Busta Rhymes has countersued his former personal assistant Dashiel Gables, who accused the rapper of assaulting him during an argument the pair allegedly had in January
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Busta Rhymes has countersued his former personal assistant(Image: Billboard via Getty Images)
Busta Rhymes has hit back at his former personal assistant by filing a countersuit, claiming the ex-employee “fabricated” allegations that the rapper assaulted him in January.
The 53-year-old musician, whose real name is Trevor George Smith Jr., submitted a counterclaim in federal court accusing his former assistant, Dashiel Gables, of defamation after the latter sued him for alleged assault and wrongful termination.
In the court documents, the Touch It hitmaker stated that the accusations significantly damaged his public standing and professional reputation.
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He claims he has suffered “damage to reputation, goodwill, and standing in the music and advertising industries”, as well as a loss of “advertising campaigns and other business opportunities”.
According to court documents obtained by People magazine, Busta is now seeking “special damages in an amount to be proven at trial”, and has added that in his opinion “Gables’ conduct was willful, wanton, and malicious, warranting an award of punitive damages”.
Gables, who worked for the hip-hop star from July 2024 until early this year, claimed that his employment ended after he reported an alleged assault to police.
However, Busta firmly denies the allegations, writing in his counterclaim: “Smith did not assault or batter Gables. Gables knew the statements were false, or acted with reckless disregard for the truth, including by fabricating allegations of criminal conduct and violence, omitting exculpatory facts and deliberately ignoring contrary evidence. At a minimum, Gables acted negligently in ascertaining the truth.”
The former assistant, who also goes by the name Divine, filed his own civil complaint on August 4, requesting a jury trial. He alleged that a confrontation in January 2025 escalated when Busta screamed at him to “stay the f*** off your phone” while he was trying to contact his daughter, before allegedly punching him twice in the face.
Gables claimed he suffered a swollen eye, filed a police report, and was subsequently fired, which he says “effectively blacklisted [him] from employment opportunities in his chosen field [in the music industry]”.
Gables’ lawsuit also alleges verbal abuse, wage violations, and discrimination, claiming Busta “routinely degraded and screamed” at him, used a homophobic slur, and mocked his hearing problems.
He is seeking compensation for lost wages, unpaid overtime, and damages under the Fair Labour Standards Act and New York Labour Law.
This court battle comes two years after Busta Rhymes went through a dramatic physical transformation. The rapper, who once weighed 340 pounds (24 stone) , told Men’s Health that he lost around 100 pounds (nearly 8 stone) after suffering a terrifying asthma-like attack during an intimate moment with his ex.
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After his father died in 2014, Busta turned to “drinking, smoking and eating bad” to cope with grief. But after the health scare, he vowed to turn his life around.
“I felt like I was having like an asthma attack — but I don’t have asthma,” he said, adding that his ex told him he needed to lose weight for his own wellbeing.
HMP Wakefield – dubbed ‘Monster Mansion’ – is home to some of the Britain’s most depraved criminals from terrorists, murderers, rapists and ‘Hannibal the Cannibal’ who is caged in an underground glass box
Category A prison HMP Wakefield carries the chilling nickname ‘Monster Mansion’ for holding around 600 of Britain’s most dangerous criminals.
On Saturday morning, former Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins died in the jail following an alleged attack. Two of Watkins’ former inmates are accused of his murder – Rashid Gedel, 25, who was referred to as Rico Gedel during a hearing this week, and Samuel Dodsworth, 43.
Emergency services were sent to the West Yorkshire prison but disgraced rock star Watkins, 48, who was serving a 29-year sentence for child sex offences, was pronounced dead at the scene.
There is no suggestion that Gedel and Dodsworth were involved in a previous attack against Watkins in 2023. To years ago the Mirror reported that three unnamed inmates held paedophile Watkins hostage for six hours where he was beaten and stabbed in the neck in a ‘targeted and prolonged’ attack.
Officers had to wait for an armed ‘Tornado’ team of specially trained riot officers to break up the situation with grenades being hurled into the cell to free Watkins.
The depraved frontman had been locked up at the west Yorkshire prison since 2013 when he was jailed for 35 years for 13 offences against children, including the attempted rape of an 11 month old baby.
A source told The Sun Watkins has been walking around with a ‘target on his back’ with fellow inmates biding for less staff to be on shift to make their move.
READ MORE: Lostprophets paedo Ian Watkins ‘stabbed in brutal jail attack’ and is fighting for life
Watkins was left ‘fighting for his life’ after being given emergency treatment in an ambulance outside the prison where he was caged.
The Lostprophets Singer included, HMP Wakefield is home to some of Britain’s most high-profile, high-risk sex offenders and murderers. The likes of Charles Bronson, Harold Shipman and Jeremy Bamber have been counted among the notorious residents.
After being caught with a mobile phone behind bars in 2019, Watkins told a court that he was locked up with “murderers, mass murderers, rapists, paedophiles, serial killers’.
“The worst of the worst,” he told the judge, before another 10 months were added to his sentence for the rule break.
Wakefield is one of oldest prisons in the UK having originally been built as a correction house back in 1594 with many of the current buildings dating from the Victoria era. In 2001 an ultra-secure unit – the first of its kind in the UK – was added to the site, built especially to cage some of Britain’s most dangerous criminals.
The notorious jail also contains an underground glass box where murderer Robert Maudsley, chillingly dubbed ‘Hannibal the Cannibal’, has spent over 16,500 consecutive days in isolation.
Channel 5 documentary HMP Wakefield: Evil Behind Bars revealed that sex offenders are regarded as the “lowest form of life” in the prison with one contributor to the programme referring to those inmates as the “dregs of society”.
Watkins is not the first prisoner to have been attacked on the grounds with previous attacks being made against inmates who commit crimes against children. In August 2022 Lithuanian Deividas Skebas, a former fruit picket, had to be airlifted to hospital after a group set upon him. He had been serving time for stabbing nine-year-old Lilia Valutyte to death.
Roy Whiting, who murdered schoolgirl Sarah Payne, has been slashed and scarred in a number of revenge attacks made against him during his time at Wakefield.
In 1978, Robert Maudsley killed two fellow prisoners at Wakefield Prison in one day; he had originally set out to kill seven.
Some of HMP Wakefield’s most notorious inmates include:
Robert Maudsley
Robert John Maudsley has killed four people, with one of the killings taking place in a psychiatric hospital and two in prison after receiving a life sentence for a murder.
Maudsley – dubbed Hannibal the Cannibal – has been in jail since the age of 21, after he was found guilty of murdering convicted child molester John Farrell, aged 30, in 1974.
He surrendered himself to police, and was later sent to Broadmoor hospital after being deemed unable to stand trial. While under psychiatric care, Maudsley and another patient, David Cheeseman, tortured a third patient to death over a period of nine hours. Maudsley was convicted of manslaughter and sent to Wakefield Prison.
In 1978 Maudsley killed two fellow prisoners at Wakefield Prison in one day. After stabbing two inmates to death, Maudsley is said to have calmly walked into the wing office and told guards there would be ‘two short’ on the next roll call.
Earlier this year, the twisted triple murderer set a new world record for the most days spent in solitary confinement, and last month, he turned 70 behind bars. The specially-built cell, where he is kept at Wakefield Prison, is said to be 18ft by 15ft – which is slightly bigger than average – and has a concrete slab for a bed.
Maudsley is now deemed to be so dangerous that he is no longer allowed to associate with other prisoners or even guards, and spends all of his time alone, entombed in a glass box deep in the bowels of the prison. He will never again be a free man and instead remains in the tiny see-through room that has been his home for decades.
Jeremy Bamber
Bamber is serving life with no chance of parole after he was convicted of the White House farm murders – a desperate attempt to steal a large inheritance and blame his schizophrenic 28-year-old sister. He killed his adoptive parents, sister, and nephews in the 1985 massacre.
The now 62-year-old has tried repeatedly to have his conviction overturned. As of this year, Bamber has spent 38 years behind bars making him one of the longest serving prisoners in the UK.
Roy Whiting
Whiting was found guilty of the abduction and murder of seven-year-old Sarah Payne in July 2000.
Ineligible for parole until 2051, Whiting has been the target of a number of revenge attacks while inside HMP Wakefield.
In 2002 he was attacked with a razor while fetching hot water. Then in 2004 murderer Rickie Tregaskis slashed Whiting and left him with a six-inch scar across his right cheek, adding a further six years to his sentence.
In July 2011 Whiting was attacked again after being stabbed in the eye but decided not to press charges. He was attacked for a fourth time in 2018 when he was stabbed by two other prisoners and taken to hospital for treatment. He later returned to his cell in a stable condition.
Harold Shipman
British doctor Shipman is thought to be one of the most prolific serial killers of all time. Before his suicide, the man dubbed ‘Dr Death’ had been convicted of murdering 15 patients but was thought to have killed far more.
He is suspected to have killed as many as 250 people, and would kill elderly patients by either lethally injecting them with a drug, or prescribing abnormal amounts.
He died at HMP Wakefield on January 13, 2004.
Reynhard Sinaga
Sinaga, an Indonesian PhD student at Leeds University, would lure victims to his flat before sedating and raping them – then taking to WhatsApp to boast about his actions. Known as ‘Britain’s worst rapist’ he was sent to Wakefield in 2020 after sexually assaulting up to 200 men – including 136 rapes of young men committed in Manchester between 2015 and 2017.
He was sentenced in January 2020 to 40 years in jail.
Charles Bronson
Charles Bronson, regarded as the country’s ‘most violent prisoner’ has also enjoyed a spate of time behind Wakefield’s bars.
Bronson who was born under the name Michael Peterson was convicted of armed robbery in 1974 and gone on to spend most of his life behind bars.
Ian Watkins
Former Lostprophets frontman Ian Watkins was sentenced to 29 years in prison in 2013 after being convicted of a string of ‘depraved’ crimes against young children, which included attempting to rape an 11-month-old baby. Detective Chief Inspector Peter Doyle said at the time: “The investigation uncovered the most disturbing child abuse evidence I have seen in my 28 years as a police officer.”
In August 2023, the Mirror revealed that Watkins was fighting for his life after three inmates took him hostage. The former musician suffered from stab wounds and beatings.
It took prison officers around six hours to free the convicted sex offender which resulted in stun grenades being used. Sources claim that medical staff were working in an ambulance outside the West Yorkshire-based prison in a bid to save Watkins’ life.
A source revealed that there had been fears the attack would have killed Watkins. A Prison Service spokesperson said: “Police are investigating an incident which took place on Saturday at HMP Wakefield. We are unable to comment further while the police investigate.”
In 2013, the Welsh native pleaded guilty at Cardiff Crown Court to 13 child sex offences. He also admitted to the rape and sexual assault of a child who was under the age of 13. Watkins also admitted conspiring to rape a child, three counts of sexual assault involving children, seven involving taking, making or possessing indecent images of children and one of possessing an extreme pornographic image involving a sex act on an animal.
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Sentencing Mr Justice Royce said the case broke ‘new ground’ and ‘plunged into new depths of depravity’. He said Watkins had a ‘corrupting influence’ and had shown a ‘complete lack of remorse’. He added Watkins posed a significant risk to the public in particular to women with young children.
Governor Mai Mala Buni of Yobe State has approved the immediate release of ₦5.8 billion for the settlement of all outstanding gratuity liabilities owed to retired state public officers.
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“This significant milestone underscores the administration’s unwavering commitment to the welfare of its dedicated civil servants who have served the state meritoriously,” a statement by the Commissioner of Finance, Mohammed Geidam, partly read.
The statement added that the governor has further directed that, going forward, the payment of gratuities must be integrated into the state’s monthly financial schedule.
“This means that cleared gratuity payments will be made monthly, alongside the regular pension payments, ensuring that no future backlog of retirement benefits is allowed to accumulate,” the commissioner said.
Financial Relief
Geidam added that the approval of ₦5.8 billion is a “clear demonstration of Governor Buni’s compassionate leadership and his administration’s deep appreciation for the years of service rendered by Yobe’s retirees”.
“By clearing this substantial backlog and institutionalising a prompt, monthly payment system, the governor has provided much-needed financial relief and restored dignity to our senior citizens,” he added.
The statement emphasised that the Ministry of Finance and the office of the Head of Service are working collaboratively to ensure the seamless and transparent disbursement of these funds to all affected retirees immediately.
Scott McTominay showed Manchester United what they had wrongly discarded last season and his new Napoli team-mate Rasmus Hojlund will follow suit this campaign, according to ex-goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel.
The 22-year-old has scored four goals in six games for the Serie A leaders since his summer loan switch, which includes a clause to make the deal permanent.
That tally is the same as the number of Premier League goals he managed for United in the previous campaign.
McTominay moved in the same direction 12 months earlier, with his title-winning form in Italy earning the Scotland midfielder Serie A’s player of the year award and a Ballon d’Or nomination.
Schmeichel, who won five Premier League titles at Old Trafford, remains bewildered by the decision to sell McTominay and questions the wisdom of parting with his fellow Dane Hojlund and replacing him with Benjamin Sesko.
“At United you’ve got a head coach [Ruben Amorim], then you had a director of football [Dan Ashworth], a technical director or whatever Jason Wilcox’s title is, and you’ve got a head of recruitment [Christopher Vivell], who is very powerful,” he told BBC podcast Sacked in the Morning.
“You’ve got a lot of people deciding on who is coming in.
“For instance, the signing of Benjamin Sesko was a little bit weird to me because we have Rasmus Hojlund, who has been starved of service for two years.
“You only have to see what he’s doing at Napoli with Kevin de Bruyne and Scott McTominay to play with – he’s scoring goals.
“I’ve consistently said this for two-and-a-half years – Rasmus Hojlund will be a 25-goal-a-year striker for Manchester United, but he needs service.
“We let him go on the stats that he scored very little goals last season and bring Sesko in at the time we bring in Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbuemo, who would give Hojlund first-class service.
“You spend £70m-plus on Sesko, when we don’t have the number six we should have, and there’s the goalkeeping position as well.
“This season alone we’ve conceded nine goals from goalkeeping errors. When I played, when Edwin van der Sar played, when David de Gea played, the brief was win 10 points a season, you don’t give points away.
“Why did we bring someone in that we didn’t need? Because the head of recruitment comes from Leipzig [also Sesko’s former club] and he’s got to make a mark.
McTominay scored 13 goals and provided six assists in his debut campaign at Napoli, having been with United since primary school.
He has one goal and one assist so far this season.
“What’s he doing at Napoli?” said Schmeichel, who also won three FA Cups and a Champions League at Old Trafford. “He is so Manchester United.
“The problem was his versatility, because you have players who can only play in one position. Managers didn’t trust him to build the team around. They want the neat players. He was the victim of that time and again.
“Phil Neville was a little bit the same. He never really got a starting XI spot, but he played an awful lot of games because he could play different roles.
“I don’t get why those two are at Napoli. You will get no-one with more enthusiasm for Manchester United than Rasmus Hojlund. He was writing about playing for the club when he was 10 years old. He’s a massive fan.
Scott McTominay showed Manchester United what they had wrongly discarded last season and his new Napoli team-mate Rasmus Hojlund will follow suit this campaign, according to ex-goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel.
The 22-year-old has scored four goals in six games for the Serie A leaders since his summer loan switch, which includes a clause to make the deal permanent.
That tally is the same as the number of Premier League goals he managed for United in the previous campaign.
McTominay moved in the same direction 12 months earlier, with his title-winning form in Italy earning the Scotland midfielder Serie A’s player of the year award and a Ballon d’Or nomination.
Schmeichel, who won five Premier League titles at Old Trafford, remains bewildered by the decision to sell McTominay and questions the wisdom of parting with his fellow Dane Hojlund and replacing him with Benjamin Sesko.
“At United you’ve got a head coach [Ruben Amorim], then you had a director of football [Dan Ashworth], a technical director or whatever Jason Wilcox’s title is, and you’ve got a head of recruitment [Christopher Vivell], who is very powerful,” he told BBC podcast Sacked in the Morning.
“You’ve got a lot of people deciding on who is coming in.
“For instance, the signing of Benjamin Sesko was a little bit weird to me because we have Rasmus Hojlund, who has been starved of service for two years.
“You only have to see what he’s doing at Napoli with Kevin de Bruyne and Scott McTominay to play with – he’s scoring goals.
“I’ve consistently said this for two and a half years – Rasmus Hojlund will be a 25-goals-a-year striker for Manchester United, but he needs service.
“We let him go on the stats that he scored very little goals last season and bring Sesko in at the time we bring in Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbuemo, who would give Hojlund first-class service.
“You spend £70m-plus on Sesko, when we don’t have the number six we should have, and there’s the goalkeeping position as well.
“This season alone we’ve conceded nine goals from goalkeeping errors. When I played, when Edwin van der Sar played, when David de Gea played, the brief was win 10 points a season, you don’t give points away.
“Why did we bring someone in that we didn’t need? Because the head of recruitment comes from Leipzig [also Sesko’s former club] and he’s got to make a mark.
McTominay scored 13 goals and provided six assists in his debut campaign at Napoli, having been with United since primary school.
He has one goal and one assist so far this season.
“What’s he doing at Napoli?” said Schmeichel, who also won three FA Cups and a Champions League at Old Trafford. “He is so Manchester United.
“The problem was his versatility, because you have players who can only play in one position. Managers didn’t trust him to build the team around. They want the neat players. He was the victim of that time and again.
“Phil Neville was a little bit the same. He never really got a starting XI spot, but he played an awful lot of games because he could play different roles.
“I don’t get why those two are at Napoli. You will get no-one with more enthusiasm for Manchester United than Rasmus Hojlund. He was writing about playing for the club when he was 10 years old. He’s a massive fan.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared in court to testify in his corruption trial, days after U.S. President Trump called for him to be pardoned. Protesters outside the court demanded the trial continue as a test of Israel’s democracy. Netanyahu denies all charges.
