Rap star Nicki Minaj is blasting her husband’s rape victim for attempting to “extract money” out of her in a $20 million lawsuit.
Jennifer Hough is suing Nicki and her husband, Kenneth “Zoo” Petty, for terrorizing her.
Hough claims the pair and their associates have been harassing her in an attempt to have Kenneth removed from the National Sex Offender Registry.
Hough maintains she was offered $500,000 to recant her allegation that Kenneth raped her at knifepoint in 1994.
Kenneth was convicted of attempted first-degree rape in 1995 and served four years in prison.
He is required to register as a sex offender in any jurisdiction he resides or has employment in.
However, he pleaded guilty to living in California from July 2019 until November 19th without registering. As a result, Kenneth could face up to 10 years in prison when he is sentenced in January.
Jennifer Hough’s lawyer moved for a default judgment earlier this week since Nicki and her husband failed to reply to the $20 million lawsuit.
According to Nicki, she was never properly served and asked for time to submit documents in anticipation of a motion to dismiss the complaint.
The rapper accused a process server of lying about serving a copy of the complaint upon her husband, who, in documents, was described as a “black male, 40 years old, 200 lbs. black hair, brown eyes.”
“The process server is not telling the truth, as this never happened. In fact, my husband is approximately 5’9 tall and weighs no more than 175 lbs. Further, there is no person who resides in our house or who was present there on September 15th, 2021, who fits the description.”
Nicki Minaj also said her failure to reply was due to a series of innocent miscommunications between her and her newly retained lawyer, Judd Burstein.
The rapper said she instructed her manager to hire Burstein. So Nicki was shocked on October 12th when she received papers saying she defaulted on the $20 million lawsuit for not replying.
According to Nicki, her manager had not understood that she approved Burstein to represent her, and therefore he had not been retained.
After a conversation, Nicki paid the retainer, and Burstein agreed to represent her formally.
“My failure to respond to the complaint was the product of an innocent mistake, and I ask the court to excuse the delay so I can defend what I believe to be an entirely frivolous case which plaintiff’s counsel has brought against me in an effort to use my name to generate publicity for himself.” – Nicki Minaj in response to Jennifer Hough’s $20 million lawsuit
Nicki Minaj’s lawyer says Jennifer Hough has failed to state a claim for which relief may be granted, and therefore the lawsuit should be dismissed.
“The complaint does not allege that defendant, who was only 12-years-old at the time and is now a hugely successful and famous recording artist, had any involvement in that underlying conduct,” Judd Burstein said.
“Rather, it alleges only that she engaged in patently non-actionable conduct, allegedly commencing in 2018, in response to plaintiff Jennifer Hough’s demands for money,” he added.
Nicki Minaj is asking for Hough’s motion for a default judgment to be set aside to present her argument to have the lawsuit dismissed in its entirety.