Overview

• On May 28, Smokey Robinson and his wife Frances filed a $500 million cross-complaint in Los Angeles Superior Court accusing four former housekeepers of defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and financial elder abuse
• The initial lawsuit, filed under pseudonyms on May 6, sought $50 million for alleged sexual battery, assault, false imprisonment and labor violations over several years
• Robinson’s filing claims the women and their attorney sought $100 million in pre-litigation demands and orchestrated a “media circus” press conference branding him a “serial and sick rapist”
• In a separate motion, the Robinsons asked the court to strike the anonymous complaint, arguing California law requires plaintiffs to sue under their real names absent an overriding privacy interest
• The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Special Victims Bureau continues to investigate criminal sexual assault allegations against the 85-year-old music icon