A lawyer is seeking a criminal investigation into T.I. and Tiny Harris on behalf of 11 new victims accusing the couple of sexual assault, abuse, and drugging, along with facilitating abuse among other members of their circle. The new accusations come after dozens of alleged victims first accused the couple of sexual abuse and assault in late January, accusations denied by the couple at the time. Tyrone A. Blackburn, a New York–based lawyer, sent letters to state and federal prosecutors along with state attorneys general in Georgia and California on February 19 calling for investigations, Vulture confirmed. The New York Times first reported the letters, and Blackburn told the paper he received confirmation that the letters were delivered. A lawyer for T.I., born Clifford Harris, and Tiny, a.k.a. Tameka Harris, told Vulture the couple “deny in the strongest possible terms these unsubstantiated and baseless allegations.â€
The letters, obtained by Vulture, detail “eerily similar events of sexual abuse, forced ingestion of illegal narcotics, kidnapping, terroristic threats and false imprisonment,†as Blackburn describes. One of the victims alleges she was a 17-year-old intern to T.I. and Tiny’s studio when Tiny offered her alcohol and pills in the summer of 2006. According to Blackburn’s letter, she eventually passed out in a bedroom and woke up the next morning “bleeding from her vagina†and feeling “discomfort in her anus†and was given a morning-after pill by one of Tiny’s associates. Another woman, an Air Force veteran, claims she was given a drink by Tiny at a club and later taken to a hotel room with the couple. She eventually felt sick, after only having two drinks, and vomited. T.I. “attempted to put his foot into her vagina†against her consent, according to Blackburn, before she passed out. She woke up naked “with a very sore vagina.†Another victim, a former friend of Tiny’s, claims she was forced by T.I. to take drugs and “has personally witnessed women complaining of being kidnapped and held against their will for days at a time,†according to Blackburn. The other allegations detailed in the letter include drugging and violent threats, along with sexual assault by associates of T.I. and Tiny.
The Times said it has confirmed five victims’ accounts through interviews with victims and other witnesses. A friend of the veteran’s told the Times that she described being drugged and a non-consensual sex act in the days after the incident. The mother of the former friend of Tiny’s also told the Times that her daughter had told her about the drugging and sexual assaults by T.I. and Tiny.
Blackburn told the Times none of the victims he represented had previously shared their stories on social media. Sabrina Peterson, who has accused T.I. of once holding her at gunpoint, previously shared messages on Instagram from victims claiming they had been sexually assaulted, abused, and drugged by T.I. and Tiny. At the time, a spokesperson for the couple told Vulture, “Mr. and Mrs. Harris want to be on record and more importantly want the public to know they emphatically deny in the strongest way possible the egregiously appalling allegations being made against them by Sabrina Peterson.†The statement further threatened legal action. In the wake of those allegations, MTV paused production on the couple’s reality series T.I. & Tiny: Friends & Family Hustle.
Blackburn also represents Peterson, and his office said in a statement that he is filing a defamation lawsuit against T.I. and Tiny, along with Shekinah Anderson, in California on March 1. Anderson, who has appeared on the couple’s MTV reality show as Shekinah Jo, previously said in an Instagram Live that Peterson “recruited women†for T.I. and Tiny; she since took back the allegation on a subsequent Instagram Live.
Blackburn’s letter states that victims and witnesses “are prepared to speak with investigators and prosecutors,†and he added to the Times that many would like to pursue criminal charges. Steve Sadow, the lawyer for T.I. and Tiny, further told Vulture, “We are confident that if these claims are thoroughly and fairly investigated, no charges will be forthcoming.â€