Diplo accused of distributing revenge porn

Diplo has been accused of distributing nude photographs of a woman without her permission, it has emerged.

As reported by Pitchfork, the DJ was named in a police report filed with the Los Angeles Police Department in August, and in November that case was submitted to the Los Angeles city attorney’s office, where it is currently under review.

The woman, Shelly Auguste, has been in a legal battle with the producer – real name Thomas Wesley Pentz – since 2020. She had previously accused him of distributing revenge porn, but Pentz was not charged criminally on that occasion.

Diplo denied the original allegations in 2021.

In the new case, Auguste is suing Pentz for sexual battery, gender violence, intentional intrusion into private affairs, battery, assault, defamation, intentional infliction of emotional distress and fraud. In addition, he is being accused of acting in violation of the Ralph Civil Rights Act and the Tom Bane Civil Rights Act. A civil trial is scheduled for April 2024.

Diplo is also suing Auguste for stalking, trespassing and distributing private materials in a suit filed in April 2021. That claim alleged that Auguste is “dangerously unstable” and states that “she made relentless efforts to communicate with him” after he ended their relationship.

In response to the new allegations, Diplo’s attorney, Bryan J. Freedman, said: “For more than three years, Shelly Auguste has been orchestrating an ongoing smear campaign against Wes—and this is just more of the same.”

“Now, Ms. Auguste is at it yet again. But Wes will defend himself, and, just as he has done every time Ms. Auguste has defamed, harassed and attacked him and his family, he will win.”

According to Auguste’s account, the two met online in 2014 and their correspondence depended on her sending him nude photos. She alleges that he filmed them having sex in April 2019 without her consent and ejaculated inside her without consent.

There is another encounter described in Auguste’s suit from July 2019 when Diplo is said to have penetrated her without consent while she “tried to fight him off”, before running out of the hotel room in tears.

In November 2020, Auguste was granted a temporary restraining order against Diplo, and he has now secured one against her.

Shortly after Auguste received the order, Freedman said she “has been harassing [Diplo] and his family for more than a year and has repeatedly refused to stop doing so.”

In January 2021, the two signed a dual restraining order agreement. In September 2022, Auguste was found to have breached the agreement with social media posts and Diplo was consequently awarded a $1.2 million payment.

Auguste filed her new claim on August 18 this year, stating she was “the victim of revenge porn”. The report notes that Auguste told a police officer that she “sent […] nude videos and photographs to [Diplo] voluntarily. Those items were for him only and not to distribute to others.” She added that he “distributed some of the nude videos and photographs of her online.”

The report continues that Auguste “believes that [Diplo] is distributing the nude photographs because he is mad at her for recently filing legal action against him. She stated that he wants to harass and embarrass her.”

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