Drake sues woman over alleged rape and false pregnancy claims
Drake's lawsuit contends a woman with whom he had a brief fling in 2017 later developed a "fantasy relationship" with the hip-hop artist. Credit: AP / Invision / Evan Agostini
Rapper Drake has filed a lawsuit contending fraud, extortion and other charges against a woman he says made false claims of pregnancy and later of rape.
In a filing submitted Tuesday by Los Angeles attorney Larry Stein and provided to Newsday, Drake, 31, says he had consensual sex with New Yorker Laquana Morris, an Instagram model under the name Layla Lace, following his Manchester, England, concert in February 2017. Afterward, the lawsuit says, Morris and Drake communicated by telephone and texts. Court documents include examples of the alleged texts, showing Drake ending communication on March 8, 2017. Morris, the suit says, then developed a "fantasy relationship" with Drake and made pregnancy claims in a since-deleted April 17, 2017, Instagram post that has been republished by multiple websites.
Within days of the post, she said on the SiriusXM radio show "Shade 45," "I know who I sleep with unprotected, period. So, it's a hundred percent sure" she became pregnant by Drake, she said. After she told the rapper this, communication between them "just stopped," she alleged. In May she began demanding paternity money, according to the suit. When Drake offered to submit to a paternity test, Morris refused, the lawsuit says, stating: "There is no credible evidence of pregnancy, nor any baby, which would have been born last Fall."
Morris in June 2017 then filed a police report saying Drake had committed sexual assault following the consensual sex, and she demanded payment not to take the claim public. The suit says Drake voluntarily flew to the United Kingdom for an interview in a police investigation that cleared him. "The authorities declined to pursue the case and no charges were ever filed," the suit says, adding that Morris nonetheless "immediately demanded millions of dollars" to stay silent.
The lawsuit contends extortion, intentional infliction of emotional distress, abuse of process, fraud and defamation, and asks for unspecified damages, legal fees and an injunction against Morris further disseminating her claims.
No attorney or other contact for Morris appears in the lawsuit, and Morris' Layla Lace Instagram account was empty on Wednesday except for the note, "Page was deleted because of all the haters. But I'm back follow me." Drake has not commented on social media.
