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Hip-hop producer Metro Boomin is accused of rape in a court case

LOS ANGELES – A Los Angeles woman has filed a lawsuit alleging that Metro Boomin, a Grammy-nominated producer who has worked with some of the biggest names in hip-hop and R&B, raped her in 2016 and she became pregnant as a result of the attack.

The producer's lawyer believes the allegations are false and said the lawsuit filed Tuesday in Los Angeles Superior Court was “purely shocking.”

Vanessa LeMaistre, 38, says in the lawsuit that she became friends with Metro Boomin, whose real name is Leland Wayne, after the death of her 9-month-old son. When she visited him in a recording studio months later, she lost consciousness and woke up on a bed to find Wayne raping her, the lawsuit says.

A few weeks later, she learned from the attack that she was pregnant, the lawsuit says.

An attorney for the 31-year-old St. Louis-born producer immediately denied the allegations.

“This is a pure shakedown. “These are false allegations,” Lawrence Hinkle II said in a statement Wednesday. “Mr Wayne refused to pay them months ago and he is refusing to pay them now. Mr Wayne will defend himself in court. He will file a malicious intent lawsuit if he prevails.”

Wayne curated the soundtrack for Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse and co-produced most of the album's songs. His album “Heroes & Villains, featuring contributions from John Legend and The Weeknd as well as Travis Scott, was nominated for a Grammy for Best Rap Album. He has also worked with Future, Kendrick Lamar, Offset, 21 Savage and A$AP Rocky.

LeMaistre said in the lawsuit that she met Wayne at a party in Las Vegas in the spring of 2016 and that they met several times over the next few months and that she “believed they were amazed by music's ability to connect people at their darkest.” “To help, we had connected moments.”

Around September, she visited him at a California recording studio, where she was given a shot of alcohol and took half a bar of Xanax.

“The next thing Ms. LeMaistre remembers is waking up in a bed in another location with Wayne raping her, unable to move or make a sound at all,” it said in the statement of claim. “She was in and out of consciousness for an unknown person, but eventually woke up when Wayne performed oral sex on her.

She was never able to consent, the lawsuit says.

A few weeks later, she learned she was pregnant and there was no question that the child was Wayne's, the lawsuit says. She had an abortion shortly afterwards.

The Associated Press typically does not name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, as LeMaistre did. She is named in the lawsuit and agreed to be publicly identified by her attorneys.

Her sexual assault and gender-based violence lawsuit seeks damages, which will be determined in court.