Metro Boomin Sued over Rape, Sexual Assault Allegations as His Attorney Calls Filing a 'Pure Shakedown'

Hip-hop producer and songwriter Metro Boomin has been sued for allegedly sexually assaulting and raping a former friend who claims their 2016 encounter led to an aborted pregnancy.

Metro (né Leland T. Wayne) was sued by Vanessa LeMaistre in Los Angeles Superior Court on Oct. 29, in a filing his attorney called a “pure shakedown.”

LeMaistre, 38, is seeking a jury trial and damages after she claims she “blacked out” and awoke to the Grammy-nominated star, 31, raping her in a Beverly Hills hotel room, according to the complaint, which was obtained by PEOPLE.

“These are false accusations. Mr. Wayne refused to pay her months ago, and he refuses to pay her now,” Wayne’s attorney Lawrence Hinkle II told PEOPLE in a statement. “Mr. Wayne will defend himself in court. He will file a claim for malicious prosecution once he prevails.”

The complaint says LeMaistre was “deeply distraught and in mourning” over the February 2016 death of her 9-month-old son Kamden when she met Wayne through mutual friends in the spring of 2016 in Las Vegas.

She alleges that he invited her to visit him at recording studios in California, where she lived, and she obliged, as she liked music and was looking for an “escape from the pain” of her son’s death. Before long, she and Wayne had “developed a friendly bond,” the complaint says.

In September 2016, LeMaistre claims she went to his studio to watch him work, and after taking a shot of alcohol and half a bar of Xanax, she and the producer sat on the couch and discussed their “mutual depression”; her over her son’s death, and Wayne over a breakup with his long-term girlfriend, per the complaint.

The complaint says that LeMaistre then “blacked out,” and next remembers waking up in a bed with Wayne allegedly raping her. She was “in and out of consciousness for an unknown amount of time but awoke again at some point to Wayne performing oral sex on her,” according to the complaint.

LeMaistre learned she was pregnant several weeks later, and allegedly knew Wayne to be the father, as she had not had sex with anyone else, the complaint says. She had an abortion in November 2016.

The complaint says that in the years following, LeMaistre would occasionally reach out to Wayne “to ask how he was and say a kind word” as a way of convincing herself that the rape did not happen. Her attorneys also cited “dozens of misogynistic tweets” written by the star as proof he has a “flippant attitude toward sexual assault and drugging women.”

“Metro Boomin has built a successful career with lyrics and social media that are not only offensive but also explicitly outline his intentions to harm women,” her attorneys Michael J. Willemin and Monica Hincken told PEOPLE in a statement. “These are more than mere words, and it’s time for him to be held accountable for his manipulative tactics and unacceptable behavior.”

Wayne was nominated for producer of the year at the 2024 Grammy Awards, and is known for collaborations with stars like Future, Travis Scott, 21 Savage and Big Sean. He also created the soundtrack for the animated hit Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.