In June of last year, Lauren Pisciotta sued her former boss for sexual harassment. What made this particular case unusual was that her boss was none other than Kanye West.
Pisciotta’s initial suit claimed that West sent her vulgar, racist, and explicit messages and videos. Several months later, she amended her suit to include more claims, including that the rapper wanted his wife, Bianca Censori, to watch him having sex with Pisciotta’s mother—and, more dramatically, that West drugged and sexually assaulted Pisciotta during a studio session with Diddy.
Pisciotta’s case has recently been taken up by The Bloom Firm, a law firm led by attorney Lisa Bloom. The firm specializes in, among other things, sexual harassment and sexual discrimination cases. They are also representing Dawn Richard in her civil lawsuit against Diddy.
In fact, it was in the courtroom during Diddy’s criminal trial that Complex connected with a partner at the firm, Arick Fudali. Fudali joined the firm in 2018 and became partner in 2021—the only partner at the firm besides Bloom herself. He has represented accusers against other high-profile folks like Jeffrey Epstein and the billionaire Alki David.
Complex called up Fudali recently to get an update on Pisciotta’s case and her life (per Fudali, she had to go into hiding earlier this year due to fallout from the lawsuit), and to find out what it’s been like to take Kanye West to court.
I wanted to ask you about Lauren and what handling her case has been like. To start with, can you give us an overview of Lauren’s relationship with Kanye?
Lauren allegedly met Mr. West through a female artist she was managing. They got connected, and eventually she began working for Kanye, doing all sorts of jobs. I believe she became chief of staff or something along those lines. She worked very hard under Mr. West.
What is the current status of the lawsuit?
The Bloom Firm took it over. We’ve been meeting and conferring on various issues with the court and with Mr. West’s counsel. Our intention is to, in the immediate future, file a second amended complaint, which will update the allegations and charges and claims.
What is happening in the case beyond that? What stage is it at?
It’s very early. There hasn’t really been any discovery or depositions yet. I certainly look forward to taking Mr. West’s deposition—I’ll get into why in a minute.
But other than that, it’s pretty early on in the case. Lauren, as I’ve said in public before, is basically in hiding. She is very afraid of Mr. West and Mr. West’s circle and Mr. West’s supporters. She’s received an enormous amount of online backlash and ridicule and hatred. Really ugly, gross stuff. So she literally is currently in hiding, and I can’t reveal even the vicinity of where she lives. That’s how serious it is for her right now.
The threats that made her go into hiding: Did they come from Kanye? From his personal circle? From fans who don’t know him?
It’s a little bit of everything. It’s sort of a mixed bag. If you look at some of the allegations in the complaint that was recently filed before us, I believe there’s some discussion of what she experienced from Mr. West. But if you just search “Lauren Pisciotta” on Reddit or Google or Twitter, you’re going to see some really gross and ugly things.
I don’t know if we can identify exactly who it’s from, but she’s been swatted, and there’s been various other things that have made her very nervous. That’s why she’s in hiding.
What is her life like now?
It’s very rough. I don’t know how much you know about Ms. Pisciotta, but she was a very public figure. She has a million followers on Instagram. She’s a model. She was a manager. She was working for arguably the most prolific person in music, in fashion, in art, in culture the last 20 years. Besides what she was experiencing, on paper she had the ultimate dream job for someone like her.
That’s all been taken away. She gave that up, and she is literally living in hiding. That’s been rough for her. Not to mention what she experienced. Mr. West has sort of admitted on Twitter to what she experienced while working for him.
Let’s talk about those messages. Kanye said a bunch of nasty things on X about her. What do you make of that? Is that something that can be used in the case? How unusual is that to happen in the middle of a lawsuit?
That’s a great question. I’ve represented alleged victims against a lot of very high profile people who have a platform and are able to speak very freely about anything they want.
I have never, in my entire career of representing alleged victims, seen a defendant tweet out admissions to the case in the middle of litigation and discovery. This is absolutely a new one.
And I can give you some quotes. I’m just going to say it out loud, but there’s some expletives here. “I used to fuck employees in my office.” “That employee”—excuse me—“pussy hits different.” “I need the whole office cum proof.” “Life is about using your position to fuck the baddest bitch possible.” “Wait. How many n-words found they wife at work? I’m just saying.” “You know that day when you hear noises coming from your mom’s room and you find out she’s a lesbian? You’re like, ‘Mom, that’s my babysitter. You’re sleeping with the employees.’ See, I got it from you, mom.” “I’m a walking Me Too.” “I’m a big-time perv.” “Grab a bitch by the pussy.” “My hugs be too long for sure.” If the CEO don’t hug you inappropriate, he’s a [expletive for homosexual].” I mean, that’s just to give a few.
I represent cases against a lot of volatile, unpredictable, high profile individuals who are not afraid to say things. I’ve never seen anything like this: where the defendant is admitting that he’s sexually harasses his employees, while I represent a former employee accusing him of sexual harassment. That is certainly a first for me.
As much as I look forward to deposing him, I also very much look forward to trying this case in front of a jury. With only just this evidence, there’s enough at this point.
What is it like to be in the middle of suing Kanye West? How is that different from suing anyone else, including other high profile people?
You know, it’s interesting. I was in college in the 2000s. I’ve watched Kanye West’s career closely from College Dropout through Yeezus through “Heil Hitler.” It’s been a jarring and shocking rise and demise like I’ve never seen.
What he has become publicly, I’m comfortable saying, is so abhorrent: declaring himself a Nazi, very proudly declaring himself an antisemite, proudly claiming that he sexually harasses his employees at work. I believe he tweeted he has dominion over his wife. What he has become publicly, and what he has admitted publicly, is a far, far cry from what he represented to me, and a lot of music fans in the 2000s.
It’s sort of similar to Diddy. As someone who was a very big fan of music and hip-hop, and grew up in the ‘90s and 2000s, it’s been sad to see what some of these people who are larger than life talents have become, to see what they’ve been accused of, and to see what they’ve admitted to.
Only talking about what admissions they’ve made: Mr. Combs has admitted to being a domestic abuser. His lawyers admitted that in open court. We all saw the video. Mr. West has admitted to being a sexual harasser and an antisemite. It’s sad. I really don’t know a better way to put it.
Ye threatened at one point to counter-sue. Has that threat materialized?
No, it has not. And if I had a nickel for every one of my defendants who threatened to counter-sue, I’d have retired a long time ago.
Often in civil case against high-profile people, observers say that the lawsuit is a money grab. How do you respond to that?
So, as much as I hear the threats of counter-suits, I also hear, “This is a money grab.” Especially when I’m in criminal court and my client is testifying, that’s a very common go-to for criminal defense attorneys. But it’s also a common go-to from defendants or civil defense attorneys.
The way I would respond is, we have a system of justice in the United States. The United States justice system allows one way for an alleged victim to become whole, and that is money damages. That’s the system we have. If someone has a better idea, I’d love to hear it. But that’s the system of justice we have.
When someone is allegedly wronged, when someone is allegedly sexually harassed, when someone is allegedly sexually abused, or allegedly raped, or allegedly sex trafficked, or anything, their remedy to make them whole is money damages.
I find it offensive, and I find it pretty frustrating, when people hold that right against alleged victims, as if they’re supposed to suffer in silence. As if they’re supposed to just sit around and not exercise their right to file a lawsuit against the person who allegedly wronged them, because it might look like a money grab. It’s not a money grab. It’s a right we have. Certainly, the other route is going through the criminal justice system, but unfortunately, that does not always bear out justice for the alleged victims.
I’m always reminding my clients that this is their right. No one holds it against you when you exercise your right to vote. No one holds against you when you exercise a lot of rights in this country. But for some reason, when you are brave enough to stand up to a high profile individual and exercise your right to bring a civil lawsuit in court and face a jury of your peers and give the accused their day in court, for some reason that is looked out upon. And that’s a very frustrating aspect of my profession.
During Diddy’s criminal trial, I saw you and Lisa at jury selection, and at the first couple days of the actual proceedings. What were you doing there? What kind of things were you thinking about?
That’s a great question. Since this is not a [televised] trial, we either have to rely on news reports or to be there in person.
It was really important for us to be there in person in support of our client Dawn Richard, who testified and in support of our client John Doe, who’s not a witness, but also has a civil lawsuit against Mr. Combs. And also just to hear and listen to what the defenses are, how the state intends to prove their case. That was all very fascinating for us to watch.
Do you think that some of the arguments Diddy’s team is using in this criminal case might show up in civil trials?
Certainly. When Ms. Richard testified, there were really only questions about what she observed with Ms. Ventura. There were no questions about Ms. Richard’s substantive allegations. But when the indictment came out against Mr. Combs, I was taken aback by how similar, how almost mirroring, some of the allegations and the charges were from our civil complaint and the indictment.
So seeing their strategy in defending this case, I can certainly glean and make assumptions about how they will ultimately defend the civil lawsuits as well.
Is there anything else you want people to know about Lauren’s case, or your work in general?
I love all these cultural cornerstones. I consume music and film and art and culture and fashion. To see some of the highest people in these arenas allegedly use their power and their influence to abuse, exploit, and harass those who are less powerful, it’s a very difficult and upsetting thing for me. I think that’s probably why I fight so hard and why I really value the opportunities I have to do what I do and represent these alleged victims.
