Russell Simmons Misses Deadline to Pay Accusers

Last year Def Jam co-founder, Russell Simmons, quietly settled with three out of more than twenty accusers and agreed to pay a $3.4 million settlement [click here if you missed that].

Now the accusers are claiming they never got paid...

From AllHipHop

In court filings submitted [last] week in the New York Supreme Court, attorneys for Sheri Abernathy, Sil Lai Abrams and Wendy Carolina Franco claim the Def Jam co-founder missed a January 1 deadline to pay out the agreed-upon amounts from confidential settlements signed in October 2025.

Each woman received a signed confession of judgment from Simmons, allowing them to pursue larger amounts if he defaulted.

According to the documents, Russell Simmons agreed to pay Abernathy and Abrams $1,162,617.77 each and Franco $512,064.88. Because he allegedly failed to pay, they are now seeking increased “confessed” amounts, including interest and enforcement costs: $1,614,290.74 for Abernathy and Abrams, and $711,000.31 for Franco.