Hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs is at the moment in federal custody awaiting trial on racketeering and intercourse trafficking fees.
His arrest in New York comes amid a sequence of civil lawsuits alleging sexual assault and bodily violence, some relationship again to the Nineties.
Greater than two dozen individuals have filed lawsuits towards the rapper, accusing him of utilizing his affect within the leisure business for every thing from drug use to assault to rape.
The newest batch of lawsuits contains allegations from two males who had been minors on the time of the alleged sexual assaults. Each expressed hope that Mr. Combs might assist launch their careers within the leisure business.
The Harlem-born rapper denies all accusations, together with these leveled within the lawsuit and federal indictment.
Mr. Combs, 54, was arrested at a New York resort on Monday, Sept. 16, on fees of racketeering conspiracy, forcible human trafficking and transportation for the aim of prostitution.
federal prosecutor accuse him He “created a prison enterprise” by which he “abused, threatened and coerced the ladies and others round him to fulfill his sexual wishes, shield his fame and conceal his actions”.
They mentioned Mr Coombs used medication, violence and the ability of his place to “seduce feminine victims” into long-term sexual practices often called “Freak Offs”.
Additionally they revealed that raids on Mr Combs’ properties in Miami and Los Angeles in March discovered weapons, ammunition and greater than 1,000 bottles of lubricant.
Prosecutors have reportedly been in touch with a number of witnesses who labored for Combs, in addition to a few of his present accusers, and are leaving open the potential for further fees.
The singer-producer has pleaded not responsible to a few felony counts towards him, and his lawyer advised reporters that he’s a “fighter” and “not afraid of the costs.”
Mr. Combs is at the moment being held on the Metropolitan Detention Heart in Brooklyn, a federal jail infamous for its violence and poor inmate care.
The MDC homes an extra-secure space with barracks-style housing reserved for particular detainees, and US media reported that Mr Combs shared the house with convicted cryptocurrency fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried.
His authorized crew requested for his launch pending trial as a result of “horrendous” jail circumstances, however prosecutors argued he posed a “critical flight threat” and Mr Coombs has been denied bail twice.
If convicted, he faces 15 years to life in jail.
Mr Combs’ on-again, off-again ex-girlfriend, Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, was the primary to reveal the self-proclaimed “lifelong unhealthy boy.”
In a lawsuit filed in November, the mannequin and musician claimed he “trapped” her in a “cycle of abuse, violence and intercourse trafficking” for greater than a decade.
Mr Coombs “vehemently” denied the claims. A day after the lawsuit was filed in courtroom, each side mentioned that they had settled the case “amicably,” however Coombs’ lawyer mentioned the settlement “is under no circumstances an admission of wrongdoing.”
However in Could, CNN obtained surveillance footage exhibiting the entertainer-turned-entrepreneur assaulting Ms. Ventura throughout an argument in 2016, as detailed in her lawsuit.
Two days later, Combs lastly acknowledged the incident in an Instagram video and mentioned he was “disgusted” by what he had carried out.
“My actions in that video are inexcusable. I take full accountability for my actions,” he mentioned.
Since then, at the very least 27 individuals – together with a number of males – have additionally come ahead with their very own claims. Listed here are the main points of a few of the circumstances — lots of which embody plaintiffs who filed anonymously.
Joey Dixon-Nealshe mentioned Ms. Ventura impressed her to talk her thoughts and claimed that Mr. Combs “deliberately drugged” and raped her in 1991 when she was a pupil at Syracuse College and filmed the assault and Exhibiting this to others makes her a sufferer of revenge porn.
Representatives for Mr. Coombs denounced the lawsuit as “purely a cash seize” and known as for it to be dismissed.
Lisa Gardner It’s alleged that Mr Combs and R&B singer Aaron Corridor plied her with alcohol after which pressured her to have intercourse with them when she was 16. She additionally claimed Mr Coombs got here to her dwelling the following day and strangled her till she handed out. Mr Coombs’ legal professionals blasted the claims as “false”.
The unique three lawsuits had been filed beneath New York State’s Grownup Survivors Act, which supplies grownup victims a one-year window to file claims towards their abusers whatever the statute of limitations.
Up to now, one lady has solely been recognized as Jane Doe Alleges that Mr. Combs, former Dangerous Boy Information president Harvey Pierre and a 3rd get together violently gang-raped her in a New York Metropolis recording studio when she was a 17-year-old highschool pupil.
Days later, Mr Combs took to social media to interrupt his silence towards “disgusting accusations by people searching for a fast payday”. His legal professionals are in search of to have the case dismissed as “baseless and time-barred.” Mr. Pierre, in the meantime, known as the lawsuit a “fiction.”
Rodney “Lil Rod” JonesThe producer and photographer of Mr Combs’ newest album have accused the tycoon of working an unlawful racketeering enterprise by which he was pressured to obtain medication, solicit intercourse staff and report intercourse acts. He additionally claimed that Mr. Combs and actor Cooper Gooding Jr. molested him with out consent.
Grace OmakaIn 2022, whereas engaged on a yacht chartered by the Combs household, he accused the rapper and his son, Christian “King” Combs, of sexual assault. She accused them of making a “debauched atmosphere” populated by shady intercourse staff and A-list celebrities.
Crystal McKinney Alleges she was drugged and sexually assaulted by Combs after a Males’s Trend Week occasion in 2003, when she was 22. She additionally mentioned he subsequently “ostracized” her from the modeling world.
April LamprosShe mentioned she met Mr Combs in 1994 whereas they had been college students at New York’s Trend Institute of Know-how and detailed “4 horrific sexual encounters” within the early 2000s.
Adria EnglishA former grownup movie actress who labored with Mr. Combs within the 2000s mentioned he used her as a “sexual agent to carry pleasure and monetary acquire to others” throughout “white events” he hosted at his New York dwelling. pawn”. Miami.
Daybreak RichardsShe, who as soon as sang in two bands Coombs shaped, together with Danity Kane, mentioned she witnessed him being violent in the direction of Ms Ventura and that he threatened her when she tried to intervene. life.
Thalia GravesMr Combs and his bodyguard Joseph Sherman, backed by celeb lawyer Gloria Allred, sedated, subdued and tied her up earlier than videotaping their rape video of her after which distributed the intercourse tape.
Six nameless plaintiffs: six lawsuits On October 14, 4 males and two girls submitted their functions. One of many girls accused Mr. Combs of raping her at a resort, and one other lawsuit accuses the rapper of ordering a 16-year-old boy to strip bare when he talked to him about moving into the music business.
Ashley Parham The lawsuit, filed on Oct. 15, claims Mr. Combs raped her as “retaliation” for feedback she made suggesting Mr. Combs was chargeable for the homicide of rapper Tupac Shakur. Shakur’s homicide has by no means been solved, however a person at the moment on trial for his homicide has beforehand claimed that Mr Coombs paid to have him killed.
Mr Coombs’ authorized crew dismissed the sequence of lawsuits as “a transparent try to achieve publicity”.
“Mr. Combs and his authorized crew stay assured within the info, their authorized protection, and the integrity of the judicial course of,” his attorneys mentioned in a press release, including: “Mr. Combs has by no means been responsible of any An individual has dedicated sexual assault, whether or not an grownup or a minor, or a lady.
9 extra lawsuits Submissions had been submitted anonymously between October 20 and October 28. Most of the lawsuits are filed by adults who say they had been minors on the time of the alleged sexual assaults.
Two male plaintiffs say within the lawsuit that they had been sexually assaulted once they had been minors whereas speaking to the mogul about their careers within the music business.
A number of of the lawsuits comprise particulars of incidents that occurred at a few of Mr. Coombs’ infamous events.
5 extra nameless lawsuits On November 19, three males and two girls filed a lawsuit towards Mr. Coombs. The lawsuits deal with allegations of sexual assault at events, with at the very least two outlining rape allegations towards Mr. Combs.
