Soulja Boy. Maury Phillips/Getty Images for BET
A jury in Santa Monica, California, found Soulja Boy liable for sexual assault, abuse, and other damages, ordering the rapper born Deandre Way to pay $4 million in compensatory damages to his accuser. The plaintiff, a former assistant of Way’s referred to as Jane Doe, filed her $75 million lawsuit in January 2021 accusing the rapper of periodic rapes, beatings, and withholding of wages.
Doe’s attorneys Ron Zambrano and Neama Rahmani celebrated the ruling in a statement emailed to press. “We’re happy our client was vindicated and the jury believed her claims of physical and sexual assault,” Zambrano wrote. “We’re looking forward to moving on to the punitive damages phase of the case.”
In her lawsuit, Doe said she began working for Way as an assistant in 2018. Not long after, the pair began a romantic relationship and the alleged abuse started. Doe claims that across nearly four years she was repeatedly raped, attacked, tormented, and falsely imprisoned by Way, and at one point allegedly locked in a room for two days without food, water, or a mattress.
Way denied the allegations and took the stand on April 1 at the trial, calling the accusations “disgusting.” Doe’s attorneys presented evidence that included violent text messages from Way (“Die bitch. Shoulda killed your stupid ass,” read one alleged text) and photographs of Doe’s bruising. Way’s attorney Rickey Ivie said Doe brought the case because “she wanted to be paid,” Variety reported.
In February 2019, a woman named Kayla Myers filed a separate suit against Way accusing him of kidnapping her and holding a gun to her head; a jury ordered him to pay $235,900 in 2023. In 2021, Way was accused of sexual battery and assault resulting in a miscarriage by a third woman.
