A lawyer representing 11 people has approached law enforcement authorities in California and Georgia seeking criminal inquiries into rapper T.I. and his wife Tameka ‘Tiny’ Harris for alleged abuses that include drugging and sexual assault, according to a report in the New York Times. This follows accusations made on social media in January.
The lawyer, Tyrone A. Blackburn, said that the “eerily similar” events took place between 2005 and 2017, and involved either T.I., Tiny, or members of their entourage. He has sent letters to the California and Georgia attorneys general, as well as state and federal prosecutors, asking them to “to tackle and end the stream of depravity being committed.” This includes four allegations of rape or sexual abuse, as well as “forced ingestion of illegal narcotics, kidnapping, terroristic threats, and false imprisonment.”
A lawyer representing the couple said that they “deny in the strongest possible terms these baseless and unjustified allegations.”
Most of the 11 people have chosen to remain anonymous for now because they are “in fear for their lives and safety,” Blackburn wrote. But he added that, “My clients and their witnesses are prepared to speak with investigators and prosecutors from your office.”
Five of the accusers have spoken with the Times, and three of them have provided photos or messages that corroborated their timeline of events. One woman, a veteran of the US Air Force, said she met T.I. and Tiny at a club in 2005. She claims that despite only ordering one drink, an amaretto sour, both she and a friend soon found themselves woozy and vomiting. After the veteran became incapacitated, she said she was taken to the couple’s room and raped. According to the letter, T.I. “attempted to put his foot into her vagina,” at which time she told him no. “The next thing she remembers was waking up naked on the couch, with a towel thrown over her, with a very sore vagina.”
Her friend, who never made it up to the hotel room and spent several hours in the bathroom, corroborated her story, confirming that she believed they both had been drugged. She recalled a conversation they had the next morning, driving home and listening with horror to the details of the veteran’s ordeal.
Blackburn’s letters also include the testimony of an Atlanta-based woman who befriended Tiny when they were both teenagers. She went on to work for the couple. “On several occasions T.I. forced her to take multiple ecstasy pills,” the letters said, and “the duo forced her to engage in sexual acts with different women against her will.” Blackburn wrote, “She has personally witnessed women complaining of being kidnapped and held against their will for days at a time.”
T.I. and Tiny’s lawyer, Steve Sadow, said in a statement, “We fully expect 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 and now attempts to manipulate the press and misuse the justice system.”
Sadow is referencing the couple’s former friend Sabrina Peterson, who in January wrote an Instagram post accusing T.I. of once holding a gun to her head. Peterson said in the aftermath of that post, dozens of women reached out to her with similar stories of abusive or exploitative behavior. According to Blackburn, none of the 11 people he is representing were among those whose stories Peterson shared on social media.
