Smokey Robinson is under a criminal investigation by the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department after being accused of sexual assault.
The sheriff’s department shared in a statement with The Hollywood Reporter on Thursday, “The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department Special Victims Bureau is actively investigating criminal allegations involving William Robinson aka ‘Smokey Robinson.’ The investigation is in the early stages, and we have no further comment.”
In response to the investigation, Robinson’s attorney, Christopher Frost, wrote in a statement, “We are aware that a police report has now been filed by the Plaintiffs in the civil lawsuit. It is clear to us what is happening here. Plaintiffs filed a police report only after they filed a $50 million lawsuit. This means only that the police are now required to investigate.”
“We welcome that investigation, which involves Plaintiffs who continue to hide their identities, because exposure to the truth is a powerful thing,” the statement continued. “We feel confident that a determination will be made that Mr. Robinson did nothing wrong, and that this is a desperate attempt to prejudice public opinion and make even more of a media circus than the Plaintiffs were previously able to create. The record will ultimately demonstrate that this is nothing more than a manufactured lawsuit intended to tarnish the good names of Smokey and Frances Robinson, for no other reason than unadulterated avarice.”
The investigation comes more than a week after the famed Motown singer and record producer was sued by four women who worked for him as housekeepers for sexual assault and rape.
In the complaint, the anonymous women accuse Robinson of raping them at several of his residences, most primarily at his home in Chatsworth, California. The listed causes of action include negligence, sexual battery, assault, false imprisonment and a hostile work environment, among other claims.
Robinson’s wife, Frances Robinson, was also named as a defendant in the suit, with the women claiming that she “failed to take the appropriate corrective action to prevent Defendant Robinson’s deviant misconduct.”
Robinson has denied the allegations, calling them “vile” and “false,” with Frost previously saying, “the evidence will show that this is simply an ugly method of trying to extract money from an 85-year-old American icon — $50 million dollars, to be exact.”