Rick Ross Arrested on Felony Battery Charge, Released on Bond

• Rick Ross, 50, was arrested in Miami Beach on Thursday, Oct. 1, and charged with felony battery by strangulation and misdemeanor battery after a woman told police he attacked her on Aug. 28.
• Ross posted bond the same day and said outside the jail that he is “totally innocent.” His attorney says the woman waited a month to go to police.
• His arraignment is scheduled for Oct. 22.

Rick Ross was arrested in Miami Beach on Thursday, Oct. 1, on a felony charge of battery by strangulation and a misdemeanor battery charge. A woman told police that Ross, 50, struck and choked her during an argument on Aug. 28. He denies it.

Ross, whose legal name is William Leonard Roberts II, posted bond and left the jail the same day.

What is Rick Ross charged with?

He is charged with battery by strangulation, a felony in Florida, and battery, a misdemeanor. Ross turned himself in at the Miami Beach Police Station, two days after the woman filed a report. Jail records show his bond was set at $5,000 on the felony count and $1,000 on the misdemeanor.

The charges are accusations. Ross has not been convicted of anything, and his attorney says he has pleaded not guilty.

What does the woman allege?

According to police records, the woman reported the incident on Tuesday, Sept. 29. She gave detectives a sworn statement and photographs that she said documented her injuries.

She told police that on Aug. 28 Ross accused her of cheating on him. She said he struck her several times, slapped her face and hit her chest.

She also said he choked her by twisting the collar of her hoodie until she could not breathe, grabbed her ponytail and slammed her into a wall.

What has Rick Ross said?

Ross spoke to reporters as he left the jail. “I’m totally innocent of these fabricated allegations made against me,” he said.

His attorney, Steve Sadow, said the woman did not go to the police right away.

The ex did not even file a police report until a month after the claimed incident allegedly took place. Mr. Roberts is innocent and has pled not guilty.

Steve Sadow, attorney for Rick Ross

What happens next?

Ross’s arraignment is scheduled for Oct. 22. An arraignment is the first court hearing in a criminal case, where the charges are read and the defendant enters a plea.

This is not the first time Ross has faced a criminal charge. In 2017 he pleaded no contest to aggravated assault over a 2015 incident involving a man at his Georgia estate, and he was granted first-offender status in that case.

Ross founded the label Maybach Music Group and released his first album, Port of Miami, in 2006. He has a book out this year, Renaissance of a Boss, and has been doing interviews to promote it.

More from Celebrities: the custody filing in which Olivier Martinez accuses Halle Berry, why Jonathan Taylor Thomas was arrested and what happened after Christa Pike’s execution failed.

— Bruno Monteiro

Sources: Miami Beach Police Department records and Miami-Dade jail records, Oct. 1, 2026; Rick Ross and his attorney, Steve Sadow, statements of Oct. 1, 2026. NBC News, Oct. 1, 2026; Associated Press, Oct. 1, 2026; NBC 6 Miami, Oct. 1, 2026; Rolling Out, Oct. 1, 2026. Photos and video: Apple Music (Rap Life, 2023); The Breakfast Club (Power 105.1), 2022; REVOLT (Assets Over Liabilities), 2021; Complex (On Display), 2026; Joe and Jada Unfiltered, 2026; SiriusXM (Hip Hop Nation), 2026; The PBD Podcast, 2026; Angela Yee (Lip Service), 2026.