Drake Files Fraud Lawsuit Against Woman Over False Pregnancy, Rape Claims
Drake has filed a lawsuit against a woman who allegedly falsely stated that she was impregnated by the rapper and then accused him of sexual assault after the “baby scam,” as the lawsuit phrases it, failed. The suit, filed Tuesday at the Superior Court of California and obtained by Rolling Stone, accuses Layla Lace (real name Laquana Morris), of civil extortion, fraud, defamation, abuse of process and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
In the lawsuit, Drake admits that he had consensual sex with Morris at a Manchester, England hotel in February 2017, but claims that Morris turned their encounter into a “fantasy relationship”; during Drake’s 2017 European tour, Morris claimed she unsolicitedly booked a $1,600 flight to London after the rapper canceled a tour date there due to illness. “If ima be there when it’s time to have fun, i should definitely be there when he’s sick as well,” she allegedly texted a mutual friend. The suit claims Morris turned angry when no one responded to her booking of the flight, after which she canceled her flight and Drake ceased communication with her.
In April 2017, Morris went on social media and said that she was pregnant and stated that Drake was the father; days later, she appeared on a SiriusXM show and appeared to confirm Drake had impregnated her. “I know who I sleep with unprotected, period. So it’s 100 percent sure. He knows it,” Morris said of the rapper.
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However, Drake’s lawsuit notes, “there is no credible evidence of pregnancy, nor any baby, which would have been born [to Morris] last fall.”
According to TMZ, following Morris’ pregnancy announcement, Drake’s lawyers pushed her to take a paternity test, which she refused. Soon after, the lawsuit claims, Morris’ legal team fabricated a story that Drake raped her during their February 2017 encounter, even filing a police report; the lawsuit claims that while Morris told police that she and Drake had consensual sex, she told her civil lawyer that “she was raped, forced to perform oral sex and falsely imprisoned in Drake’s hotel room.”
A lawyer for Morris did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
Drake’s lawsuit added that even after Manchester police cleared him of any allegations of sexual assault – the lawsuit states Drake flew to the U.K. to meet with investigators – Morris continued to demand money from the rapper, aired their private messages on social media and threatened “to go public with salacious (and ever changing) false allegations of conduct that simply did not happen.”
“It would have been easy for Drake to pay for silence,” the lawsuit added. “However, Drake does not want to take the easy way out. Layla and her attorneys underestimated Drake’s steadfast resolve not to pay hush money to avoid negative publicity arising from fabricated claims. He looks forward to holding Layla and those working in concert with her responsible for egregious misconduct.”
Drake’s legal team is seeking a trial to determine “actual and compensatory damages,” “exemplary and punitive damages” and a permanent injunction against Morris.
Earlier this year, Drake confirmed in the Scorpion song “March 14” that he had fathered a son with adult actress Sophie Brussaux, a secret that came into play during his beef with Pusha-T.