Kim Kardashian and her mother, Kris Jenner, have filed a defamation lawsuit against Ray J, the onetime sex partner of the reality TV star-turned-activist and businesswoman, after he suggested on a livestream video that the two were involved in an illegal criminal enterprise and were about to be under federal indictment.
The 13-page suit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on Wednesday, comes after singer and songwriter Ray J, whose real name is Ray Norwood, Jr., told viewers of a livestream last week that he is working with prosecutors on a RICO case involving the famous women, who appear on a reality TV series that led to what “momager” Jenner calls “amazing businesses that became super successful”; The Kardashian-Jenner family’s combined net worth is now estimated at over $2 billion.
In the legal filing, obtained on Wednesday by The Hollywood Reporter, the mother and daughter explain how Norwood has been waging a war against them for decades, but that his recent repeated claims about a federal criminal investigation into racketeering are over the line and could damage their careers and reputations. Kardashian and Norwood dated in the 1990s and it was a leaked sex tape between the young lovebirds that launched Kardashian into fame. This was explained as the key motive of the defendant by Alex Spiro, the attorney representing Kardashian and Jenner.
“Unable to accept the end of his fleeting relationship with Ms. Kardashian over 20 years ago, Ray J has repeatedly sought to attach himself to Plaintiffs’ names and exploit their prominence for personal gain,” read the lawsuit.
The suit cites a moment in the TMZ documentary on Sean “Diddy” Combs, who this summer beat a federal RICO charge of his own, when Ray J is heard saying, “If you told me the Kardashians were being charged for racketeering, I might believe it.”
The suit alleges that this comment in the documentary that aired on Tubi was “designed to plant the seed” that the mother and daughter were under investigation. Then, the suit states, Ray J then doubled down on the claim during a livestream with Chrisean Rock on Sept. 24.
“The feds are coming, there’s nothing I can do about it. It’s worse than Diddy,” Norwood claimed to the live audience.
The singer did not provide any evidence of his assertion; this is noted in the suit: Ray J’s public statements are blatantly false: “No such federal investigation exists; no law enforcement agency has initiated any criminal proceedings or investigations related to racketeering charges against Ms. Kardashian or Ms. Jenner; and no credible evidence whatsoever supports these inflammatory allegations,” the suit reads.
This is not the first instance of the three dancing parties around a legal battle. Ray J threatened to sue Jenner in 2922 after she appeared on The Late Late Show with James Corden to take a lie detector test as she denied helping her daughter release the sex tape featuring her and Ray J.
Notably, given the amount of content the two produce, this is the initial defamation suit to be launched by Kardashian or Jenner. But Ray J’s claims, which they said the false and serious allegations, “left no choice.”
