L.A. Reid Settles Sexual Assault Lawsuit

Music executive L.A. Reid has settled a lawsuit by a previous employee who accused him of sexual assault and harassment, Billboard reports. Details of the settlement—which was announced today, January 12, the day Reid’s trial was scheduled to begin—were not disclosed.

In 2023, Drew Dixon, a former vice president of A&R at Arista Records, alleged Reid had groped and digitally penetrated her without consent on two separate occasions while she worked at the label. The first incident reportedly took place on a private plane to a company retreat; the second in Reid’s car. After Dixon rebuffed Reid at future outings, she claims he derailed her career. Dixon filed her lawsuit under the Adult Survivors Act, which opened a one-year window for civil lawsuits involving sexual offenses, even if the statute of limitations had run out. In 2017, Reid stepped down from his position at Epic Records following a separate sexual-harassment allegation.

In a statement to Pitchfork, Imran H. Ansari, an attorney for Reid wrote that their client had “amicably resolved this matter with Ms. Dixon without any admission of liability.”

“Drew Dixon is an extraordinarily talented music executive, and this resolution will empower her to move forward with her creative pursuits—on her own terms—with her reputation, her voice, and her career reaffirmed,” Dixon’s attorney, Kenya Davis, said in a statement to Pitchfork. Dixon added, “I hope my work as an advocate for the Adult Survivors Act helps to bring us closer to a safer music business for everyone. In a world where good news is often hard to find, I hope for survivors that today is a ray of light peeking through the clouds.”

In 2017, Dixon accused the music mogul Russell Simmons of rape. She later appeared in On the Record, a documentary that detailed those allegations.