Smokey Robinson’s attorney is speaking out in light of the sexual assault allegations leveled against the star in a $50 million lawsuit filed by four former housekeepers.
In a statement shared with PEOPLE, attorney Christopher Frost slammed the complaint — in which the women alleged the star “repeatedly” “raped” them — as “an ugly method of trying to extract money from an 85-year-old American icon.”
He also said his team would be “addressing the numerous aspects of the complaint that defy credulity as well as issues relating to purported timelines, inconsistencies, and relationships between the plaintiffs and others.”
Frost — who is also representing the singer’s wife, Frances — said Robinson will “respond in his own words” in time, and will soon file a legal response in court.
“We ask anyone following this case to reserve judgment as the evidence comes to light and all the actual facts of the case unfold,” Frost said. “We will be asking the Court to dismiss the lawsuit. We will also be asking the Court to address that in their statements to the press about Mr. Robinson, the plaintiff’s attorneys have reached beyond the bounds of liberties that even lawyers are typically allowed in this context.”
Robinson previously told the Daily Mail that he was “appalled” by the allegations in a brief phone call on Wednesday, May 7.
In a complaint filed in Los Angeles on Tuesday, May 6, Robinson was accused of sexual battery, assault, false imprisonment, gender violence and creating a hostile work environment by four women who previously worked for the star and his wife, Frances, over a period of nearly 20 years.
“Obviously, no amount of money can compensate these women for what Mr. Robinson put them through,” the plaintiffs’ attorney John Harris said at a news conference. “[But the $50 million is warranted] based on the gravity of Mr. Robinson’s despicable and reprehensible misconduct.”
The women — who all filed anonymously as Jane Doe — alleged that Robinson “repeatedly forced his fingers and penis into their vaginas, causing severe and excruciating pain” without consent, according to the complaint. The women also claimed he’d use “physical barriers, force, threats of force” and more to prevent them from leaving during the alleged assaults, like locking the door.
Frances, whom Robinson married in 2002, is also named in the lawsuit, as the plaintiffs allege that she had “full knowledge of his prior acts of sexual misconduct” and “failed to take the appropriate corrective action” to prevent his “deviant misconduct,” even after settling cases with other women who experienced similar alleged assaults by Robinson.
In the complaint, each of the four women lay out similar allegations, and each woman claims to have resigned from her position because of Robinson’s alleged misconduct. The plaintiffs say they did not report the Motown star’s alleged abuse to authorities for fear of “losing their livelihood, familial reprisal, public embarrassment, shame and humiliation,” and also because they felt “threatened and intimidated” by Robinson’s celebrity status.
Jane Doe 1 claims Robinson assaulted her at least seven times, while Jane Doe 2 claims she was assaulted by Robinson at least 23 times. Jane Doe 3 claims Robinson “raped” her “at least 20 times” over a period of 12 years, per the complaint, while Jane Doe 4 said she was first raped by the star in 2007, and such assaults “continued” before she quit in 2024.
The plaintiffs are seeking damages of at least $50 million.
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