Nicki Minaj Demands Sanction For Accuser's Lawyer

Nicki Minaj and her lawyer Judd Burstein are coming for attorney Tyrone Blackburn, who represented a woman named Jennifer Hough and accused the singer's husband Kenneth Petty of sexual assault in a 2021 lawsuit.

Minaj and her lawyer say Blackburn should be “severely punished” — through an award of fees and costs and a referral to the federal court’s Attorney Disciplinary Committee — for pursuing “frivolous” and “extortionate” litigation against Minaj “in such a reprehensible manner.”

Nicki Minaj and her Husband Kenneth PettyIn the filing on Monday, Minaj and her lawyer said the opposing lawyer had falsely claimed in court documents that the rapper was a member of Queens street gang called the Makk Ballers.

“Given that Mr. Blackburn had no evidence in his possession which would have remotely supported even an inference that Ms. Maraj belonged to the gang, and the allegation was entirely irrelevant to the issue of whether a default judgment should be entered against Mr. Petty, Mr. Blackburn surely acted in a bad faith effort to generate extremely negative media coverage about Ms. Maraj which also depicted Mr. Blackburn as a lawyer who was seeking to bring her to justice,” the motion for sanctions filed in Brooklyn Federal Court on Monday read.

Petty was convicted of sexual assault in 1995 after pleading guilty to attempted rape in connection with an incident that occurred on September 16, 1994, in Jamaica, Queens, New York.

Hough filed a $500,000 lawsuit against the pair in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York last summer, accusing them of harassment, witness intimidation, and intentional infliction of mental distress.

In January 2022, Hough decided to voluntarily dismiss the claim against Nicki Minaj but she is pursuing her lawsuit against the rapper's husband, Petty.