Sean “Diddy” Combs, a rapper and music mogul credited with serving to launch the careers of among the greatest stars lately, is now facing multiple civil lawsuits accusing him of intercourse trafficking, sexual abuse and rape.
Combs, previously often known as Puff Daddy, P. Diddy and a number of different names, has undergone a myriad of reinventions because the begin of his profession – however has since entered a brand new and unwelcome “period.”
Federal brokers with US Homeland Safety raided two of the rapper’s homes in Los Angeles and Miami on 25 March as he faces a string of various accusations.
Combs, 54, has strongly denied all the allegations towards him. His attorneys have branded the lawsuits and their accusations as cash grabs, “baseless” or “sickening.”
The entertainer has not been formally charged or accused by federal prosecutors of any crime.
On 17 Might, surveillence footage captured at a lodge in Los Angeles in March 2016 confirmed Diddy chasing his then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura down the hallway earlier than attacking her by the elevators. He then makes an attempt to pull her again to his lodge room.
The next day, he shared an apology video to Instagram saying his behaviour was “inexcusable” and that he took “full accountability for his actions within the video”.
The slew of allegations in lawsuits towards Combs date way back to the Nineties, when he based his personal file label, Unhealthy Boy Data.
All of the allegations towards Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs:
Lawsuits towards the rapper started on 16 November 2023 when he was sued by singer and dancer Cassie, his former accomplice, who alleged years of abuse.
It was filed under the New York Adult Survivors Act, simply earlier than it expired. This act supplied a one-year window for grownup victims of sexual assault to come back ahead with civil claims whatever the statute of limitations.
Casandra ‘Cassie’ Ventura
R&B singer Cassie, whose full identify is Casandra Ventura, filed a lawsuit in 2023 alleging that she was trafficked, raped and overwhelmed by Combs on many events over 10 years.
Her lawsuit claimed that Combs introduced the singer into his “ostentatious, fast-paced, and drug-fueled life-style” not lengthy after she met him, and signed her to his label in 2005 when she was simply 19 and he was 37.
Ms Ventura mentioned that the sample of abuse started as quickly as their relationship began and that, as she was making an attempt to finish it in 2018, he pressured himself into her Los Angeles house and raped her.
On Might 17, surveillance footage obtained by CNN showed an incident which appeared to corroborate elements of Ms Ventura’s authentic criticism. The video from March 2016 confirmed Combs chasing her down the hall of a Los Angeles lodge and continuing to punch and kick her outdoors a set of elevators.
In keeping with the criticism, which cited the altercation as occurring “round March 2016,” Combs turned “extraordinarily intoxicated and punched Ms Ventura within the face, giving her a black eye.”
The surveillance footage confirmed Combs leaving Ms Ventura then returning and shoving her right into a nook. He’s then seen hurling an object at her, which was additionally cited in her criticism.
On Sunday (19 Might), Combs released a video apologising for his actions in the video, calling his behaviour “inexcusable” and saying he “takes full accountability for his actions within the video”.
The lawsuit towards Combs was settled for an undisclosed sum of money a day after Ms Ventura filed it.
Ms Ventura instructed CNN she had chosen to “resolve this matter amicably,” whereas Combs’ lawyer mentioned the settlement was “under no circumstances an admission of wrongdoing” and didn’t change his denial of the allegations.
Her accusations towards Combs have been introduced by the New York Grownup Survivors Act (ASA), which expired at midnight on 23 November 2023.
The act supplied survivors a one-year window to pursue civil litigation no matter when the abuse occurred, that means incidents from many years have been lastly dropped at gentle.
Greater than 2,500 circumstances have been filed underneath the ASA earlier than its expiry at midnight on 23 November 2023, court docket information despatched to The Impartial confirmed.
Survivors introduced lawsuits towards among the state’s strongest males, together with main gamers in leisure, corresponding to Invoice Cosby, Harvey Weinstein, Axl Rose, and Combs.
Rodney ‘Lil Rod’ Jones
In the newest lawsuit towards Combs, filed on 26 February 2024 in New York, producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, alleged he was “subjected to undesirable advances by associates of Diddy at his route” and that he was pressured to interact in relations with the intercourse staff Combs had employed.
The producer, who labored for Combs between September 2022 and November 2023 claimed Combs sexually harassed, drugged and threatened him for greater than a 12 months.
He mentioned he has video and audio proof of Combs, his employees and others “participating in critical criminal activity.” The lawsuit recognized Rapper 50 Cent‘s former girlfriend and the mom of one among his youngsters, Daphne Pleasure, as one of the alleged sex workers.
The lawsuit additionally alleges that Combs commonly hosted “sex-trafficking events” with underage girls and unlawful medication, and implies file label executives who appeared the opposite approach financially benefited from entry to celebrities and dignitaries, together with the British royal Prince Harry.
Prince Harry just isn’t accused of any wrongdoing or of attending events himself.
Combs’s lawyer instructed The Los Angeles Instances that the lawsuit incorporates “reckless name-dropping about occasions which might be pure fiction and easily didn’t” happen.
Ryan Mendelsohn, 20, who used to reside within the space the place Combs’ Los Angeles property was searched, instructed reporters he would see events on the house and girls outdoors till 6am, which was not typical.
“I drive by rather a lot, and I see that — lots of ladies, possibly 5 or 6 ladies outdoors, some leaving, some not, some getting into,” he mentioned, in accordance with NBC News.
“I by no means thought something of it,” Mr Mendelsohn, who added that he didn’t know Combs lived there till Monday’s information broke. “However now, it’s loopy.”
Joie Dickerson-Neal
In November 2023, Joie Dickerson-Neal filed a lawsuit alleging that Combs drugged her, sexually assaulted her and secretly recorded the assault whereas she was a university pupil in 1991, NBC News reported, citing the submitting.
She claimed that Combs pushed her to go to dinner with him and he or she agreed “reluctantly” on 3 January 1991, which is when she alleges she was drugged, “leading to her being in a bodily state the place she couldn’t independently stand or stroll,” the BBC reported.
The go well with additionally claims he recorded the assault and confirmed it to different individuals.
She later filed police experiences in New York and New Jersey, spoke to prosecutors, however was instructed by colleagues they have been “terrified that Combs would retaliate towards them and that they’d lose future enterprise and music alternatives in the event that they made a press release in assist of” her, NBC Information reported, citing the lawsuit.
Extra girls come ahead
Since November, three extra girls have come ahead with lawsuits within the Southern District of New York alleging that they have been sexually assaulted by Combs, in accordance with NBC Information.
Two of the ladies mentioned they have been youngsters on the time of the alleged assaults.
Nameless Plaintiff
In November, an nameless plaintiff accused Combs and singer-songwriter Aaron Corridor of raping her and a good friend in 1990 or 1991 after assembly at an MCA Data occasion in New York, the place the singers “have been very flirtatious and handsy” and supplied them drinks, Rolling Stone reported.
The go well with alleges that Combs and Corridor invited the ladies to Corridor’s condo for an afterparty the place the plaintiff “was supplied extra drinks and was coerced into having intercourse with Combs,” and was “shocked and traumatized” afterwards, earlier than “Corridor barged into the room, pinned her down and compelled Jane Doe to have intercourse with him,” in accordance with Rolling Stone.
After she spoke to her good friend, the plaintiff allegedly came upon she had additionally “been pressured to have intercourse with Combs and Corridor in one other room,” in accordance with the go well with.
Just a few days later, Combs allegedly visited the plaintiff and her good friend at a house the place they have been staying, the place he turned “irate and started assaulting and choking Jane Doe to the purpose that she handed out,” the lawsuit alleges.
Unnamed Accuser ‘Jane Doe’
In December, Combs was hit with one other lawsuit which claimed he had drugged and gang-raped a 17-year-old woman in 2003.
The plaintiff, recognized as Jane Doe, accused Combs of plying her with medication and alcohol at his New York studio after which raping her together with two associates.
The go well with accused Combs of a “intercourse trafficking scheme,” by which Jane Doe was flown by personal jet from her house in Michigan to New York.
In Might, after the surprising CCTV footage of Combs attacking Enterprise was revealed, former mannequin Crystal McKinney filed a new lawsuit claiming the rapper sexually assaulted her at his recording studio in New York Metropolis in 2003.
McKinney mentioned she was a profitable 22-year-old mannequin when she met Combs at a restaurant throughout Males’s Trend Week in Manhattan. Combs invited her to his recording studio later that night time, in accordance with the federal criticism filed in New York Metropolis.
The lawsuit alleged that McKinney arrived to seek out Combs consuming and smoking marijuana with a number of different males. She smoked some marijuana, which she “later got here to grasp” was laced with a narcotic or intoxicating substance, the lawsuit mentioned.
She alleged that Combs led her to the lavatory the place she was pressured to carry out oral intercourse on him.
Days after McKinney’s lawsuit was filed, April Lampros – who met Diddy whereas she was a pupil – claimed Diddy had sexually assaulted a number of occasions between 1995 and the early 2000s.
Lampros mentioned she met the rapper in 1994 whereas she was a university pupil on the Trend Institue of Know-how in New York and interning at Arista, then the mum or dad firm of Diddy’s label Unhealthy Boy Leisure.
After assembly her at a bar in New York, she “succumbed to stress” to drink alcohol after “delusional and violent outbursts”, in accordance with the federal criticism filed in New York Metropolis.
Lampros claimed she started to really feel just like the “partitions have been closing in on her” after sipping her drink and Combs escorted her again to a lodge. The lawsuit alleged Combs pressured himself on Lampros regardless of her protests. “Ms Lampros was being raped by Mr Combs, and he or she quickly handed out,” it mentioned.
The rapper allegedly then “love-bombed her” and his advances later “manifested into an aggressive, coercive and abusive relationship based mostly on intercourse”.
The lawsuit claimed Combs assaulted Lampros a second time by bodily forcing her to carry out oral intercourse in a storage close to his condo in Manhattan. When the coed tried to distance herself from the rapper following the assault he allegedly gave her “items and empty guarantees” earlier than turning “indignant, threatening and forceful” and claiming he would destroy her profession.
In 1996, Combs sexually assaulted Lampros for a 3rd time when he pressured her and his ex-girlfriend Kim Porter to take ecstasy and have intercourse collectively, the lawsuit alleged. Combs masturbated whereas he watched the ladies collectively earlier than assaulting Lampros, the submitting claimed.
Lampros says she ended her relationship with Combs two years later. Nevertheless, when she noticed him at an occasion on the Rockefeller Heart within the early 2000s he begged to see her once more and he or she allowed him to come back to her condo the place he kissed and touched her towards her will, the lawsuit alleged.
In 2023, Lampros alleges an unidentified man approached her accomplice on the time and mentioned he had seen a sexual video of Lampros and Combs years earlier. Lampros was knowledgeable “Mr Combs apparently recorded them having intercourse with out her figuring out and confirmed it to a number of individuals,” the submitting claimed.
Combs’s response to allegations
Sean Combs has strongly denied all of the accusations towards him and vowed to “combat for my identify, my household and for the reality.”
In a press release in December, following the lawsuit introduced by Jane Doe, he referred to as the claims “sickening” and mentioned his accusers have been “on the lookout for a fast payday”.
“Let me be completely clear: I didn’t do any of the terrible issues being alleged,” he mentioned in a press release. “I’ll combat for my identify, my household and for the reality.”
Combs’ lawyer, Shawn Holley, branded the occasions described within the lawsuit as “pure fiction”.
“We now have overwhelming, indeniable proof that his claims are full lies,” he mentioned. “We are going to tackle these outlandish allegations in court docket and take all acceptable motion towards those that make them.”
Following the settlement with Ventura, Ben Brafman, one other lawyer for Combs, instructed The Impartial: “Simply so we’re clear, a call to settle a lawsuit, particularly in 2023, is under no circumstances an admission of wrongdoing.
“Mr. Combs’ determination to settle the lawsuit doesn’t in any approach undermine his flat-out denial of the claims.
“He’s pleased they obtained to a mutual settlement and desires Ms Ventura the perfect.”
Shortly after the discharge of footage that exhibits Combs attacking Ms Ventura in a lodge hallway, Combs condemned his own actions and apologised in a video posted to social media.
Within the clip, Combs refers back to the incident as “one of many darkest occasions in his life”, saying that he was “f***ed up” and is “disgusted by his actions”.