$2.1M verdict in ‘criminal profiteering’ case against rapper and CHOP figure Raz Simone

Rapper Raz Simone has been found liable for criminal profiteering and hit with a $2.1 million verdict in a case brought by four women against the hip hop performer and prominent figure during the 2020 CHOP occupied protest on Capitol Hill.

“The verdict was issued Friday following a monthlong trial. But it has been nearly five years since the civil complaint was first filed, alleging Simone had groomed, trafficked and sexually assaulted multiple women across several states over the previous decade,” the Seattle Times reports.

In the case, the women said Simone forced them into prostitution and controlled their daily lives.

Simone has never been criminally charged over the allegations but an investigation by The Seattle Times and KUOW in 2022 revealed “that Seattle police had been aware of serious allegations against Simone and his music label, Black Umbrella, for years.”

Simone’s role in CHOP is debated as a fixture at the camp whose role has been described as everything from warlord by some media accounts to protest charlatan by those who were there. Lawyers in a separate civil rights case against the city over the killing of teen Antonio Mays Jr. maintained that Simone attempted to serve as a de facto chief of police at the camp.

In January, a jury found the city liable in the teen’s death and awarded his family $30 million.

The lawsuit against Simone previously included the Seattle Police Department as defendants but they were later dropped from the case.

Even without being part of the Simone jury verdict, Seattle’s CHOP legal damages have climbed, reaching $45 million in awards.

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