One of Akon’s wives, Amirah Iman-Thiam, is accusing a male Publix employee of sexually assaulting her while she was shopping at a store in Roswell, Georgia, in September 2022. The report comes from exclusive documents obtained by AllHipHop.
The Publix stock clerk, Jonathan Ross, allegedly watched Iman-Thiam near the organic snacks, an area outside his assigned duties. He then proceeded to approach her and make an inappropriate comment.
“That dress got me rethinking my lunch break,” Ross allegedly muttered, before placing his hands and gripping her buttocks and vaginal area, according to the lawsuit.
When policed arrived, bodycam footage showed Iman-Thiam still visibly shaken. “He just… violated me,” she said with a cracking voice.
Ross reportedly confessed to the incident within hours and was later convicted of sexual battery.
AllHipHop reports that according to the store manager, Ross had exhibited irrational behavior months prior to the incident yet remained unsupervised around customers.
“This wasn’t a rogue employee,” Iman-Thiam’s attorney said. “This was a broken system weaponized against women.
The documents state she now relies on delivery services for groceries and pays a $150-per-hour security escort to accompany her on essential errands.
Iman-Thiam and Akon, whose full name is Aliaune Damala Badara Akon Thiam, are devout Muslims.
The lawsuit states that because Islamic law forbids physical contact between women and men outside of marriage, the incident triggered significant spiritual and emotional distress.
“In light of the sexual battery, Ms. Iman-Thiam was required to seek cleansing and therapy from an Imam (a priest) in Senegal,” the suit reads.
“For approximately one (1) year, she was required to pray six (6) times a day and engage in cleansing and purification rituals until she was fully cleansed as prescribed in the Islamic faith.
“My creativity’s gone”
Iman-Thiam, a Los Angeles-based recording artist, has maintained a polygamous marriage with Akon for several years. The two met in 2012 through a mutual friend and she was later signed to Akon’s record company Konvict Kulture in 2018.
Iman-Thiam claims the trauma she experienced forced her to cancel a 12-city European tour, costing her nearly $287,000 in guaranteed fees and disrupting planned collaborations with Grammy-winning producers.
“My creativity’s gone,” she told her therapist, according to the court filing.
Publix filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit in Fulton County Superior Court, arguing that Ross acted outside the scope of his employment.
However, Iman-Thiam’s attorneys countered that the company had no sexual harassment protocols for frontline staff, despite at least 19 similar incidents being reported at Publix stores across Georgia since 2020.