Motown legend Smokey Robinson is under criminal investigation after four former housekeepers accused him of rape and sexual assault, the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said.
The investigation comes just over a week after the housekeepers filed a lawsuit seeking $50m (£37m) in damages in a civil case over the alleged assaults – which the women say took place between 2007 and 2024.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement on Thursday that its special victims bureau is now “actively investigating criminal allegations” against the 85-year-old.
It added that the investigation is in its early stages and that no other details will be provided.
The four former housekeepers alleged in their civil lawsuit that the singer, whose real name is William Robinson Jr, carried out the rapes and sexual assaults while they worked for him.
The claim further states that Robinson’s wife, Frances Robinson, enabled his behaviour.
It also says she was responsible for creating a hostile work environment and shouted at them and used ethnic insults.
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The Motown singer’s lawyer Christopher Frost has said he welcomes the criminal investigation and feels “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”, Sky’s US partner network NBC News reports.
“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,” Mr Frost added.
Following the filing of the civil lawsuit, Mr Frost called the allegations “vile” and “false ” and said the women’s claims were “simply an ugly method of trying to extract money from an 85-year-old American icon”.
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John Harris and Herbert Hayden, the lawyers for the women, say they are pleased to learn that law enforcement is looking into the allegations against the singer.
“Our clients intend to fully co-operate with LASD’s (Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department) ongoing investigation in the pursuit of seeking justice for themselves and others that may have been similarly assaulted by him,” the lawyers said.
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Robinson, a member of both the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame, was among the biggest hitmakers of the 1960s – both with his group The Miracles and as a solo artist, with songs including The Tears Of A Clown and The Tracks Of My Tears.
He was a central part of the Motown Records music machine in his hometown of Detroit as an artist, producer and songwriter for other artists.
