A California woman filed a lawsuit on Thanksgiving, accusing Sean “Diddy” Combs of drugging and sexually assaulting her 30 years ago while she was still in college.
Joi Dickerson-Neal said she was a psychology student at Syracuse University in 1991 when she met Combs.
She worked as a waitress at Wells’ Restaurant in Harlem – a now-closed historic chicken and waffle restaurant – and hoped to work in the music industry.
She claims Diddy pressured her for a date and then slipped something into her drink before taking her to an apartment, sexually assaulting her and filming it.
She claims the music mogul shared the video widely, saying Davante Swing, member of R&B group Jodeci, told her that “everyone” had seen the footage.
Dickerson-Neal says in her lawsuit that she was traumatized by the encounter and dropped out of college, did not complete her degree and abandoned her dreams of working in the music industry.
She is seeking unspecified damages.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, pictured in September 2022, is accused in a new lawsuit of drugging and assaulting a woman in 1991
Cassie said the music manager allegedly controlled and abused her for more than a decade — and also plied her with drugs, beat her and forced her to have sex with multiple male prostitutes while he watched and recorded.
Cassie, seen in December 2018 at the GQ Men of the Year party in LA, settled with Diddy the day after filing her case
Dickerson-Neal’s case was filed under the Adult Survivors Act, a New York law that gives victims of sexual abuse one year to file a civil lawsuit, even if the statute of limitations has expired.
Thursday is the deadline for filing cases under the law.
She said in her court papers that she was inspired to come forward by Diddy’s ex-girlfriend Cassie, who sued him in federal court on Nov. 16, accusing him of rape and a decade-long pattern of abuse that began when she was 19 years old. .
A day after Cassie filed the lawsuit – which was also covered by the Adult Survivors Act – she settled with Diddy out of court.
Dickerson-Neal says in her suit that when she met Diddy, she was “smart, beautiful and aware that her good reputation was an important asset that had to be kept safe.”
The Harlem-born rapper, now 54, was the talent director at Uptown Records at the time, working with musicians like Mary J. Blige and Jodeci. In 1993, he would found Bad Boy Records, making a billion-dollar fortune.
She says she had friends and acquaintances in common with Combs, and had briefly appeared in one of his music videos.
She claims he pressured her into a date, so on January 3, 1991, she agreed to meet him at the restaurant where she worked, Wells’. She said Combs already had a reputation as a woman, and Sister Soulja, a rapper from the Bronx, warned her to be careful.
Dickerson-Neal said she chose the restaurant because she knew the staff and felt safe, but claims Combs put something in her drink, which made her dizzy as they left.
She got into his car and they went to a record studio and an apartment. While in the car, he pressured her to smoke marijuana with him, she claims.
She claims he took her to an apartment and she fainted: the next morning she woke up not knowing exactly what had happened, but with pain and a sense of shame.
Dickerson-Neal said she didn’t go to the police but told her best friend.
“Shortly thereafter, Davante Swing, a member of the R&B group Jodeci, told Plaintiff that Combs had filmed himself sexually assaulting Plaintiff and showed the video to Swing and others while he worked at the studio,” the court documents allege .
“Plaintiff asked Swing who had seen the video, and he replied, ‘Everyone.’
“Plaintiff was shocked to learn that Combs had filmed the attack and knew it would haunt her for the rest of her life and career.
‘Swing told the plaintiff that he wanted to speak out against Combs, but that he was afraid the band would lose their recording contract. Jodeci was recording their studio album Forever Lady, for which Combs did A&R.”