Jimmie Allen countersued the woman accusing him of sexually assaulting her.
via: People
The woman, identified only as Jane Doe 2, sued Allen in June, claiming that he secretly filmed their sexual encounter in a Las Vegas hotel room in 2022, and engaged in sexual contact with her after she’d revoked her consent. He countersued in July, accusing the woman of “conversion,” or illegally stealing his cell phone.
In documents filed in Tennessee on Tuesday and obtained by PEOPLE, Doe’s legal team argued that Allen, 38, does not have a legal claim against her, as what she did does not legally constitute conversion.
The documents argue that even if Doe did take Allen’s phone as he alleges she did, it was in order to turn it over to the police as evidence of a crime, and “taking disputed property for the purpose of turning it over to the courts or law enforcement for investigation or adjudication is not theft” (A spokesperson for the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police previously confirmed to PEOPLE that a report was filed following the alleged incident).
Doe also claims that Allen is unable to win his claim for conversion because she is the victim of a crime that he committed.
“Allowing a perpetrator to sue a crime victim who turns evidence over to the police for conversion would violate the Nevada Constitution and public policy,” she notes, adding that filing the countersuit is Allen’s “attempt to harass and intimidate her” in retaliation for reporting him to the police.
In a statement to PEOPLE, a member of Allen’s legal team says they look forward to “clearing Jimmie’s name” in court.
“We will leave it to the court to determine if taking something without permission is conversion (or stealing)—a lesson that most of us learned when we were young,” the statement reads. “The facts here don’t support what Jane Doe 2 is claiming, and we look forward to the legal process moving forward and clearing Jimmie’s name.”
In his July countersuit, Allen’s lawyers claim that the singer had gotten the woman’s permission to record the encounter beforehand.
The Grammy-nominated singer was also sued in May by his former manager, who claims he raped, abused and sexually harassed her multiple times under the watchful eye of his management team. He has denied the allegations, and also countersued the former manager in July.
In a statement, Allen — who is in the midst of divorcing his pregnant wife Alexis — said his goal in responding to the women in court is to “protect my reputation and refute these claims that have caused severe damage to my family, mental health and business.”
“I’ve taken a couple months before publicly responding to these claims, because I wanted to fix my family first. This situation has caused me great humiliation, and I felt it was necessary to seek professional help,” he wrote. “For years, I have dealt with racism and harmful threats solely because I am a Black man in the country music industry, and this situation has only amplified that.”
He claimed: “These false allegations have caused me to lose a vast number of business and endorsement opportunities that I worked extremely hard for. These false allegations have also not only harmed me, but have caused severe financial damage to my band, my team and their families.”
Beth Fegan, an attorney representing both accusers, told PEOPLE in a statement that Allen’s counterfilings are “what we’d expect — claims that all his encounters with Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2 were consensual.”
Allen— who was dropped by his record label, agency and publicity firm — recently announced plans for a three-night comedy tour in October, though he has yet to announce dates or venues to the invite-only shows.
