Note: This article contains descriptions of alleged sexual and physical assault.

The-Dream is being sued by a woman who claims that the producer and songwriter sexually and physically assaulted her. The woman, Chanaaz Mangroe (aka Channii Monroe), filed her lawsuit today (June 4) in a California federal court. The-Dream’s record label, Contra Paris, and Epic Records are also named as defendants in the complaint.

In her complaint, viewed by Pitchfork, Mangroe says that she met The-Dream in 2014 when she was 23 years, coming to the United States from her native Netherlands and “hoping to land her big break as a singer and a songwriter.” The lawsuit states, “Under the guise of pursuing a legitimate recording and publishing contract with Ms. Mangroe, Dream lured the young and vulnerable artist into an abusive, violent, and manipulative relationship filled with physical assaults, violent sexual encounters, and horrific psychological manipulation.”

The lawsuit paints The-Dream, whose legal name is Terius Adamu Ya Gesteelde-Diamant, as a controlling figure who used his fame and connections with Beyoncé, Rihanna, Jay-Z, and others to manipulate Mangroe. “For a new artist, the thought of becoming the next Beyonce or Rihanna was obviously intoxicating,” the lawsuit reads, “and Ms. Mangroe was willing to work as hard as possible to make her recording dreams come true.”

Mangroe claims that she went to Los Angeles in February 2015 to record her debut album. During their first night at the recording studio, The-Dream “pressured her to drink alcohol and smoke marijuana in excessive quantities,” and also pressured her “to have sex with him,” she alleges. “He assured her that sex with him was ‘part of the process’ and he could only write hit songs for her if she agreed to let him know everything about her,” the lawsuit claims. The-Dream allegedly brought Mangroe to a bedroom and had sex with her; the producer left Mangroe in the bedroom and returned intermittently to continue having sex with her, the lawsuit claims.

“She returned to her hotel confused, but tried to remain grateful and hopeful for what she believed was her big break,” according to the complaint. “Throughout her time in Los Angeles, if Ms. Mangroe and Dream were in the studio at the same time, he expected her to be available to have sex with him whenever he demanded it.”

After the Los Angeles recording sessions, Mangroe flew home to Amsterdam, but quickly returned to the United States to move to The-Dream’s Atlanta, Georgia, hometown, she says. “Dream became increasingly controlling after Ms. Mangroe moved to Atlanta,” she claims in the complaint. “He told Ms. Mangroe that she needed to check in with him every day, she needed to be available to him whenever he called, and that she should depend only on him for anything she needed.”

https://pitchfork.com/news/the-dream-accused-of-rape-sexual-battery-sex-trafficking-in-new-lawsuit