Diplo has reached a “resolution in principle” in his legal battle with a former lover who he accused of stalking him and who accused him of sexual assault.
Diplo has reached a “resolution in principle” in his legal battle with a former lover who he accused of stalking him.
The 46-year-old DJ – whose real name is Thomas Wesley Pentz – had been suing Shelly Auguste, a woman he had a sexual relationship with in 2019, for stalking, trespassing and revenge porn, while she had filed claims against him of sexual battery and assault, but on Monday (06.01.25), his legal team announced they have reached an agreement, meaning a trial scheduled to take place this month can be averted.
According to Rolling Stone magazine, Diplo’s lawyer, Brian Elliot Turnauer, told the court in Los Angeles: “We have a resolution in principle. We’re probably days, not weeks, away from getting it signed. There are one or two paragraphs to kind of tweak. We sent [revisions] over the weekend.”
Shelly’s lawyer, Kimberly Casper, confirmed she agreed with the settlement claim and then Judge Rolf M. Treu vacated the trial date but told both parties to return to court next Monday (13.01.25) to hopefully dismiss the case with a signed settlement in place.
Shelly first filed for a restraining order against Diplo in November 2020, and in her filing, she alleged she had met the producer online in 2014 when she was just 17 years old and accused him of having “groomed” her into exchanging intimate messages and of posting a sexually explicit image of her on an anonymous Twitter account in “revenge” after she claimed he had filmed one of their sexual encounters without consent.
In response, Diplo filed for his own restraining order the following month, branding the woman an “obsessed fan” who had “became vindictive” when he refused to continue seeing her after a “very brief sexual encounter”.
He disputed his accuser’s claim they had met in 2014, insisting it was March 2018 but admitted they had sex in April 2019 and again in July that year. But he alleged he then received a string of “lewd and obscene” messages and the woman became upset when he “refused to engage”.
Describing himself as a “victim of revenge porn”, Diplo also alleged Shelly had sent at least four sexually explicit videos of him to the mother of one of his children.
In January 2021, they entered a settlement concerning their restraining order requests, which restricted their rights to publish information and provided for binding arbitration of any disputes.
And three months later, Diplo demanded arbitration after accusing Shelly of continuing to post on social media about him and a week after that, he sued her for stalking, trespassing and revenge porn.
In June 2021, Shelly then filed her own lawsuit in which she alleged Diplo had “groomed her since she was a teenager” and forced her into having sex when highly intoxicated.
In September 2022, an arbitrator ruled both sides had violated their prior agreement but the DJ was awarded $1.2 million in damages.
Meanwhile, another woman has filed a “revenge porn” lawsuit against the star but last week, a judge ruled the anonymous female must use her real name if she wishes to proceed with the case.
Diplo has denied any wrongdoing and his lawyer has branded the case a “shakedown”.
Diplo reaches resolution in lengthy legal dispute
