Sean “Diddy” Combs has requested the dismissal of a lawsuit accusing him and another man of gang-raping a 17-year-old girl at a New York recording studio in 2003.
He said the allegation was a “false and abhorrent claim” made outside the legal deadline.
This is among the many controversies the 54-year-old rapper and his legal team have been subjected to following several lawsuits and a criminal investigation into sex trafficking.
The file states: ‘Mr. Combs and his companies categorically deny the plaintiff’s decades-old story against them, which has caused incalculable damage to their reputation and business standing before any evidence was presented.
“Plaintiff cannot claim what day or time of year the alleged incident occurred, but miraculously remembers other salacious details despite her alleged incapacity.”
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs (pictured) has asked to be dismissed from a lawsuit accusing him and another man of gang-raping a 17-year-old girl at a New York recording studio in 2003
Combs (pictured) said the allegation was a “false and heinous claim” filed outside the legal deadline
The documents in the lawsuit, which was filed in December and amended in March by the alleged female victim, named Combs companies as defendants.
The woman, who chose to remain anonymous, said she was in 11th grade in 2003 in suburban Detroit. She claimed that music producer and president of Combs’ record label Bad Boy Entertainment, Harve Pierre, flew her to New York on a private jet. .
The alleged victim claimed she had consumed so much alcohol and drugs that she was incoherent and could no longer have consensual sex.
She then said one time under the influence: Pierre, Combs and another man took turns raping her limp body.
Photos of the victim sitting on Combs’ lap, allegedly taken that evening, were presented to the court.
The defense requested that the case be dismissed “with prejudice to protect the Combs Defendants from further reputational harm and before further party and judicial resources are wasted.” When a case is dismissed “with prejudice,” it means the lawsuit cannot be refiled.
The 54-year-old rapper and his legal team are subject to several lawsuits and a criminal investigation into sex trafficking
The woman, who chose to remain anonymous, said she was in 11th grade in 2003 in suburban Detroit. She claimed that music producer and president of Combs’ record label Bad Boy Entertainment, Harve Pierre, flew her to New York on a private jet. .
“At this point, no one should take anything ‘Diddy’ or his attorneys say seriously,” said the plaintiff’s attorney, Michael J. Willemin. “Today’s motion is merely a desperate attempt by Combs to avoid accountability for Ms. Doe’s allegations of gang rape and sexual assault. It will not work.’
Under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, victims of sexual assaults that occurred before 2019 were given a three-year “lookback” period during which they could file lawsuits alleging abuse that occurred years or even decades ago, despite the three-year statute of limitations, which has been extended to 20 years for crimes that occurred after 2019.
Combs is the target of more than 3,700 lawsuits, some of which contain allegations dating back decades. The new deadline has now passed.
However, Combs has filed a motion challenging a lawsuit filed under New York City’s Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Law, which allows plaintiffs to file civil lawsuits even after the statute of limitations has expired.
Combs and his attorneys claim the lawsuit was not filed on time and that state law (New York’s Adult Survivors Act) “without exception” trumps city law (New York City’s Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Law).
Although the amended version of the complaint, filed in March, attempted to address some of these issues, Combs’ attorneys argue it did not provide sufficient evidence.
If the lawsuit is to proceed, the judge says the woman’s identity will have to be made public.
Combs’ legal team also argued that the use of “a bold, legally irrelevant ‘trigger warning’ was intended to draw attention to the salacious and depraved allegations.”
Combs has been the defendant in several sexual abuse lawsuits in recent months, all of which he and his attorneys have denied.
In a lawsuit that Combs settled the day after it was filed in November, his former protégé and girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie, sued him for years of sexual abuse, including rape. According to the lawsuit, he forced her to have sex with male prostitutes while he filmed them.
In February, a music producer filed a lawsuit alleging that Combs forced him to recruit prostitutes and pressured him to have sex with them.
Two properties owned by rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs in Los Angeles and Miami were searched by federal agents from Homeland Security Investigations and other law enforcement in March as part of an ongoing sex trafficking investigation.
The alleged victim claimed she was given alcohol and drugs to the point where she was incoherent and could no longer have consensual sex, which is allegedly when Combs, Pierre and a stranger took turns raping her.
So far, Combs has not been arrested in connection with the raids, nor has he been charged with any crime
So far, Combs has not been arrested in connection with the raids, nor has he been charged with any crime.
Combs, a three-time Grammy winner and founder of Bad Boy Records, is among the most influential hip-hop producers and managers of the past thirty years.
He turned his hip-hop empire into a broader business empire that includes private-label liquor, fashion and a TV network.