Bob Dylan denies sex abuse allegations

Music icon Bob Dylan is denying claims in a lawsuit alleging that in his mid-20s, already a famed singer-songwriter, he groomed and sexually abused a female minor.

A summons and complaint filed Friday in Manhattan Supreme Court by the pseudonymous J.C. against Robert Allen Zimmerman (aka Bob Dylan) alleges that the events occurred in 1965 when the plaintiff was 12. The music star allegedly "befriended and established an emotional connection with ... [her] to lower her inhibitions with the object of sexually abusing her, which he did … leaving her emotionally scarred and psychologically damaged to this day."

The suit filed by attorneys Daniel W. Isaacs and Peter J. Gleason alleges one count each of assault, battery, false imprisonment and intentional inflection of emotional distress. While the counts do not list criminal claims of sexual abuse, the lawsuit states J.C. "was a victim of one or more criminal sex acts in the State of New York, including sexual acts that would constitute a sexual offense as defined by the Child Victims Act."

A representative for the 80-year-old Dylan said in a statement that the "56-year-old claim is untrue and will be vigorously defended." Dylan has not otherwise commented publicly.

Submitted a day before the expiration of the New York Child Victims Act, a window for filing abuse allegations otherwise beyond the statute of limitations, the lawsuit alleges that during a six-week period "between April and May of 1965" at Dylan's apartment in Manhattan's Chelsea Hotel, the future Rock & Roll Hall of Famer, Pulitzer Prize winner and Nobel laureate "exploited his status as a musician by grooming J.C. ... as part of his plan to sexually molest and abuse J.C.," now an adult living in Greenwich, Connecticut.

According to the historical record, the much-documented Dylan performed concerts in Berkeley, California, on April 3, 1965; Vancouver, British Columbia, on April 9; Portland, Oregon, on April 23; and Seattle on April 24. He flew from Seattle to London, arriving on April 26 for a series of U.K. concerts through May 9, followed on May 12 by a London recording session for an industry sales convention. This British tour was documented for the D.A. Pennebaker film "Don't Look Back" (1967).

The BBC, citing Clinton Heylin's book "Bob Dylan: A Life in Stolen Moments — Day by Day 1941-1995," said the star was then in France and Portugal until June. Other chronologies state that in mid-May he vacationed in Portugal with Sara Lownds, his girlfriend since 1964, who lived in a separate apartment at the Chelsea and to whom he was married from November 1965 to 1977. On June 1, Dylan recorded two shows at BBC Studios for later broadcast, and left England with Lownds on June 2.

An attorney for J.C. told NPR that these dates "are not inconsistent" with his client's chronology.