Indiana rapper Freddie Gibbs has been having a pretty rough summer. After being arrested in June in France on charges from an alleged rape in Austria in 2015, Gibbs was granted bail several weeks later, while he continued to claim innocence.
Yesterday, Austrian authorities formally charged Gibbs with sexual assault, Reuters reports, citing a Vienna criminal court spokesperson. The spokesperson confirmed the charges of “sexual abuse of a defenseless or psychologically impaired person” Wednesday. “[Gibbs] is alleged to have administered knock-out drops to a woman and then have abused her sexually while she was in a defenseless state.”
Gibbs may receive a maximum prison sentence of 10 years if Gibbs is found guilty, but Gibbs’ Austrian-based lawyer Thomas Kralik denied that the rapper had any sexual contact with the alleged victim. “He strenuously denies [the accusations],” Kralik said.
Gibbs’ US lawyer Theodore Simon maintained the rapper’s innocence in a statement:
“While Freddie Gibbs was charged with an offense today, it remains only an allegation, and it does not in any way change the actual facts that Freddie Gibbs is 100% innocent.
He continues to pursue every available means to demonstrate that he is absolutely innocent and that he has been both belatedly and wrongly accused. As the investigation and process continues, Mr. Gibbs remains hopeful that a thorough, searching and complete investigation will reveal the actual facts, including the absence of any scientific, physical, or credible evidence implicating him, thereby paving the way for his exoneration and return to his family and one-year old child. In accordance with Austrian procedure Mr. Gibbs has not as yet had the opportunity to provide the authorities and the Court with the substantial and compelling exonerating evidence that he has compiled.
Consistent with the available legal practices and procedures in Austria, Mr. Gibbs will ask the Court to release him on bail, under reasonable terms and conditions, as was done in France.
Through counsel Mr. Freddie Gibbs has consistently remained fully cooperative with law enforcement offices and judicial systems in both France and Austria and will continue to do so.”
Gibbs was scheduled to perform in Vienna on May 26th but the concert was cancelled due to “transportation issues.”
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