A rape lawsuit against Metro Boomin is scheduled to go to trial.
According to Billboard, the trial will start on September 23, 2025, following “unsuccessful” settlement negotiations with Vanessa LeMaistre, who claims the producer attacked and impregnated her in 2016.
According to LeMaistre’s 2024 lawsuit, she took Xanax and drank wine during a recording session in Metro’s studio, blacked out, and woke up in a different place to discover the producer sexually abusing her while she was “completely unable to move or make a sound.”
Leland Wayne, also known as Metro, refuted the accusations, and his attorneys have referred to the lawsuit as a “pure shakedown.”
According to August 11 court documents that Billboard examined, the parties tried mediation with a retired judge in July but “continued limited settlement discussions, which have proven unsuccessful.”
After telling Metro about the death of her 9-month-old son, LeMaistre claims she met Metro in Las Vegas that year, became friends over music, and then went to his studio in California, where the alleged assault took place. She says she got pregnant, had an abortion, and that Offset, 21 Savage, and Quavo’s 2017 song “Rap Saved Me” makes reference to the attack.
An excerpt of the lyrics read, “She took a Xanny, then she fainted / I’m from the gutter, ain’t co hanging / From the gutter, rap saved me / She drive me crazy, have my baby.”
Metro insists the relationship was consensual and denied creating those lyrics. Years later, he accused LeMaistre of making up her story while under the influence of ayahuasca.
“These are false accusations,” said Metro’s lawyer Lawrence Hinkle after the lawsuit was filed in October 2024. “Mr. Wayne refused to pay her months ago, and he refuses to pay her now. Mr. Wayne will defend himself in court. He will file a claim for malicious prosecution once he prevails.”
LeMaistre’s attorney, Michael Willemin, said on Tuesday (Aug. 12) that Metro “has failed to comply with basic discovery obligations” but that we and Ms. LeMaistre have pushed the case forward aggressively, and, because of that, we are headed towards trial on September 23, 2025. We look forward to holding Mr. Wayne accountable in front of a jury of his peers.”
