Bob Dylan sued for 'sexually abusing a 12-year-old girl in 1965': Woman claims singer groomed her, plied her with alcohol and drugs at his Chelsea Hotel apartment
A lawsuit filed Friday in Manhattan Supreme Court says Dylan gave drugs and alcohol to a 12-year-old girl before repeatedly sexually abusing her
Singer Bob Dylan groomed a 12-year-old girl for weeks, fed her drugs and alcohol and sexually abused her repeatedly, according to a lawsuit in Manhattan Supreme Court.
The now 65-year-old woman from Greenwich, Connecticut says it all took place in 1965, according to a 13-page complaint filed at 9.31pm on Friday, less than three hours before New York's deadline for old childhood sex abuse lawsuits.
Dylan, now 81, would have been 23 at the time he allegedly threatened the girl with physical violence and left her 'scarred and psychological damaged to this day', the lawsuit claims.
The singer's spokesperson told Page Six: 'This 56-year-old claim is untrue and will be vigorously defended.'
Identified only by the initials J.C., the woman claims some of the alleged incidents took place at the singer's apartment in the Chelsea Hotel, which was once home to famous artists such as Jimi Hendrix, Alice Cooper and Joni Mitchell.
'Bob Dylan, over a six-week period between April and May of 1965 befriended and established an emotional connection with the plaintiff,' the lawsuit says.
The alleged abuse took place between April and May 1965, when Dylan would have been 23 years old. Above, Dylan records Bringing It All Back Home in New York in January of that year
He 'exploited his status as a musician' to provide J.C. with 'alcohol and drugs and sexually abuse her multiple times,' it continues.
It goes on to say that Dylan established a 'connection' to 'lower J.C.' inhibitions with the object of sexually abusing her, which he did, coupled with the provision of drugs, alcohol and threats of physical violence, leaving her emotionally scarred and psychologically damaged to this day.'
The lawsuit claims assault, battery, false imprisonment and emotional distress.
It seeks compensatory, punitive and exemplary damages based on physical and emotional injuries from her time with the singer.
'J.C. sustained physical and psychological injuries, including but not limited to, severe emotional and psychological distress, humiliation, fright, disassociation, anger, depression, anxiety, personal turmoil and loss of faith, a severe shock to her nervous system, physical pain and mental anguish, and emotional and psychological damage.'
The effects of the alleged abuse 'are of a permanent and lasting natures and have incapacitated plaintiff from attending her regular activities,' the suit states.
On Monday, J.C.'s lawyer, Daniel Isaacs, told Page Six that, 'the complaint speaks for itself.'
Isaacs did not immediately return requests for comment from DailyMail.com.
Dylan was born Robert Allen Zimmerman in Duluth, Minnesota.
Some of the alleged abuse happened at the famed Chelsea Hotel, which was once home to musicians and artists including Jimi Hendrix, Alice Cooper, Iggy Pop and Joni Mitchell
The folk singer's 60-year-career has netted him 10 Grammy Awards and a Nobel Prize in Literature, awarded in 2016 for 'having created new poetic expressions within the great American song tradition.'
The lawsuit came hours before the New York's Child Victims Act closed its 'look back window' Saturday.
From August 2019 until then, victims of child sexual abuse could bring old claims to court.
Almost 11,000 lawsuits were filed in the two-year period, according to the New York Office of Court Administration.
The biggest share of lawsuits, 2,606, were filed in Manhattan, followed by Brooklyn with 1,620 and Erie County, where the city of Buffalo is, with 1,219.
Four of the state’s Roman Catholic dioceses have filed for bankruptcy partly as a result of litigation unleashed by the state’s Child Victims Act, according to the Associated Press.