Grammy Award-winning music producer Antonio “L.A.” Reid settled a sexual assault lawsuit Monday with former record company executive Drew Dixon, who alleged he assaulted her twice in 2001 and undermined her career when she refused his continuing advances. The settlement was reached in New York on the day jury selection was scheduled to begin. Terms were not disclosed.
The resolution ends a case Dixon filed in 2023 under New York State’s Adult Survivors Act, which had provided sex abuse accusers a one-year window to bring claims regardless of elapsed time. Dixon, who helped advocate for the legislation, said she hoped the outcome would encourage other survivors in the music industry and beyond.
Standing with her family and attorneys outside a federal courthouse in Manhattan, Dixon said, “I’m excited to get back to making music.” She called the litigation an “arduous process.” Her mother, Sharon Pratt, a former mayor of Washington, D.C., called it an “excruciating journey.”
Reid’s attorney, Imran H. Ansari, said in a statement that Reid “has amicably resolved this matter with Ms. Dixon without any admission of liability.”
Dixon, a former executive at Arista Records, Def Jam and John Legend’s HomeSchool Records, alleged in her lawsuit that Reid sexually assaulted her twice in 2001 while he served as chief executive of Arista. She also alleged that Reid cut her budget and sidelined artists whose work she had championed after she refused his advances. Dixon left Arista in 2002 and contended that Reid’s conduct cut short what she described as her “meteoric trajectory” in the music business.
Reid, a 10-time Grammy nominee and three-time winner, co-founded LaFace Records with Kenneth “Babyface” Edmonds, a label that produced hits for Boyz II Men, Outkast and TLC. He later ran three of the industry’s major labels — Arista, Island Def Jam and Sony’s Epic Records — and is credited with shaping the careers of artists including Usher, Pink and Mariah Carey.
Reid left Epic Records in 2017 after a former female assistant accused him of sexual harassment. Dixon went public with her allegations against Reid the same year and detailed them in the 2020 documentary “On the Record,” which examined sexual misconduct in the music industry.
“I hope my work as an advocate for the Adult Survivors Act helps to bring all of us closer to a music business that is safer for everyone,” Dixon told reporters outside the courthouse. “And in a world where good news is often hard to find, I hope that survivors today see a ray of light peeking through the clouds.”
Musicians John Legend and Aku Orraca-Tetteh and recording executive Roy Lott had been scheduled to testify on Dixon’s behalf, according to her lawyer, Kenya Davis. Davis said the settlement would empower Dixon “to move forward with her creative pursuits on her own terms, with her reputation, her voice, and her career reaffirmed.”
Dixon has also alleged that music entrepreneur Russell Simmons raped her, an allegation Simmons denies. She has a pending defamation lawsuit against him.
In a written statement, Dixon said she plans to return to her music career. “While I have focused on sexual assault advocacy in recent years, I have never stopped fighting for my place in this industry,” she said. “I have big ideas for future projects that will be guided by creativity and integrity.”