A woman who accused Bob Dylan of sexually abusing her in 1965, when she was 12 years old, on Thursday withdrew her lawsuit. The anonymous plaintiff, identified only as J.C., asked for a permanent dismissal the day after the singer’s legal team claimed she’d destroyed key evidence. “This case is over. It is outrageous that it was ever brought in the first place,” Dylan’s lead attorney said in an emailed statement to Billboard. “We are pleased that the plaintiff has dropped this lawyer-driven sham and that the case has been dismissed with prejudice.” The woman, who alleged Dylan abused her over a six-week period at the Chelsea Hotel in Manhattan, was herself accused of “irretrievably” compromising the integrity of her claims by deleting messages, whose contents have not been made public. After the complaint was filed last summer, Dylan’s lawyers were quick to label it a “brazen shakedown masquerading as a lawsuit.”
