The bureau’s Crimes Against Children Squad has taken first steps to open criminal investigation into Adams’ sexually explicit messages with a teenage girl

The FBI is investigating whether the musician Ryan Adams committed a crime by engaging in sexually explicit communications with an underage fan, a law enforcement official has told the New York Times.

On Wednesday the New York Times reported that Adams sent more than 3,000 text messages to the girl over a nine-month period starting in late 2014, when she was 15 years old. The messages included explicit photographs. The girl, named only as Ava, told the paper that Adams also exposed himself during phone sex sessions on Skype.

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Adams has denied claims that he “ever engaged in inappropriate online sexual communications with someone he knew was underage” in a statement through his lawyer, Andrew B Brettler. On Thursday, Brettler told the New York Times that he had not been contacted by law enforcement. Lawyers for Ava, now 20, declined to comment to the paper.

The unnamed law enforcement official told paper that agents from the Crimes Against Children squad in the bureau’s New York office had taken the first steps to open a criminal investigation. They will seek to interview Ava, obtain the text messages sent between her and Adams and any other evidence. If found credible, they may subpoena the mobile phone records of Ava and Adams, the official said.

The sexual exploitation of children under 18 is barred under US federal law. Anyone who “persuades, induces, entices or coerces any minor to engage in” visual depictions of sexually explicit conduct is considered a violator.

After the Times published its initial report on Wednesday, Adams tweeted an apology to “anyone I have ever hurt, however unintentionally”, and disputed the reports. “I would never have inappropriate interactions with someone I thought was underage. Period.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Ryan Adams’ ex-wife Mandy Moore. Photograph: Nina Prommer/EPA

The report detailed further allegations of controlling behaviour by Adams towards women with whom he formed romantic and mentoring relationships. Mandy Moore, Adams’s ex-wife, told the Times: “Music was a point of control for him.” The singer-songwriter Phoebe Bridgers said Adams had supported her musical career when she was 20 and he was 40. They began a relationship that she says turned obsessive and emotionally abusive.

Since the report emerged, more female musicians have shared their experiences of working with Adams. The musician and model Karen Elson posted on Instagram about a “traumatising experience”, adding: “While I’m not quite brave enough yet to speak about my specifics, I’m encouraged that many women have bonded and helped each other heal … The trauma that lingers is often a very powerful silencer of women as is the business that enables these men to thrive without ever facing consequences.”

In January 2017, Adams announced that he was working on a double album by the pioneering punk songwriter Liz Phair. The record was never released. Phair responded to a tweet asking whether she would comment: “If I do, I’ll write about it. But I think you can extrapolate. My experience was nowhere near as personally involving, but yes the record ended and the similarities are upsetting.”

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Adams had planned to release three new albums this year on his own label, Pax-Am. The first, Big Colors, slated for release on 19 April, has been shelved, Variety reports. Universal Music Group, which distributes Adams’ releases, had pulled the album from its release schedule. The website for Pax-Am has also deleted the pre-order pages for the CD and LP. The status of the remaining two albums is unclear.

The amplifier company Benson has announced that it is severing ties with Adams, with whom it had been developing a product. “We are saddened and surprised by the recent allegations,” founder Christopher Benson said in a statement. “We have decided to suspend our relationship with Mr Adams at this moment, and will no longer move forward with the development of the Ryan Adams signature model.”

An Adams-branded guitar effects pedal produced by Walrus Audio has been discontinued, as has the VCR Ryan Adams signature pedal produced by JHS pedals. JHS company president Josh Schott told Variety: “We have a remaining stock of VCR pedals and are making future plans to fully rebrand and sell this inventory with a portion of the sale going towards the fight against sexual abuse and misconduct.”