Nicki Minaj 's husband,Kenneth Petty , pled guilty to attempted rape in 1994.- His victim is now suing the couple for harassing and intimidating her to recant the allegations.
- The woman says Minaj offered her $500,000 to recant her story.
Rap superstar Nicki Minaj and her husband, Kenneth Petty, are being sued for harassment by a woman he sexually assaulted in 1994, with the victim claiming the couple tried to make her recant her accusations.
Petty served four-and-a-half years after pleading guilty to attempted rape of the woman, then 16 years old.
The victim, now 43, has filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York alleging that the couple harassed and intimidated her to try to make her revoke her story.
According to TMZ, the lawsuit alleges that the victim and her family members starting receiving communications from intermediaries for the couple after Petty was arrested last year for failing to register as a sex offender in California.
The woman and her family were offered money if she would recant the allegations. At one point, $20,000, then $500,000, were suggested, according to the lawsuit. Minaj also proposed to send a 16th birthday video to the victim's daughter "as a bonus."
Court papers state that Minaj called the victim last year and invited her and her family to Los Angeles and "help her out."
The rapper also offered to have her publicist draft a statement to take back her story.
The victim said she rejected all of these inducements. Subsequently, she and her family members received an "onslaught of harassing calls and unsolicited visits" from people she believed to be associated with the couple.
The lawsuit states that the victim told Minaj, "I need you to know woman to woman, that this happened."
In court papers, the woman said she is "living in isolation out of fear of retaliation" and has not worked since May of 2020 due to "severe depression, paranoia, constant moving, harassment and threats from the defendants and their associates."
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages. Insider reached out to Minaj's legal team and is awaiting a response.
In court papers, the woman claims she was raped by Petty at knifepoint in 1994 while going to school.
The victim said she knew Petty from the neighborhood and he led her to a house around the corner where he assaulted her.
The victim claimed she faced harassment and retaliation as the case was prosecuted, according to The New York Times.
Nicki Minaj has been in a relationship with Kenneth Petty since 2018, and the two share an 11-month-old son.