Armie Hammer Accused of Rape, He Denies it but Cops Are Investigating

Armie Hammer is now accused of rape ... by a woman who says she's reported the alleged crime to police, and law enforcement sources tell us he is under investigation for an alleged sexual assault.

The actor's accuser, Effie, claims Armie raped her for over 4 hours, during which he allegedly slapped her head against a wall and physically abused her with other acts of violence. She says the incident happened April 24, 2017 in Los Angeles.

Effie made her allegations Thursday during a news conference with her attorney, Gloria Allred. Effie claims she met Armie on Facebook in 2016, when she was 20, and they began a relationship which became violent and abusive.

Allred says Effie has provided law enforcement with evidence of the alleged rape, and prosecutors will have to decide if there's enough evidence to press charges against Hammer. Allred says she is not planning to file a lawsuit against Hammer.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... someone spoke with police about the alleged incident on Feb. 3 and cops started a sexual assault investigation, which is ongoing.

Hammer's attorney, Andrew Brettler, tells TMZ they believe Effie "undermines and refutes her outrageous allegations" because she sent Armie extremely sexual texts as recently as July 18, 2020. In the alleged text, Effie said, "Helplessly horny and I just need to tell you cuz it's been sooo long since last time." There's much more that's, frankly, too graphic for us to describe here ... but the point is she told Armie, in stark detail, what she wanted him to do to her.

He responded, "I am not going to be able to engage in you in that specific way right now. It never ends well. We can talk and be friends but I can't do that."

Brettler claims Effie sent hundreds of texts to Armie, and adds ... "It was never Mr. Hammer’s intention to embarrass or expose [Effie]'s fetishes or kinky sexual desires, but she has now escalated this matter to another level by hiring a civil lawyer to host a public press conference. With the truth on his side, Mr. Hammer welcomes the opportunity to set the record straight."

As you know ... Hammer's been embroiled in controversy since January after some shocking, but unverified, DMs he allegedly sent to women started surfacing on the Internet.

TMZ broke the story ... Hammer exited a J Lo movie shoot as a result of the scandal, but he told us, "I'm not responding to these b******* claims."

And then there's Hammer's ex-girlfriend, Paige Lorenze, who last month accused him of licking blood from a brand he allegedly forced upon her.