Bob Dylan Responds to 'Fantastical and Fictitious' Sex Abuse Lawsuit: 'A Brazen Shakedown'

Bob Dylan's legal team is firing back against claims made last year by a woman who alleges the musician groomed and sexually abused her as a child, with Dylan's lawyers calling the woman's lawsuit a "fantastical and fictitious story being exploited for financial gain."

In legal documents filed on Thursday and obtained by PEOPLE, attorneys for Dylan, 80, claim that the case — in which the woman said the star abused her in 1965, when she was 12 years old — contains allegations that are "untrue, absurd and a chronological impossibility."

"This case—based on plaintiff's alleged interactions with Bob Dylan more than 56 years ago–is a brazen shakedown masquerading as a lawsuit," the document, an answer to an amended complaint filed on Dec. 27, reads. "It was filed in bad faith for the improper purpose of extracting a huge payout on the threat of negative publicity. The allegation is false, malicious, reckless and defamatory. Mr. Dylan will not be extorted."

The plaintiff — identified only as J.C. — filed suit against the "Like a Rolling Stone" singer in August, alleging that he "sexually molested and abused" her in 1965 after giving her drugs and alcohol at his Chelsea Hotel apartment.

In the suit, J.C. claimed she was groomed by Dylan, who was 24 at the time, for six weeks before the alleged assault, and that he attempted to "lower her inhibitions with the object of sexually abusing her, which he did, coupled with the provision of drugs, alcohol and threats of physical violence, leaving her emotionally scarred and psychologically damaged to this day."

Though J.C.'s initial suit claimed the timeframe was April and May of 1965, her amended complaint changed the period to "the spring" of that year, after historians noted that Dylan's tours and other engagements placed him outside of New York City in those months.

Dylan's lawyers said in the most recent filing that the 10-time Grammy winner was an "easy mark" off of whom J.C.'s lawyers "hoped to profit."

They also note in their papers that J.C. has publicly claimed to have been abducted by aliens, and to have the ability to speak to animals, both living and dead, as well as insects and plants.

"According to her own website, plaintiff is a psychic who specializes in 'channeling' the deceased loved ones of grieving families – for a fee," their answer reads.

Peter J. Gleason, the plaintiff's attorney, told Rolling Stone that targeting J.C.'s belief in psychic phenomena was unfair.

"Some people refer to Bob Dylan as a prophet. People have labels. More than half of Americans believe in psychic phenomena," he said. "If you're going to attack somebody for their beliefs, you're encroaching upon very dangerous territory. This is what this country is based on, freedom of beliefs. It shouldn't divert our attention from the allegations. This case is about the facts."

"What people have to realize is sometimes the artist and the individual are two very different people," he adds in a statement to PEOPLE. "The personal, inappropriate, ad hominem attacks by Dylan's lawyer is nothing more than a diversionary tactic to shift the focus away from the allegations."

According to her suit, J.C. now lives in Connecticut, and suffers from depression, anxiety and other psychological damages of "permanent and lasting natures" that have "incapacitated" her from her regular activities.

She was able to file suit under the New York Child Victims Act, which created a two-year window which people who claimed they were sexually abused as children could sue their alleged assailants even though their claims would normally be barred by the statute of limitations.

She filed against Dylan one day before the two-year window expired.