A New York woman who claims Diplo shared sexually explicit videos of her without her consent must use her real name instead of a Jane Doe pseudonym if she wants to proceed with her “revenge porn” lawsuit filed against the famous DJ last June.
In a ruling this week, U.S. District Court Judge Mónica Ramírez Almadani said the woman did not meet the requirements to proceed anonymously, either in terms of privacy concerns or potential danger. Lawyers for Diplo, born Thomas Wesley Pentz, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling.
“Plaintiff has not made a sufficient factual showing as to the severity and reasonableness of threatened harm and her vulnerability to justify the need for anonymity,” the judge said in her decision. “The court appreciates that plaintiff’s allegations in her complaint are ‘sensitive and [of a] highly personal nature,’ [and] that she may face some public scrutiny if she were to proceed in her own name because Pentz is a public figure. However, absent a demonstrated need for anonymity, there is a prevailing public interest in open judicial proceedings.”
Jane Doe’s lawyers said Friday that they plan to appeal the decision. “Especially where the defendant is famous, the forced disclosure of a victim’s name can open the door to public smear campaigns and abusive fear tactics against them. This can cause irreparable harm to a victim’s mental, physical, and financial health, as well as chill access justice for all survivors. Jane Doe intends to request that the court reconsider this ruling and if necessary to appeal this order for another chance at saving herself from harm and protecting her privacy, dignity, and mental health,” attorney Micha Liberty said in a statement sent to Rolling Stone.
“The imbalance of power in a situation like this is startling and should not be underestimated by the public, or by the courts. In the digital age, being compelled to disclose one’s name in such proceedings risks permanently linking a survivor to their trauma,” lawyers Margaret Mabie and Helene Weiss, who also represent the Jane Doe plaintiff, added.
In her lawsuit filed in federal court in Los Angeles, the woman alleges she was 21 years old in April 2016 when she began communicating with Pentz, who was 37 at the time, over Snapchat. According to the woman, she and Pentz went on to engage in an intimate relationship that lasted several years. She acknowledges that occasionally she allowed Pentz to record them having sex, but claims she “never gave him permission to distribute those images and videos to third parties.” She alleges that between 2018 and 2023, Pentz recorded himself having sex with her and then shared the video with others over both text messaging and Snapchat. The woman claims that a different woman contacted her in November 2023 to say Pentz had shared some of the “intimate material” with her on Snapchat on Oct. 14, 2018.
The woman suing Pentz in federal court says that she immediately reported the alleged sharing to the New York City Police Department on Nov. 7, 2023. In a statement to Rolling Stone last June, the NYPD confirmed it had opened a probe. “There is a criminal complaint on file for unlawful dissemination for a suspect with the name of Thomas Pentz which is currently being investigated by NYPD detectives,” an NYPD spokesperson said. The department did not immediately respond to a request for an update on the investigation sent Friday.
Pentz, 46, has denied the woman’s allegations. His lawyer, Bryan Freedman, called the lawsuit an “obvious shakedown” attempt. “Time and again, Wes has been targeted by a group of untrustworthy individuals and their unscrupulous lawyers, cobbling together falsehoods in search of a meritless payday,” Freedman said. “This suit seems to be just more of the same, which is why we have no reason to believe that this will end any differently than all the others.”
The woman’s lawsuit wasn’t the first time Pentz has been accused of “revenge porn.” Another woman, Shelly Auguste, sought a restraining order against the DJ in November 2020. At the time, she alleged Pentz had distributed “revenge porn” images of her in an effort to “humiliate her and to scare other women out of coming forward” against him.
Pentz denied the allegations and sued Auguste in April 2021 with claims she stalked him, trespassed on his property, and sent intimate videos of Pentz to his friends and family. Auguste responded by filing a separate lawsuit against Pentz in June 2021 that alleged he started on online relationship with her in 2014, when she was 17 and he was 36. In her lawsuit, she alleged Pentz “groomed” her and had sex with her while she was “highly intoxicated.” A hearing on the dueling state court cases is set for next week.
The New York Jane Doe, meanwhile, now must file an amended pleading with her name to continue her lawsuit seeking damages. In statement previously shared with Rolling Stone, her lawyer, Micha Star Liberty, said Pentz’s alleged actions represented “a severe abuse of power.”
“Revenge pornography is an abhorrent violation of privacy and trust, inflicting profound emotional trauma on victims like Jane Doe,” the lawyer said. “It is imperative that we, as a society, condemn such actions and hold perpetrators accountable. This lawsuit is a vital step towards justice, highlighting the necessity of protecting the rights of those who have been exploited.”
From Rolling Stone US
