Soulja Boy Ordered To Pay $4M In Sexual Abuse Lawsuit

SANTA MONICA, CA — A former personal assistant to Soulja Boy who alleged she was sexually abused by the rapper won $4 million in compensatory damages from the 34-year-old "Crank That" singer Thursday.

A Santa Monica Superior Court jury deliberated for just over a day before finding in favor of the plaintiff, identified only as Jane Doe. The singer's real name is DeAndre Cortez Way. Later Thursday the same panel will decide whether to award Doe punitive damages.

The case was cleared for trial when in 2024 Judge Mark H. Epstein denied a motion by the singer's attorneys to dismiss multiple causes of action in the lawsuit brought by the plaintiff, including gender violence, hostile work environment and negligence.

"Way seems to contend that he owes plaintiff no duties outside the employment relationship." the judge wrote. "The court is not sure what defendant means. If defendant means that he did not owe plaintiff a duty not to sexually assault her, the argument is frivolous. If it is something else, the court does not know what it is. Similarly meritless is the argument that the sexual assault had nothing to do with gender."

The judge also scoffed at Way's claim he didn't pay the woman overtime because he did not know she worked it.

"If the OT was worked, it must be paid," the judge wrote.

In their court papers, Way's attorneys contended that the singer and Doe had a "consensual, intimate relationship" for about a year before, in which he did not employ her.

In her suit filed in January 2021, Doe said she was hired by Way in December 2018. Her duties included cooking and bringing food and snacks, carrying personal belongings or luggage, styling Way's hair, driving him and handling travel plans, the suit stated.

Way paid the plaintiff $500 weekly for her services and she lived and worked seven days a week, 20 hours daily, at his homes in Malibu and Bell Canyon, the suit stated.

The two became romantically involved, but from January 2019 to December 2020, he sexually abused her and did not pay her overtime while also committing other wage and hour violations, her suit alleged.

City News Service