LOS ANGELES (AP) — Smokey Robinson has filed a defamation lawsuit against four former housekeepers who accused him of rape and prompted a police investigation.

Robinson and his wife Frances Robinson filed the counterclaim Wednesday in Los Angeles Superior Court against the women and their lawyers, whose allegations, they say, were “fabricated in an extortionate scheme.”

The filing is a fast and forceful legal and public pushback from the 85-year-old Motown music luminary in response to the women’s May 6 lawsuit and a May 15 announcement from the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department that its Special Victims Bureau is “actively investigating criminal allegations” against Robinson.

The women are seeking at least $50 million, alleging Smokey Robinson repeatedly raped and sexually assault

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