6 people accuse Diddy of sexual assault in new lawsuits, including man who was 16 at the time
NEW YORK– A new wave of lawsuits filed charges Monday Sean “Diddy” Combs of raping women, sexually assaulting men and molesting a 16-year-old boy.
At least six lawsuits have been filed against the hip-hop mogul in federal court in Manhattan. They were submitted anonymously, two identified by women as Jane Does and four identified by men as John Does.
The plaintiffs are part of what their lawyers say is a group more than a hundred alleged victims who are taking legal action against Combs in the aftermath of his case arrest for sex trafficking last month.
One of the John Does, a man living in North Carolina, claims that Combs fondled his genitals when he was 16 at one of the rapper’s famous white parties in the Hamptons on Long Island in 1998.
The man claims that during a conversation about possibly breaking into the music industry, Combs abruptly ordered the then-teenager to drop his pants.
According to the man’s lawsuit, Combs explained to him that becoming a music star was a rite of passage, at one point asking him, “Don’t you want to break into the business?”
The man said he complied out of the fear, anxiety and power imbalance he felt with Combs, and only later realized what had happened was sexual abuse.
Until Monday’s trial, Combs was charged only in civil cases and his criminal charge of sexual activity with adults.
Combs’ attorneys and other representatives did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. When the planned trials were announced on Oct. 1, an attorney said Combs “cannot address every baseless allegation in what has become a reckless media circus.”
Combs, 54, has pleaded not guilty to racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges claimed he had coerced and abused women for years with the help of a network of associates and collaborators, while victims were silenced through blackmail and violence, including kidnapping, arson and physical abuse.
Combs’ lawyers have tried unsuccessfully to get the Bad Boy Records founder released on bail. He’s been held at a Brooklyn Federal Penitentiary since his arrest on September 16.
Two judges have concluded that Combs would be a danger to the community if released from the Metropolitan Detention Center, a facility that has been plagued for years by violence and dysfunction. At a bail hearing three weeks ago, a judge rejected a proposed $50 million bail package that included home detention and electronic monitoring after concluding that Combs might tamper with witnesses and impede an ongoing investigation.
On Friday, an appeals court judge denied Combs’ immediate release from jail while a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals weighs his bail request.
Other lawsuits filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan include allegations of rape, forced oral sex and drugging to incapacitate victims.
One of the Jane Does suing Combs claims he raped her in a locked hotel room in 2004 after inviting her and a friend there to a party, giving them drinks and telling them to snort cocaine.
The woman, then a college freshman, claims Combs also forced her boyfriend to perform oral sex on him and said he would have them both killed if they did not comply with his demands.
The other Jane Doe alleges that Combs violently assaulted and raped her in a bathroom at a party for the late rapper Biggie Smalls’ music video, “One More Chance,” in 2005.
According to the woman, Combs took her to the bathroom to talk privately and then unexpectedly started kissing her. When she tried to pull away, she claims, he slammed her head into the wall, causing her to fall to the floor. The woman said she tried to escape, but Combs hit her again and raped her.
Afterwards, according to the woman, Combs casually adjusted his clothes and told her, “You better not tell anyone about this or you’ll disappear.”
In another John Doe lawsuit, a man who worked as a security guard at Combs’ Hamptons white party in 2006 claims the star gave him an alcoholic drink that he believed was laced with a drug that made him feel extremely ill felt. The man claims Combs then pushed him into a van, held him down and sexually assaulted him.
In the other lawsuits filed Monday, Combs is accused of forcing a man to perform oral sex on him in the storage room of Macy’s flagship store in Manhattan’s Herald Square in 2008, and of sexually assaulting a man at a party in October 2021. a drugged drink left him unable to fight back, remembers several men attacking him and clearly remembers seeing Combs standing naked above him at some point during the attack, his lawsuit said.