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Sean “Diddy” Combs, a rapper and music mogul credited with serving to launch the careers of a number of the greatest stars lately, is now going through a number of civil lawsuits accusing him of intercourse trafficking, sexual abuse and rape.
Combs, previously often called Puff Daddy, P. Diddy and a number of different names, has undergone a myriad of reinventions for the reason that 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 in opposition to 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.
The brand new lawsuits come months after Combs’s former accomplice, Casandra “Cassie” Ventura filed a lawsuit in opposition to him in November. She accused him of raping her in 2018, beating her, demanding she carry a firearm to “make her uncomfortable and show how harmful he’s” and forcing her into “undesirable sexual encounters with male intercourse employees.”
Ms Ventura’s lawsuit in opposition to Combs was settled a day after she filed it for an undisclosed sum of money.
The slew of allegations in lawsuits in opposition to Combs date way back to the Nineties, when he based his personal file label, Unhealthy Boy Data.
All of the allegations in opposition to Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs:
Lawsuits in opposition to 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 underneath the New York Grownup 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 title is Casandra Ventura, filed a lawsuit in 2023 alleging that she was trafficked, raped and crushed 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 attempting to finish it in 2018, he pressured himself into her Los Angeles residence and raped her.
The lawsuit in opposition to Combs was settled a day after she filed it for an undisclosed sum of money.
Ms Ventura informed 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 in opposition to Combs had been introduced by the New York Grownup Survivors Act (ASA), which expired at midnight on 23 November 2023.
The act offered survivors a one-year window to pursue civil litigation no matter when the abuse occurred, which means incidents from a long time had been lastly delivered to mild.
Greater than 2,500 circumstances had been filed underneath the ASA earlier than its expiry at midnight on 23 November 2023, courtroom information despatched to The Unbiased confirmed.
Survivors introduced lawsuits in opposition to a number of the state’s strongest males, together with main gamers in leisure, comparable to Invoice Cosby, Harvey Weinstein, Axl Rose, and Combs.
Rodney ‘Lil Rod’ Jones
In the newest lawsuit in opposition to 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 course” and that he was pressured to interact in relations with the intercourse employees 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 yr.
He mentioned he has video and audio proof of Combs, his employees and others “participating in severe criminality.” The lawsuit recognized Rapper 50 Cent‘s former girlfriend and the mom of considered one of his youngsters, Daphne Pleasure, as one of many alleged intercourse employees.
The lawsuit additionally alleges that Combs often hosted “sex-trafficking events” with underage girls and unlawful medicine, and implies file label executives who regarded the opposite manner financially benefited from entry to celebrities and dignitaries, together with the British royal Prince Harry.
Prince Harry isn’t accused of any wrongdoing or of attending events himself.
Combs’s lawyer informed The Los Angeles Instances that the lawsuit incorporates “reckless name-dropping about occasions which are pure fiction and easily didn’t” happen.
Ryan Mendelsohn, 20, who used to dwell within the space the place Combs’ Los Angeles property was searched, informed reporters he would see events on the residence and ladies exterior till 6am, which was not standard.
“I drive by lots, and I see that — loads of ladies, possibly 5 – 6 ladies exterior, some leaving, some not, some stepping into,” he mentioned, in response to 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 school scholar 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 swimsuit additionally claims he recorded the assault and confirmed it to different folks.
She later filed police studies in New York and New Jersey, spoke to prosecutors, however was informed by colleagues they had been “terrified that Combs would retaliate in opposition to them and that they’d lose future enterprise and music alternatives in the event that they made an announcement 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 had been sexually assaulted by Combs, in response to NBC Information.
Two of the ladies mentioned they had 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 “had been very flirtatious and handsy” and supplied them drinks, Rolling Stone reported.
The swimsuit alleges that Combs and Corridor invited the ladies to Corridor’s residence 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 response to 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 response to the swimsuit.
A couple of days later, Combs allegedly visited the plaintiff and her good friend at a house the place they had been staying, the place he grew to become “irate and commenced 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 medicine and alcohol at his New York studio after which raping her together with two associates.
The swimsuit accused Combs of a “intercourse trafficking scheme,” through which Jane Doe was flown by personal jet from her residence in Michigan to New York.
Combs’s response to allegations
Sean Combs has strongly denied all of the accusations in opposition to him and vowed to “battle for my title, my household and for the reality.”
In an announcement in December, following the lawsuit introduced by Jane Doe, he known as the claims “sickening” and mentioned his accusers had 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 an announcement. “I’ll battle for my title, my household and for the reality.”
Combs’ lawyer, Shawn Holley, branded the occasions described within the lawsuit as “pure fiction”.
“We’ve overwhelming, indeniable proof that his claims are full lies,” he mentioned. “We’ll handle these outlandish allegations in courtroom and take all applicable motion in opposition to those that make them.”
Following the settlement with Ventura, Ben Brafman, one other lawyer for Combs, informed The Unbiased: “Simply so we’re clear, a call to settle a lawsuit, particularly in 2023, is under no circumstances an admission of wrongdoing.
“Mr. Combs’ choice to settle the lawsuit doesn’t in any manner undermine his flat-out denial of the claims.
“He’s completely happy they bought to a mutual settlement and desires Ms Ventura the most effective.”
