A woman filed a lawsuit on Wednesday, November 8, 2023 against him former Grammy Awards CEO Neil Portnow;accusing him of sexual assault in 2018, as well as against the Recording Academy for negligence.

The woman, who has not been named, filed the lawsuit in New York Supreme Court in Manhattan under the Adult Survivors Act, according to the Guardian. The measure, passed last year, created a temporary window for sexual assault allegations to file suit after the state’s usual deadlines.

In the lawsuit, the woman, described as an internationally known musician who once played at Carnegie Hall, said she met Neil Portnow in early 2018 and had arranged to meet him in New York later that year. She said he gave her something to drink at the meeting, which caused her to pass out at times, and then proceeded to assault her.

A spokesman for Portnow, who stepped down as chief executive in 2019, told the Guardian the allegations were and are “completely false” and “undoubtedly motivated by Mr Portnow’s refusal to comply with the plaintiff’s outrageous demands for money and help in obtaining a residence visa for her.”

In a statement, the Academy said: “The Academy has no affiliation with Portnow. We continue to believe the allegations are without merit and intend to vigorously defend our position in this lawsuit».