by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
SDNY COURTHOUSE, Feb 12 – Russell Simmons doubled down on Veterans Day on his bid to get a Jane Doe sexual assault case against him dismissed for lack of jurisdiction.
The plaintiff, proceeding under a pseudonym as is now being contested by Sean Combs in the many civil cases filed against him, alleged rape in Simmons' Manhattan in the 1990s.
Saying he has moved to Indonesia to retire, Simmons' lawyers argues that at the time of filing, Simmons was not domiciled in New York, and therefore the Court lacks jurisdiction over the matter.
Simmons cites another case in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York that Inner City Press has covered (and written a book about), Rapp v. Fowler / Kevin Spacey where Judge Lewis A. Kaplan found that Spacey's comments that "he considered London to be his home" did not undermine competent proof of his domicile in Maryland.
On February 12, 2025 Judge Koeltl ruled: "the defendant contends that he is a stateless American citizen, domiciled in Indonesia. For the following reasons, the motion for judgment on the pleadings is granted" - without prejudice.
The case is Doe v. Simmons, 1:24-cv-1043 (Koeltl)
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