Justin Bieber sues women accusing him of sexual assault

Los Angeles, June 26 (IANS): Singer Justin Bieber has filed a $20-million defamation lawsuit against two women who have accused him of sexual assault.

After refuting all the allegations, Bieber is seeking legal recourse against two anonymous women who accused him on social media of sexual assault, reports people.com.

The singer, 26, has filed suit against accounts belonging to Danielle and Kadi who each alleged they were victims, in 2014 and 2015, respectively. He is seeking $20 million in damages, and $10 million for each story.

In the filing of the defamation lawsuit, Bieber’s lawyers say the accusations against him are “factually impossible, and disproven both by indisputable documentary evidence and the individuals’ own admissions”.

“Danielle claimed she was sexually assaulted at the Four Seasons Hotel on March 9, 2014, however, Bieber did not stay at that hotel in March 2014 and there are multiple witnesses and documentary evidence to dispute Danielle’s malicious lie,” read the lawsuit, filed on Thursday.

The lawsuit goes on to call Kadi’s accusation “likewise factually impossible, are contradicted by her own prior written statements, are supported only by falsified or faked texts”.

“Danielle fabricated her sexual encounter with Bieber at the Four Seasons Hotel because it was publicly reported that Bieber had dinner at the Four Seasons Restaurant on March 10, 2014 and presumed that Bieber was at the hotel because of the public reports of him dining at the restaurant. However, even though Bieber went to the restaurant, he did NOT stay at the Four Seasons Hotel,” it added.

According to the suit, Bieber and his then-girlfriend Selena Gomez both attended his surprise performance at SXSW that night. He was even photographed leaving the venue with Gomez. They then went to a rental property they were staying at “along with several friends”.

Before the filing, Bieber had produced screenshots of emails and hotel receipts to refute a sexual assault claim posted last week by a Twitter user under then name Danielle, whose tweet and account were later removed from Twitter.

“I don’t normally address things as I have dealt with random accusations my entire career but after talking with my wife (Hailey Baldwin) and team I have decided to speak up on an issue tonight,” Bieber, 26, wrote in a series of tweets on Sunday.

He added: “Rumours are rumours but sexual abuse is something I don’t take lightly. I wanted to speak out right away but out of respect to so many victims who deal with these issues daily I wanted to make sure I gathered the facts before I made any statement. Every claim of sexual abuse should be taken very seriously and this is why my response was needed. However this story is factually impossible and that is why I will be working with twitter and authorities to take legal action.”