Barrett describes herself in the suit as “a survivor of sexual abuse, sexual battery, sexual assault, harassment and rape at the hands of” the former Jackson Five singer.She claims she met Jackson when she worked as a musician’s contractor and that they had mutual “close personal/familial connections,” including Motown Records founder Berry Gordy, who was purportedly “simultaneously in a personal and business relationship” with Barrett’s husband.Barrett alleges that Jackson “forced himself” unannounced into her home in or around spring 1988 and proceeded to sexually assault her “with force and violence”.

She claims that she “prayed to God for help” as she “feared for her life.”She also claimed that she told Gordy about the alleged assault, and he allegedly “withheld and concealed the acts, further perpetuating the cover-up”.