Crystal Castles' Ethan Kath sues Alice Glass after abuse allegations

Crystal Castles cancelled shows following allegations of abuse from former member Alice Glass against Claudio Palmieri, aka Ethan Kath. Palmieri called Glass’s story — which includes detailed descriptions of physical and sexual abuse that she said drove her to leave the band — “pure fiction” in a previous statement. Now Palmieri has posted a new statement to Crystal Castle’s Facebook. In it, he says that Glass left the band “to handle her mental health and substance abuse issues,” and he “fully supported her,” but now he “can’t support extortion, false claims, and accusations put forth after the band gained success without her.” Read the full statement below.

In Glass’s original statement, she said, “Claudio was very manipulative towards me. He figured out my insecurities and exploited them: he used the things he learned about me against me. Over a period of many months, he gave me drugs and alcohol and had sex with me in an abandoned room at an apartment he managed. It wasn’t always consensual and he remained sober whenever we were together.”

TMZ further reports that Palmieri has filed a defamation lawsuit against Glass. “Ethan [Claudio Palmieri] says as a result of Alice’s new allegations, the band’s tour got canceled and they lost $300k in profits.”