Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs accused of sexual assault in six new lawsuits

NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs was hit Monday with a brand new wave of lawsuits accusing him of raping girls, sexually assaulting males and molesting a 16-year-old boy. It’s the first time he’s been sued by an individual alleging they have been abused as a minor.

At the least six lawsuits have been filed in opposition to Combs in federal court docket in Manhattan, including to a rising record of authorized claims in opposition to the indicted hip-hop mogul, all of which he has denied. The lawsuits have been filed anonymously to guard the identities of the accusers, two by girls recognized as Jane Does and 4 by males recognized as John Does.

Among the Does, echoing others who’ve accused Combs in latest months, allege that he used his fame and the promise of potential stardom to entice victims to lavish events or drug-fueled hangouts the place he then assaulted them. Some allege that he beat or drugged them. Others say he threatened to kill them in the event that they didn’t do as he happy or in the event that they spoke out in opposition to him.

The lawsuits describe alleged assaults courting to the mid-Nineteen Nineties, together with at Combs’ celebrity-studded white events in Lengthy Island’s Hamptons, at a celebration in Brooklyn celebrating Combs’ then-collaborator Biggie Smalls, and even within the storeroom at Macy’s flagship division retailer in midtown Manhattan.

The plaintiffs in Monday’s lawsuits are a part of what their legal professionals say is a gaggle of greater than 100 accusers who’re within the technique of taking authorized motion in opposition to Combs following his Sept. 16 federal intercourse trafficking arrest. Plaintiffs’ lawyer Tony Buzbee introduced the deliberate litigation at an Oct. 1 information convention and posted a 1-800 quantity for accusers to name.

In an announcement, Combs’ legal professionals slammed these techniques as “clear makes an attempt to garner publicity,” and mentioned the rapper and his authorized staff “have full confidence within the details, their authorized defenses, and the integrity of the judicial course of. In court docket, the reality will prevail: that Mr. Combs has by no means sexually assaulted anybody—grownup or minor, man or lady.”

Combs, 54, has pleaded not responsible in his felony case, which includes allegations he coerced and abused girls for years with assist from a community of associates and staff whereas silencing victims by means of blackmail and violence, together with kidnapping, arson and bodily beatings.

Twice denied bail, the Dangerous Boy Information founder stays locked up at a Brooklyn federal jail whereas awaiting trial in Might. Two judges have concluded that Combs could be a hazard to the group if he’s launched. On Friday, an appeals court docket decide denied Combs’ fast launch from jail whereas a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court docket of Appeals weighs his bail request.

Earlier than Monday’s raft of lawsuits, the entire accusers suing Combs had been adults on the time of their alleged abuse, though a Chicago document producer claimed in a February swimsuit that he had “irrefutable proof” of Combs sexually abusing minors.

In a lawsuit Monday, a John Doe alleged that Combs fondled his genitals when he was 16 at one in every of Combs’ white events in 1998. The person, who now lives in North Carolina, alleges that Combs informed him he had “the look” of a star after which abruptly ordered the then-teen to drop his pants.

In accordance with the person’s lawsuit, Combs defined to him that it was a ceremony of passage to changing into a music star, at one level asking him: “Don’t you wish to break into the enterprise?” The person mentioned he complied out of worry, anxiousness and an influence imbalance he felt with Combs, solely realizing later that what he says occurred was sexual assault.

Different lawsuits filed Monday in U.S. District Court docket in Manhattan embrace allegations of rape, pressured oral intercourse and drugging to incapacitate victims.

One of many Jane Does alleges Combs raped her in a locked resort room in 2004 after he invited her and a pal there for a celebration, gave them drinks and informed them to snort cocaine. The lady, then a school freshman, alleges Combs additionally pressured her pal to carry out oral intercourse on him and threatened their lives in the event that they didn’t comply.

One other Jane Doe alleged Combs violently attacked and raped her in a rest room in 1995 at a celebration in Brooklyn for Smalls’ music video, “One Extra Likelihood.” Smalls, also called the Infamous B.I.G., was killed two years later in a drive-by taking pictures in Los Angeles.

In accordance with the lady, Combs introduced her into the toilet to speak privately and began kissing her unexpectedly. When she tried pulling away, she alleges, he slammed her head in opposition to the wall, inflicting her to fall to the ground. She mentioned she tried to flee, however Combs hit her once more and raped her.

Afterward, in keeping with the lady, Combs nonchalantly adjusted his clothes and informed her: “You higher not inform anybody about this, or you’ll disappear.”

The opposite John Doe lawsuits allege: Combs sexually assaulted a safety guard at a 2006 white occasion after giving him a drugged beverage; pressured a person working for a rival vogue model to carry out oral intercourse on him within the Macy’s stockroom in 2008; and sexually assaulted a person at a celebration in October 2021.

The latter man, who suspects a drugged beverage left him unable to struggle again, remembers a number of males assaulting him and distinctly remembers seeing Combs above him, bare, at one level through the assault, his lawsuit mentioned.

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Related Press journalists Andrew Dalton and Jonathan Landrum Jr. in Los Angeles contributed to this report. ___

This story has been corrected to indicate that the occasion celebrating Biggie Smalls was in 1995, not 2005, in keeping with a lawsuit filed Monday.