Record producer and singer-songwriter The-Dream (Terius Gesteelde-Diamant) is accused of sex trafficking, rape and sexual battery in a lawsuit that was filed on Tuesday.
According to the complaint, obtained by CNN, Gesteelde-Diamant “used his age and influence” in the music industry to “manipulate” the plaintiff Chanaaz Mangroe, a singer-songwriter from the Netherlands in the US on a O-1B “extraordinary ability” visa. The lawsuit alleges he “lured” Mangroe “into an abusive, violent, and manipulative relationship filled with physical assaults, violent sexual encounters, and horrific psychological manipulation.”
On one occasion, according to the lawsuit, Mangroe alleges Gesteelde-Diamant raped her in a van “the same evening that he forced her to engage in sex acts in a public movie theatre.” She has asked for a jury trial and is seeking unspecified damages.
CNN has asked representatives for Gesteelde-Diamant for comment but has not heard back. In a statement his representative sent to the New York Times, Gesteelde-Diamant denied the allegations.
“These claims are untrue and defamatory,” the statement sent to the Times said. “I oppose all forms of harassment and have always strived to help people realize their career goals. As someone committed to making a positive impact on my fellow artists and the world at large, I am deeply offended and saddened by these accusations,” it added.
In a statement to CNN, Mangroe said she needed to tell her story to heal. “Choosing to speak out about the trauma I survived has been one of the most difficult decisions of my life, but ultimately, what Dream did to me made it impossible to live the life I envisioned for myself and pursue my goals as a singer and songwriter,” Mangroe said in the statement on Tuesday.
“Ultimately, my silence has become too painful, and I realized that I need to tell my story to heal. I hope that doing so will also help others and prevent future horrific abuse,” she added.
In her complaint, Mangroe describes meeting Gesteelde-Diamant in 2015, when the producer’s team expressed interest in signing her as an artist. Mangroe, who was 23 at the time, alleges in the lawsuit that Gesteelde-Diamant promised to help secure recording and publishing contracts for her and write songs for her “like he did for Beyoncé and Rihanna.” Instead, the complaint alleges, he subjected her to “violent sexual acts and vicious psychological torture.”
The complaint alleges that he “controlled all aspects” of her life while she was in the US on a work visa. It also alleges Gesteelde-Diamant committed multiple acts of sexual violence against Mangroe, filmed her during sexual acts and also forced her to drink “excessive amounts of alcohol” by pouring it down her throat.
“This is yet another horrific example of how men in the music industry use their power and influence to manipulate and harm others,” Mangroe’s attorneys Douglas H. Wigdor and Meredith A. Firetog told CNN in a statement. “While she will never fully recover from what he and those who supported him did to her, her willingness to speak out now is evidence of her extraordinary strength.”
Wigdor and Firetog also represent Cassie Ventura, who sued Sean “Diddy” Combs in 2023 for rape and abuse. The complaint was settled out of court one day after it was filed and Combs denied the allegations. Combs later issued an apology on his Instagram page after CNN released surveillance footage from 2016 showing him physically assaulting Ventura.
Gesteelde-Diamant is a Grammy-winning artist known for writing songs including “Umbrella” by Rihanna, “Baby” by Justin Bieber and “Touch My Body” by Mariah Carey. He also wrote a number of songs for Beyoncé including “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” and “Partition.” In 2012, he was named the executive vice president of A&R at Def Jam Records, leaving in 2014 to start his own label, Contra Paris.
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