The attorney calls Songz's claim "pathetic" and a means of diverting attention from the allegations in the lawsuit.
In response to a lawsuit alleging sexual assault against Trey Songz, attorneys for the singer claimed that the victim's lawyer attempted to pay off a witness to corroborate the claims. It has already been discredited that the alleged victim's attorney Billboard has made the false claim.
Songz claimed that Jauhara Jeffries attorney Ariel E. Mitchell tried to get a witness to lie about the alleged assault by offering him more than $100,000, according to a motion filed in Miami court. As punishment, the filing argues that the misconduct was so severe that the case should be dismissed completely.
“Plaintiff and Ms. Mitchell have engaged in serious misconduct, and it warrants a serious sanction,” wrote attorneys Jeffrey A. Neiman and Derick Vollrath, who represent Songz.
A Billboard reporter spoke to Mitchell later Tuesday, and he told the publication the accusations in the filing were not only false, but also defamatory. A bar association in Florida had already cleared her of the same accusations of witness tampering raised by Songz's legal team last year.
“If they believed that I committed such an egregious action like bribing a witness, I would not be practicing law right now,” Mitchell said. “This is an attempt, and a pathetic one at that, to shift the narrative from what Trey Songz has been accused of.”
During the 2017 New Year's Eve celebration in Miami, Songz is alleged to have assaulted Jeffries in a nightclub. Jeffries, wearing a dress with a high slit up the back, allegedly violated her by touching her with his fingers while she danced on a couch. The claims are being denied by Songz.
A Witness #1 is said to have been present at the time of the alleged incident and can testify that an assault did not occur, according to Songz's filing on Tuesday. It was later reported that the same witness met with Mitchell for dinner in April 2021, during which the attorney sought to influence her to change her testimony.
“Ms. Mitchell also informed me that if I changed my testimony to corroborate [Plaintiff’s] version of events and testified on [Plaintiff’s] behalf, that she would pay me between $100,000 and $200,000, depending on the case’s ultimate settlement amount, if any,” the witness said, according to Tuesday’s filing.
According to Mitchell, Florida's bar association has already "thoroughly investigated" the allegations, and she plans to respond in court to confirm this. As for dinner with the witness, she said that she did have a conversation with him, but that nothing of the sort had happened.
"They might want to retract it before I sue for defamation," Mitchell said about Tuesday's filing.
Mitchell and her partner George Vrabeck are also representing Dylan Gonzalez, another woman who claims Songz assaulted her but has not yet filed a lawsuit. He denies those claims as well.