Soulja Boy has been found liable in a civil lawsuit filed by his former personal assistant, which alleges rape, assault and kidnapping.
On Thursday (April 10), a California jury ruled in favor of awarding the Jane Doe plaintiff over $4,000,000 in compensatory damages—triggering the trial to advance to the stage where punitive damages will be assessed.
Ron Zambrano, who served as the plantiff’s lawyer and works as a partner and Employment Litigation Chair at West Coast Employment Lawyers told AllHipHop they were “happy” for their client and eager to move into the next phase of the trial. Prior to the latest ruling on compensatory damages, Zambrano suggested over $73,000,000 in damages.
“We’re happy our client was vindicated and the jury believed her claims of physical and sexual assault,” Ron Zambrano said. “We’re looking forward to moving on to the punitive damages phase of the case.”
Good morning from Santa Monica, where a jury verdict will be read in @SouljaBoy’s civil sexual battery trial.
— Meghann Cuniff (@meghanncuniff) April 10, 2025
Jury questions yesterday indicated they’d found liability and were deciding damages. We’ll find out how much soon.
The woman’s lawyers suggested $73.5 million. pic.twitter.com/g8suvBXpoM
In another statement, Neama Rahmani, who also represented the plantiff and serves as president of West Coast Employment Lawyers suggested this case is just the beginning of Soulja Boy’s legal woe’s.
“Today’s verdict is just the beginning of justice for Soulja Boy’s victims, and other victims in the music industry,” Rahmani added . “We look forward to presenting Nia Riley’s case to a jury, and for trying the Lizzo cases before this same judge.”
The original complaint against Soulja Boy, whose real name is Deandre Cortez Way, was filed in 2021 by the Jane Doe victim, who alleged the “Crank That” rapper engaged in a pattern of abuse after hiring her as a personal assistant in December 2018.
The bulk of her lawsuit centered around claims of repeated sexual assaults and physical abuse during her employment as Soulja Boy’s personal assistant between the years of 2019 and 2020. She claims she was raped multiple times, including during the 2019 police raid and again in October 2020 when she returned to collect her belongings.
The plaintiff also accuses the rapper of locking her in a room for three days without food or water after she attempted to quit in 2019.
However, during the trial earlier this month, Soulja Boy denied their contact was anything but consensual while testifying about a specific incident.
“I asked her if she wanted to have sex, and she was engaged in it,” Soulja Boy testified. “She didn’t push me away or say stop, nothing like that.”