Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Beyonce and Rihanna's Producer Accused of Rape in Shocking Lawsuit

Starting point is 00:00:00 Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this law and crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. A music producer known for his work writing hits for Beyonce, Justin Bieber, and many others is sued by a singer claiming he physically and sexually assaulted her. I have the allegations from the lawsuit filed against The Dream and what he's saying about it. Thanks for joining me for Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. This lawsuit filed against The Dream by singer Shawnee Monroe is like many others I've told you about recently. It's graphic and it contains a lot of detail and allegations of physical and

Starting point is 00:00:41 sexual violence against The Dream. And I want to be clear, these are allegations at this point. The claims have not been proven by singer Shanaz Mangro, who's known professionally as Shawnee Monroe. Dream is a famous singer, songwriter, and producer. He's written big hits for a number of famous artists, including Justin Bieber, Mariah Carey, Kanye West, Rihanna, and of course Beyonce. He wrote all the single ladies for Beyonce and her most recent, Cowboy Carter. Dream has been nominated for 21 Grammys, and he's won eight. He's kind of a big deal in the music industry. And that is how Shawnee Monroe claims she came to know him. Her lawsuit has the same trigger warning on it that others have had. It's right there on the first page. And get this, the lawyer who represents singer Cassie,

Starting point is 00:01:31 the same Cassie who sued Sean Diddy Combs and the suit was settled the next day, is representing Shawnee Monroe. So let's go through the lawsuit. The suit starts with a preliminary statement. It basically has a summary of the allegations, and then it gets into some claims against the Dream and his record label Contra Paris and Epic Records. The suit states, his depraved behavior was facilitated by his record label Contra Paris LLC, as well as by Epic Records. The label Dream convinced to invest in Miss Mangrove, despite the fact that he never intended to truly support her career trajectory, but instead wanted corporate funding to assist in

Starting point is 00:02:12 his trafficking venture. The suit says Dream told her that he would make her the next Beyonce and Rihanna. The suit continues, under the guise of pursuing a legitimate recording and publishing contract with Ms. Mangrove, Dream lured the young and vulnerable artist into an abusive, violent, and manipulative relationship filled with physical assaults, violent sexual encounters, and horrific psychological manipulation. Monroe's suit claims that Dream told her he would write songs for her and that she'd be the next Rihanna or Beyonce, as I said earlier, but the suit claims, in reality, Dream used Miss Mangrove for his base desires, which manifested in violent sexual acts and vicious psychological torture. For example, Dream locked Miss Mangrove in a dark room adjacent to a recording studio, violently having sex with her and then leaving her alone naked in the dark for hours on end, returning again to have sex with her and demand that she tell him she loved him.

Starting point is 00:03:11 Monroe says the dream promised her she'd open for Beyonce's upcoming tour and that he forced her to diet and exercise excessively to get prepared for it, but of course that never happened. According to the suit, this all started back in 2014. Monroe was just 23 years old and working here in the United States on an international visa from the Netherlands. She was hoping to get her big break as a singer and songwriter. One day, Monroe claims she got a message on Instagram from a member of the Dream's security team asking that she send some of her work to share with dreams manager in january 2015 monroe says dream and his team flew her to atlanta the suit claims monroe

Starting point is 00:03:51 recorded some tracks in his studio for a song quote during the recording session ms mangrove recorded a verse for the song transparent which was supposed to be part of dream's forthcoming two-part ep crown jewel While the official release of Crown Jewel was delayed, the song eventually leaked online. Dream failed to give any credit or compensation to Ms. Mangrove for her vocals. Then she claims she was taken to a basketball game and a strip club, where she was given large stacks of cash to throw at the strippers. Then one of the dancers, she claims, came over to her and laid on top of her, which she said made her uncomfortable. The next day, Monroe's suit says the Dream texted her,

Starting point is 00:04:32 which signaled to her that she had passed his test. At the end of the trip, Monroe says Dream told her he wanted to sign her to his label, which made her feel like all of her hard work had finally paid off. The suit claims that Dream used his success with Beyonce and Rihanna to manipulate her. It says he said Ms. Mangro needed to, quote, belong to him so they could become the next Bey and Jay, in reference to Beyonce and Jay-Z. Quote, Dream knew how much Ms. Mangro loved and admired Beyonce as an artist. He regularly used Ms. Mangro's admiration for Beyoncé as a way to manipulate Ms. Mangro, telling her that the only reason he achieved such great success with Beyoncé is because they created a sanctuary together, which allowed him to know

Starting point is 00:05:17 Beyoncé in a way that others could not, and consequently, he could write the best songs for her. The suit continues, claiming, Dream explained that a sanctuary was even stronger than a spousal connection because it was about art. Being part of a sanctuary with Dream meant that Ms. Mangro was required to disclose all of her secrets and thoughts and become trust partners with him. He said that his relationship with Beyoncé was so close that he knew about Bey Beyonce's pregnancy before her husband, Jay-Z. If that's true, I wonder if Jay-Z knows that. The suit continues, claiming emotional manipulation and coercion by Dream.

Starting point is 00:05:57 It includes texts where she said Dream asked her for personal embarrassing information. I'm going to be your better half if this goes where I think it's going. The suit then says Monroe asked for more information about what it meant to be part of his sanctuary. She claims he responded evasively in a text message, quote, I let you know after we win 10 Grammys together. Right now, you just have to be free and let me undress you emotionally. Now, some of what I just mentioned is alleged to have happened after the Atlanta trip when Monroe says she flew to California to record with The Dream. Monroe claims she was expecting to get a recording contract. And this is when she said The Dream forced himself on her sexually in a room at a recording studio. In the lawsuit, there are some

Starting point is 00:06:42 sexually explicit text messages, and they're a little too explicit to talk about here. I'm just not going to say what they say. The suit says, in between sending those text messages, Dream texted Ms. Mangrove about the recording deals he was working on for her, including, we will have major distribution in about 30 days, so you better be ready. Dream frequently used this type of manipulation where he intertwined business promises with violent sex, and this is all according to the lawsuit, of course. After this, Monroe claims the Dream convinced her to move from the Netherlands to Atlanta. While she was in Amsterdam packing to move, the suit says,

Starting point is 00:07:20 On February 19, 2015, Dream texted Ms. Mangrove, You belong to me now. I'm your mother and father and everything. Once in Atlanta, Monroe claimed she was kept in a residence inn and basically isolated, with the Dream coming to her room whenever he wanted to. She claimed she had to beg to go to the recording studio. When she asked the Dream if she could go to the studio, he would chastise her and call her a brat. He would tell her that she had to stop thinking about only herself, that he was an important producer who was working with a lot of important people, and that he did not have time for

Starting point is 00:07:54 her, quote, nagging about getting into the studio. The suit continues. It was not at all what Ms. Mangrove expected after being in the studio nonstop during her first visit to Atlanta and Los Angeles. Everything felt different once she committed to living in Atlanta and was under Dream's complete control. In May 2015, Monroe described sexual assaults she claimed she endured at the hands of the Dream. In one instance, she said she was taken to a movie theater where another man was present and forced to have sex in front of him. In another, Monroe described an assault in a van. Once in the van, Dream locked the doors and pushed Ms. Mangrove into the dark back area of the van. He pinned her on the mattress

Starting point is 00:08:35 in the van, took off her clothes, and started forcibly having sex with her. Monroe says that the Dream choked her, telling her, you're mine. At times, her mouth and nose were covered and she couldn't breathe. After this, Monroe said she signed a record deal with Contraparis and Epic Records. She says she got $35,000 as an advance for all of the work she had done for the prior five months, while the dream and one of his friends got $150,000 each. I want to take a short break from telling you about this lawsuit filed against the dream to tell you about something that can help you learn more about the people in your life. It's a great website and it's called truthfinder.com. Truthfinder is one of the world's

Starting point is 00:09:17 largest public record search services. Truthfinder has just one goal and that is to help you and me learn the truth about the people we meet each day. Here's how it works. Just log on to truthfinder.com and put in a name. Within minutes, maybe even seconds, you will get reports that include phone numbers, addresses, friends, family, criminal records, and much more. It will also show you sex offender statuses for the people who live in your neighborhood. The cases that I cover make it clear you have to do everything you can to keep you and your loved ones safe.

Starting point is 00:09:50 So right now, Crime Fix viewers and listeners can get 50% off of confidential background reports. Just log on to truthfinder.com slash lccrimefix and start accessing information about almost anyone. Again, that website truthfinder.com slash LC crime fix. And according to the lawsuit, things only got worse from there. I want to bring in litigator Robin Nunn. She's been coming through this lawsuit with me. Robin, Shani Monroe puts together this lawsuit full of these really awful allegations that she was basically groomed for sex. She was promised fame and

Starting point is 00:10:26 fortune, stardom, and then she ends up with absolutely nothing. Yeah, it was definitely a compelling complaint that I read. She provides a lot of details on the sexual battery, the sexual assault, and obviously the trafficking aspect of it. She was a resident of the Netherlands when the dream allegedly first reached out to her, and she moved to the U.S. in order to pursue this musical dream that seemed to turn into what many would consider to be a nightmare. Her allegations certainly do sound like a nightmare and at these this point they are simply allegations what i found interesting about this and maybe she just reached out to douglas wigder but douglas wigdor and his firm they're the same lawyers who represent who represent cassie

Starting point is 00:11:18 um represented her in her lawsuit against sean combs are currently representing her as she cooperates with the feds. What does that signal to you that Douglas Wigdor took this complaint or took her on as a client? Does that give this complaint any more weight? Yeah, I think that it is an interesting fact that she is using the same lawyers that a number of other individuals who are suing some high-profile celebrities have also used. Douglas Wigdor and the Wigdor Law Firm is a well-known law firm that typically brings these types of suits. So it's not unusual for them to have a client in this space. That being said, they do have their pick of clients. So it does signal to me that there must be some evidence of what she has alleged in this complaint. But it also indicates to me that she did her homework and is aware of perhaps some of the other claims that are out

Starting point is 00:12:21 there right now and has figured out which lawyers they are using. Now, I've been referring to her just by her professional name. Obviously, she has her legal name. But Shawnee Monroe, she claims that she got involved with the dream. She had this desire to be the next Beyonce. And he told her he could make that happen for her, according to everything she's saying, she finally gets a record deal. She gets a $35,000 advance, which sounds absurd to me, when the dream and one of his cohorts got $150,000 each. She says she's taken back to Atlanta. She's in the studio ever so often. She's having to buy the crew champagne and cupcakes. And she has to do all these lavish things where she has no budget to do this. She films a music video. She thinks everything's going to go okay. She's working with Epic Records

Starting point is 00:13:18 and L.A. Reid, who's a big, big deal. He's a big wig in the music industry. She thinks she finally gets away from the dream and she's working with other people. And then she finds out they've dropped her. Like he was holding, according to her, holding her music hostage. He was not turning her music over to Epic, according to her lawsuit. So she's left with nothing. And then she just has to go home empty-handed. These are some really serious, serious allegations. And if true, it makes you wonder, how often does this happen in the music industry? Yeah, that's how I walked away from the complaint. I was really shocked at how she compared some of her treatment and getting into the industry to what some of the great musical artists that we all know, like Beyonce and Rihanna,

Starting point is 00:14:14 potentially also had to experience in order to make it. If you read the allegations as being true, this is a pattern and practice in this industry, which is pretty disturbing. Post Me Too movement, one would like to think that stories like this are very isolated and far and few, but it really seems like a lot of people had to be involved and know about this individual who was obviously trying to get noticed and was really thwarted by a lot of the male figures that controlled who was actually played and what is vehemently denied all of this. But considering her plight and where things are and the fact that she's brought this complaint, it'll be interesting to see how the facts play out here. I want to put a statement up on the screen right now because you just mentioned that the Dream has vehemently denied these allegations. And, you know, I've reached out to him and his team,

Starting point is 00:15:25 but they released a statement. I haven't heard back yet, but they released a statement to the New York Times and it says, these claims are untrue and defamatory. I oppose all forms of harassment and have always strived to help people realize their career goals. As someone committed to making a positive impact on my fellow artists in the world at large, I am deeply offended and saddened by these accusations. He's saying they're accusations. He's saying it's defamatory, meaning it's all lies. Everything in here is lies. But they do include some text messages, actual bodies of text messages, Robin, that say some things. There are some things that are quoted as text messages that are very um

Starting point is 00:16:07 sexually explicit for lack of a better term um very vulgar so he's saying they're defamatory in their lives but he's not addressing her specifically he is but he's not he's not saying yeah i tried to help her out or whatever he's's just got this statement. I'm sure a lawyer vetted this. What's your response to his statement? Yeah, I think a lot of artists we've recently seen have taken this approach of doing a public, flat out, complete denial of the claims being waged against them. I think the concern comes up is when you take a look at the complaint and the facts and the evidence that are presented with it, and it seems to indicate that this person did know the dream and have some intimate interactions with him. And then the question becomes this flat-out denial, this defamatory nature of her statements, you know, how does that play up against what we see as pictures and text messages and other proof that they indeed were interacting in some way, shape, or form?

Starting point is 00:17:18 And trying to make sense of how there could be, you know, such different stories about a relationship, you know, shared between two people. It's tough. She also describes things about sex, you know, interspersed in business text messages. So there, she claims in all of this talk about business, there was always sex tied to it. And she, she claims she was raped. I mean, she's claiming too against all of the defendants, The Dream, Epic Records, and his record company, the Contra Paris record company, that they're all guilty or that she's saying that they were involved in sex

Starting point is 00:18:00 trafficking. And I find that interesting because as you mentioned earlier, a lot of these lawsuits are claiming sex trafficking these days. Is that like to signal to the feds like, hey, you need to look into this. I mean, it almost makes that, because sex trafficking is a crime. Yes, it's in a civil complaint, but it's a crime. And she's claiming she was going from the Netherlands to Atlanta to LA and she was being sexually assaulted. I mean, there's a crime. And she's claiming she was going from the Netherlands to Atlanta to L.A. and she was being sexually assaulted. I mean, there's a lot there. And it was on, in some cases, according to her allegations, on Epic Records time. Yeah, it does seem like she is alleging that she was brought here from another country under false pretenses. And that led to her being attacked, assaulted, battered for a number of years and with some levels of assistance by a company.

Starting point is 00:18:55 I do think that we should, you know, obviously pay attention to how things, you know, unveil themselves. I'm assuming that each defendant will have their own counsel and that Epic Records and the other you know management companies will immediately seek a motion to dismiss sort of like what we saw with the little rod case where some defendants more recently have been dropped as there wasn't enough of a Nexus or link to the described behavior to sort of bring them in. For right now, they stand as defendants and we'll see in terms of how knowingly they were in the involvement of bringing this individual over and these acts that were obviously allegedly committed against her. But I think it makes sense in the beginning of a complaint to sue everyone who you think was involved, because it takes discovery to find out, which they will

Starting point is 00:19:46 obviously undergo, who exactly knew what. She obviously only can know so much from her end. And you're encouraged generally when filing a complaint as a lawyer to try and think about all the theories and all the individuals that could be involved and obviously if if it turns out there's there's no association you know um allow them to be dropped later on in the case and and of course we're just getting her side of this story right now and and this is all from her point of view and she claims you know the dream kept saying to her yeah we're working on the record deal we're working on the record deal 30 more days we're going to have the record deal this is what she's saying he's telling her back in 2015 and that she's going to be on

Starting point is 00:20:28 tour with beyonce and she's going to open up for beyonce i mean she's going to be a star opening up for beyonce is a big deal it's like a it's like a baby step i would think and if all things go right and go in your favor you know you're opening for queen bay and maybe you're gonna be you know on her level one day. Then she's saying she's in the studio one day and she finds out from some sound engineer, there's no tour. Beyonce's not going on tour. Like, I don't know what you're talking about. That song he played for you that's supposed to be brand new, that's not going on the album. That's old. So she's kind of saying like she was just duped the whole time and that she

Starting point is 00:21:07 was brought over here to basically you know have sex with this guy who knows what conversations were going on between the dream according to her and Epic Records regarding her eventually she gets something out of it but her music never got turned over because she signed over all the rights to the dream he was supposed to be the go-between so there's a lot there and you're right i think the discovery will tell the tale because epic i mean who knows what epic really knew i mean according to her lawsuit epic is like hey we he hasn't been giving us your music so i don't know if they really knew what was going on. Yeah, it's a really interesting case because it involves battery, assault, rape, and it's unclear in terms of, it's very clear that she feels duped and misled. But were the sexual acts consensual?

Starting point is 00:22:01 And when exactly did she become bothered by their relationship was one of the things that I was thinking about as I read the complaint. I was wondering that too. Yeah. She goes into a lot of detail about the lack of use of condoms and her taking birth control and him finding out about her using birth control and becoming enraged and upset and feeling disrespected. But, you know, there was this sort of ambiguity a little bit in terms of, obviously, she was very clear that she wanted to be a star and she came to the U.S. to work with the dream to, you know, to produce and become a bigger name and work with other artists. And it seemed like she may have been okay with certain things that were not exactly entirely respectful, as long as it was heading towards her goal of her music career. When that

Starting point is 00:22:52 all sort of unraveled and it became known that there was nothing and the promises were not accurate, then it became sort of this issue. And I'm curious to see what the Dream's perspective is on their interactions and what exactly the business and contractual obligations and relationship were, because this really does feel a little personal. And it's unclear at this point whether this was indeed a conspiracy by the record label and the Dream to bring her around and mislead her or if there was, you know, some other sort of misunderstanding. And I think that is unclear at this point. I mean, she makes

Starting point is 00:23:38 it sound like there were some employees of the record company who knew that she was having sex with the Dream. But, you know, I mean, how much they really knew. It's unclear to me, but, you know, we're just reading the documents. The record company will have to respond, obviously. The Dream will have to respond in court papers, and we'll keep an eye on it. I do want to mention I did reach out to Epic Records and Contra Paris at the time of this recording. We have not heard back from them. So as I said, we'll keep an eye on it. Another lawsuit filed against somebody who's a big deal in the music industry. Robin Nunn, thank you so much. Thanks so much. And that does it for this episode of

Starting point is 00:24:16 Crime Fix. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.

Pet Camera - EBO Air 2

Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Beyonce and Rihanna's Producer Accused of Rape in Shocking Lawsuit

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.

Your Ad Here

Pet Camera - EBO Air 2

Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Beyonce and Rihanna's Producer Accused of Rape in Shocking Lawsuit

There aren't comments yet for this episode. Click on any sentence in the transcript to leave a comment.