The lawyer of a woman accusing Soulja Boy of rape portrayed him as a brutal boss who repeatedly beat and sexually assaulted the Jane Doe and then dressed up in “fake glasses” and a suit in court to lie to jurors about the alleged abuse. In the rapper’s defense, his lawyer painted the Grammy-nominated artist as the victim of a vengeful ex-girlfriend peddling a “false story” for money.
During closing arguments in a California courtroom Monday, Doe often cried and wiped tears as her lawyer said she deserves $73,620,000 in past and present damages for alleged horrors suffered during a living and working relationship with the “Crank That” rapper in 2019 and 2020.
The woman claimed the artist, whose real name is DeAndre Cortez Way, hired her as his salaried personal assistant in January 2019 after they met through a friend. She alleged he raped her for the first time during a police raid of his Malibu hills mansion in February 2019 and then assaulted and sexually battered her on a regular basis for more than a year. She admitted her professional role crossed over into a highly “toxic” romantic relationship that was consensual at times, but she alleged Way “abused his position of authority” and emotionally manipulated her, her lawyer argued Monday.
“He raped her, he punched her, he kicked her, he cut her. He picked up and then slammed her, choked her, left bruises from squeezing her arm. He grabbed her head by a mirror and said, ‘No one will love you,’” attorney Ronald Zambrano told jurors as his client broke down crying. “He pointed a Draco gun at her. He locked her in a room, threatened her family, threatened her, denied her food.”
The lawyer showed the jurors screen grabs from text messages between the woman and Way. In one of the most disturbing exchanges from April 20, 2020, Way texted “I hope u die slow.” The Jane Doe responded with, “You think you can keep hitting on me, you are crazy,” to which Way responded, “Fuck u bitch.” In other messages, Way told the woman, “I hope you catch corona, bitch,” and, “I should have killed your ass,” Zambrano told the jury. The lawyer faulted Way for avoiding all “accountability” for the harm he purportedly inflicted. He said his client, by comparison, was honest about smoking weed, calling other women “bitch,” posing for pictures with guns, and having consensual sex with Way at times.
“These are things that are not flattering. How embarrassing for her, but she still admitted it,” he said. “He’s owned up to nothing. Not one text message, not one photograph. He hasn’t owned up to one thing that doesn’t flatter him.” The lawyer called Way a performer who was essentially dressed in nerd cosplay throughout the trial. He reminded jurors that under cross-examination, Way admitted the eyeglasses he was wearing had clear, prescription-less lenses.
“It was an act, a four-week act with glasses and a suit,” Zambrano argued. “The act you’re being asked to buy, unfortunately, my client did buy it. It’s why she went back. … I ask that you don’t fall for the man sitting over there with fake glasses on trying to convince you he’s incapable of the bruises you’ve seen, the cuts you’ve seen, the text messages he sent.”
When it was his turn to speak, Way’s lead lawyer, Rickie Ivie, told jurors that the woman’s story about her alleged abuse “evolved over time.” He said that when she first reported her allegations to police in December 2020, she didn’t tell the deputy that Way allegedly knocked her unconscious on one occasion and smacked her in the mouth and forced oral copulation. Ivie claimed that a bodyguard who accompanied the woman to a final meeting with Way in late 2020 testified that the woman “was the aggressor” in a final physical confrontation that day. “Why would he lie?” Ivie asked, referring to the bodyguard. “He was referred by a friend and hired by her lawyer. What’s his motive to lie? He doesn’t have one.”
Ivie told jurors that the woman was never a salaried employee, only an independent contractor who agreed to a barter transaction in which she would “roll blunts” for Way in exchange for her room and board. He called the arrangement an “industry standard.”
Ivie further argued that the Jane Doe could have escaped her alleged false imprisonment at Way’s house when she traveled to Las Vegas or Kentucky to be with him. “I think you can find someone to complain to at an airport. They’re full of police offers, TSA officers. There’s help all around,” he argued.
The lawyer claimed the woman offered to resolve her claims against Way in December 2020 by demanding $50,000 and a Dodge Charger. He called the effort “extortion.”
“Plaintiff is motivated by jealousy, revenge and financial gain,” he told the jury. “She wanted to be paid. That’s what this case is all about. It’s not about the truth, it’s just not.”
In one argument that clearly enraged Zambrano, Ivie claimed that the series of photos of the woman’s alleged injuries — shown repeatedly during the trial — weren’t conclusive. He questioned when exactly they were taken and how they should be perceived. “The photographs don’t end the story, they only raise more questions,” Ivie argued.
In his final rebuttal argument, Zambrano said Ivie’s argument left him “angry.” He said Way tried to discredit one of the photos showing the woman’s bruised neck but later had to admit it was snapped in his home because one of his pieces of artwork was visible in the background.
“Apparently, she didn’t get beat up enough,” Zambrano scoffed, referring to Ivie’s dismissal of the photos. “The cut wasn’t deep enough. The bruise wasn’t purple enough. Well, next time, we’ll take another two weeks so we can really get into that.”
The judge overseeing the trial started reading jury instructions late Monday but ran out of time. He ordered the panel back to begin their deliberations Tuesday morning.
In graphic and harrowing testimony delivered last month, the woman detailed her alleged abuse, starting with the purported bathroom attack during the police raid in 2019. She claimed Way chucked several guns out a window into a steep canyon and was trying to dispose of narcotics in a bathroom when he allegedly spun her around, pulled her pants down and “started having sex” with her. She didn’t immediately report the alleged attack to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Deputies who raided the home because she was “terrified” of Way and possible retaliation, she testified.
“I feared for my life,” Doe told the jury on the fourth day of the civil trial. She claimed Way told her he knew where her mother lived and had threatened to “send shooters” to the house. “I was scared of what he would do to my family. I didn’t want him to hurt anybody because of me,” she testified.
The woman said she was so desperate for food while living with Way in early 2019, she gathered loose change from the home and gave it to the property’s gardeners so they could buy her instant noodles. She claimed she dropped from 140 pounds down to 86 pounds before Way was sent to jail in April 2019 for a probation violation linked to the raid. “I didn’t even feel human anymore. I felt like an animal,” she said.
When it was his turn to testify, Way admitted there was a sexual encounter with the woman when police showed up at the door of his $25,000-a-month rental home to serve the search warrant — but he claimed she consented. “I asked her if she wanted to have sex, and she was engaged in it,” he said. “She didn’t push me or say stop, nothing like that.”
Way, 34, denied he ever abused the woman in any way, claiming they “bonded” during their time together and always acted voluntarily. He said the woman would handle errands for him because he offered her a free place to live and they struck up a personal relationship, not because she was a paid employee.
“Did you ever hit the plaintiff in the mouth, bust her lip, and force her to give you oral sex?” his lawyer Ivie asked during Way’s testimony. “Of course not, and that’s a disgusting allegation,” Way responded. “It sounds crazy to me. I did not do that.”
Doe, who filed her lawsuit in January 2021, is suing Way with claims he subjected her to sexual battery, assault, false imprisonment, emotional distress, unpaid overtime, and a hostile work environment. She claims Way punched her in the head on at least 10 separate occasions. She alleges one incident was so brutal that she lost consciousness and woke up in a locked room with no food or water.
Way has also been accused of physical and sexual assault by former girlfriends Kayla Myers and model Nia Riley, the daughter of musician Teddy Riley. Way appeared on the reality shows Love & Hip Hop: Hollywood and Marriage Bootcamp with Riley.
In 2021, Riley sat down with YouTube vlogger TashaK and said Way threatened her with a gun and kicked her in the stomach while she was pregnant, causing her to suffer a miscarriage. A lawsuit filed by a Jane Doe in May 2021 mirrors the allegations made publicly by Riley. That case initially resulted in a default judgment, but Way is challenging the default, blaming his prior lawyer for failing to share his proper contact information.
In a separate lawsuit, Myers claimed she had an on-again, off-again romantic relationship with Way that ended when the rapper allegedly held a gun to her head, threatened her life, and assaulted her at his home on Feb. 1, 2019. A civil court jury found Way liable for the assault and kidnapping of Myers at a trial.
