Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty, Melanie Stewart-Smith and Laura Jones
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Kanye West’s former assistant is scared and still in hiding after filing sexual assault claims against the rapper, her lawyer has told the BBC.
Lauren Pisciotta, 36, who started working for West in 2021, first filed a lawsuit against him in June 2024 alleging she was sexually harassed and stalked.
In updated claims, which were filed this year, she accused West, also known as Ye, of sex trafficking, stalking, assault and rape.
West denies her claims, which he calls a “fantasy fiction”.
The civil case is due to return to court in the US next month, but Ms Pisciotta’s lawyer says his client is currently in hiding and is “afraid”.
Warning: Readers may find some details in this story distressing
Speaking to the BBC, Arick Fudali said Ms Pisciotta had now deleted most of her internet presence and is now “just sort of sitting around and hiding – letting this lawsuit play out”.
He added: “It’s really sad – she’s gone through a lot. She is suffering and has been suffering since she began working for Mr West.”
Ms Pisciotta started working for West in 2021 and first filed her lawsuit against the rapper on 3 June 2024 alleging sexual harassment, breach of contract and wrongful termination.
Earlier this month, an amended claim was filed alleging that six days later she became a victim of targeted “swatting”, which she claims West was organising.
Swatting involves the reporting of serious crimes at a specific location in order to prompt law enforcement to raid the site.
Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty hosts the BBC Sounds ‘Fame Under Fire’ podcast, scrutinising the trending celebrity stories, and getting to the truth behind the timeline. Available wherever you get your BBC podcasts.
In Ms Pisciotta’s amended lawsuit, filed on 10 July 2025, she claims she was “bombarded with unwanted, harassing, and alarming” visits from the police. In one instance, she says the Palm Beach Sheriff’s office performed an armed raid at her property in Florida after receiving a report that Ms Pisciotta had killed her own mother.
Ms Pisciotta also claims that around this time she started to receive phone calls from individuals warning her not to pursue the lawsuit and that she would not “prevail” against West.
Lauren Pisciotta / Instagram
Lauren Pisciotta says she had 15 years experience in the music industry before working with West
Ms Pisciotta alleges that during her time working for West she was repeatedly sexually assaulted and harassed.
On one occasion, while working on the DONDA album, Ms Pisciotta claims that West came to her hotel room and demanded to use her shower. The document details that after some time he came out of the bathroom and dropped his towel revealing his penis and she claims he raped her orally.
Ms Pisciotta also claims that West frequently engaged in sexual activity with Yeezy – the company founded by the rapper – staff members in the office and that he would record the encounters and send them to her. She says he would frequently text her about sexual fantasies involving her.
Ms Pisciotta also claims that West “exposed his employees to extreme displays of racism and antisemitism on a daily basis.
“Ye constantly used derogatory, antisemitic slurs, and interrogated employees he suspected were Jewish. On multiple occasions, Ye demanded that his assistants and other employees draw swastikas in the workplace,” the lawsuit says.
West responds
In an interview with the BBC’s Fame Under Fire podcast, Mr Fudali highlighted that some of West’s posts on social media appear to admit some of her claims.
Mr Fudali told presenter Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty: “He [West] has a song called Heil Hitler. He calls himself a walking ‘Me Too’. He admits to sexually harassing his employees. You see all that he’s done publicly, you can imagine what he has done in private.”
West’s social media posts do not directly admit guilt to any legal claims and his team strongly deny the allegations.
Mr Fudali says all of West’s tweets will be brought up as evidence during his deposition with the rapper and shown in court during the trial.
The BBC asked West’s team for a response to the claims. His team did not reply but West’s spokesperson previously told USA Today: “Lauren Pisciotta’s amended complaint is the fourth version she has advanced. Each new revision contradicts the others.”
It goes on to call the latest claim a “breathless new instalment of fantasy fiction [that] discredits all past, present and future testimony”.
The spokesperson added: “We stand ready to annihilate Ms Pisciotta’s tall tales before a jury − an exoneration so inevitable that even she, lost in her fog of fantasy, must surely see it coming.”
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