Jermaine Jackson has reportedly been ordered to pay more than $6.5 million to a woman after she claimed he forced his way into her home and raped her in 1988.
The alleged victim, Rita Butler Barrett, accused Jackson in a December 2023 complaint of sexually assaulting her in 1988.
The former Jackson 5 member and brother of late pop star Michael Jackson mow has to pay the damages and other costs to Barrett, according to a default judgment filed Thursday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, obtained by People.
In the complaint, Barrett claimed that Jackson arrived at her home uninvited in or around the spring of 1988, at which point he forced his way inside and violently sexually assaulted her, only deciding to leave once he was “satiated.”
Barrett added that she knew the singer-songwriter through her husband, Ben Barrett, who worked closely with Berry Gordy, the founder of Motown Records, the complaint added.
The alleged victim also reportedly said that Gordy had a “business and/or management relationship” with Jackson at the time of the alleged assault.
“During the assault, Plaintiff, a woman of faith, prayed to God for help,” the complaint read. “During the assault, Plaintiff feared for her life.”
Barrett went on to say in her complaint that she reported the alleged assault to Gordy the next day, but claimed he and others in the business his the allegations in an effort to protect Jackson’s image and preserve profits connected to his career.
She also talked of a broader “cover-up” aimed at concealing the alleged incident for “the purpose of profit and preservation of reputation,” People reported.
Barrett “suffered severe emotional, physical, and psychological injury, including humiliation, shame, guilt, economic loss, economic capacity, and permanent emotional distress” after she was allegedly assaulted by Jackson, the complaint stated.
It also described Barrett as “a survivor of sexual abuse, sexual battery, sexual assault, harassment, and rape” at the hands of Jackson.
Notably, this news comes just weeks after Jermaine Jackson attended the Los Angeles premiere of Michael, the biopic in which his son, Jaafar Jackson, plays his late brother.
Meanwhile, the Cascio family has recently renewed their allegations of sexual abuse against Michael Jackson — but the late King of Pop’s estate has blasted the claims as just another “desperate money grab.”
As Breitbart News noted, the Cascio family has claimed for several years that Michael Jackson groomed and sexually abused Eddie, Aldo, Dominic, and Marie-Nicole Cascio over a 25-year period that ended only after the “Smooth Criminal” singer died in 2009.
Alana Mastrangelo is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.