Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs: What are the most recent allegations in opposition to the rapper and the way has he responded?

Sean “Diddy” Combs, a rapper and music mogul credited with serving to launch the careers of a few of the greatest stars in recent times, is now dealing with a number of civil lawsuits accusing him of intercourse trafficking, sexual abuse and rape.

Combs, previously generally known as Puff Daddy, P. Diddy and a bunch of different names, has undergone a myriad of reinventions for the reason that begin of his profession – however has since entered a brand new and unwelcome “period.”

Federal brokers with US Homeland Safety raided two of the rapper’s homes in Los Angeles and Miami on 25 March as he faces a string of various accusations.

Combs, 54, has strongly denied all the allegations in opposition to him. His attorneys have branded the lawsuits and their accusations as cash grabs, “baseless” or “sickening.”

The entertainer has not been formally charged or accused by federal prosecutors of any crime.

On 17 Could, surveillence footage captured at a resort in Los Angeles in March 2016 confirmed Diddy chasing his then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura down the hallway earlier than attacking her by the elevators. He then makes an attempt to pull her again to his resort room.

The next day, he shared an apology video to Instagram saying his behaviour was “inexcusable” and that he took “full accountability for his actions within the video”.

The slew of allegations in lawsuits in opposition to Combs date way back to the Nineties, when he based his personal file label, Unhealthy Boy Information.

All of the allegations in opposition to Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs:

Lawsuits in opposition to the rapper started on 16 November 2023 when he was sued by singer and dancer Cassie, his former companion, who alleged years of abuse.

It was filed underneath the New York Grownup Survivors Act, simply earlier than it expired. This act supplied a one-year window for grownup victims of sexual assault to come back ahead with civil claims whatever the statute of limitations.

Casandra ‘Cassie’ Ventura

R&B singer Cassie, whose full identify is Casandra Ventura, filed a lawsuit in 2023 alleging that she was trafficked, raped and crushed by Combs on many events over 10 years.

Her lawsuit claimed that Combs introduced the singer into his “ostentatious, fast-paced, and drug-fueled way of life” not lengthy after she met him, and signed her to his label in 2005 when she was simply 19 and he was 37.

Ms Ventura stated that the sample of abuse started as quickly as their relationship began and that, as she was making an attempt to finish it in 2018, he pressured himself into her Los Angeles house and raped her.

On Could 17, surveillance footage obtained by CNN confirmed an incident which appeared to corroborate elements of Ms Ventura’s unique grievance. The video from March 2016 confirmed Combs chasing her down the hall of a Los Angeles resort and continuing to punch and kick her outdoors a set of elevators.

In line with the grievance, which cited the altercation as occurring “round March 2016,” Combs turned “extraordinarily intoxicated and punched Ms Ventura within the face, giving her a black eye.”

The surveillance footage confirmed Combs leaving Ms Ventura then returning and shoving her right into a nook. He’s then seen hurling an object at her, which was additionally cited in her grievance.

On Sunday (19 Could), Combs launched a video apologising for his actions within the video, calling his behaviour “inexcusable” and saying he “takes full accountability for his actions within the video”.

The lawsuit in opposition to Combs was settled for an undisclosed sum of money a day after Ms Ventura filed it.

Ms Ventura informed CNN she had chosen to “resolve this matter amicably,” whereas Combs’ lawyer stated the settlement was “by no means an admission of wrongdoing” and didn’t change his denial of the allegations.

Her accusations in opposition to Combs had been introduced by way of the New York Grownup Survivors Act (ASA), which expired at midnight on 23 November 2023.

The act supplied survivors a one-year window to pursue civil litigation no matter when the abuse occurred, that means incidents from many years had been lastly delivered to mild.

Greater than 2,500 instances had been filed underneath the ASA earlier than its expiry at midnight on 23 November 2023, court docket information despatched to The Impartial confirmed.

Survivors introduced lawsuits in opposition to a few of the state’s strongest males, together with main gamers in leisure, similar to Invoice Cosby, Harvey Weinstein, Axl Rose, and Combs.

Rodney ‘Lil Rod’ Jones

In the newest lawsuit in opposition to Combs, filed on 26 February 2024 in New York, producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, alleged he was “subjected to undesirable advances by associates of Diddy at his course” and that he was pressured to have interaction in relations with the intercourse staff Combs had employed.

The producer, who labored for Combs between September 2022 and November 2023 claimed Combs sexually harassed, drugged and threatened him for greater than a yr.

He stated he has video and audio proof of Combs, his employees and others “partaking in critical criminal activity.” The lawsuit recognized Rapper 50 Cent‘s former girlfriend and the mom of one among his youngsters, Daphne Pleasure, as one of many alleged intercourse staff.

The lawsuit additionally alleges that Combs often hosted “sex-trafficking events” with underage ladies and unlawful medication, and implies file label executives who appeared the opposite method financially benefited from entry to celebrities and dignitaries, together with the British royal Prince Harry.

Prince Harry isn’t accused of any wrongdoing or of attending events himself.

Combs’s lawyer informed The Los Angeles Instances that the lawsuit comprises “reckless name-dropping about occasions which are pure fiction and easily didn’t” happen.

Ryan Mendelsohn, 20, who used to dwell within the space the place Combs’ Los Angeles property was searched, informed reporters he would see events on the house and girls outdoors till 6am, which was not ordinary.

“I drive by rather a lot, and I see that — loads of ladies, perhaps 5 – 6 ladies outdoors, some leaving, some not, some entering into,” he stated, based on NBC Information.

“I by no means thought something of it,” Mr Mendelsohn, who added that he didn’t know Combs lived there till Monday’s information broke. “However now, it’s loopy.”

Joie Dickerson-Neal

In November 2023, Joie Dickerson-Neal filed a lawsuit alleging that Combs drugged her, sexually assaulted her and secretly recorded the assault whereas she was a school scholar in 1991, NBC Information reported, citing the submitting.

She claimed that Combs pushed her to go to dinner with him and she or he agreed “reluctantly” on 3 January 1991, which is when she alleges she was drugged, “leading to her being in a bodily state the place she couldn’t independently stand or stroll,” the BBC reported.

The swimsuit additionally claims he recorded the assault and confirmed it to different folks.

She later filed police experiences in New York and New Jersey, spoke to prosecutors, however was informed by colleagues they had been “terrified that Combs would retaliate in opposition to them and that they might lose future enterprise and music alternatives in the event that they made an announcement in assist of” her, NBC Information reported, citing the lawsuit.

Extra ladies come ahead

Since November, three extra ladies have come ahead with lawsuits within the Southern District of New York alleging that they had been sexually assaulted by Combs, based on NBC Information.

Two of the ladies stated they had been youngsters on the time of the alleged assaults.

Nameless Plaintiff

In November, an nameless plaintiff accused Combs and singer-songwriter Aaron Corridor of raping her and a buddy in 1990 or 1991 after assembly at an MCA Information occasion in New York, the place the singers “had been very flirtatious and handsy” and supplied them drinks, Rolling Stone reported.

The swimsuit alleges that Combs and Corridor invited the ladies to Corridor’s condo for an afterparty the place the plaintiff “was supplied extra drinks and was coerced into having intercourse with Combs,” and was “shocked and traumatized” afterwards, earlier than “Corridor barged into the room, pinned her down and compelled Jane Doe to have intercourse with him,” based on Rolling Stone.

After she spoke to her buddy, the plaintiff allegedly came upon she had additionally “been pressured to have intercourse with Combs and Corridor in one other room,” based on the swimsuit.

Just a few days later, Combs allegedly visited the plaintiff and her buddy at a house the place they had been staying, the place he turned “irate and commenced assaulting and choking Jane Doe to the purpose that she handed out,” the lawsuit alleges.

Unnamed Accuser ‘Jane Doe’

In December, Combs was hit with one other lawsuit which claimed he had drugged and gang-raped a 17-year-old lady in 2003.

The plaintiff, recognized as Jane Doe, accused Combs of plying her with medication and alcohol at his New York studio after which raping her together with two associates.

The swimsuit accused Combs of a “intercourse trafficking scheme,” wherein Jane Doe was flown by non-public jet from her house in Michigan to New York.

In Could, after the surprising CCTV footage of Combs attacking Enterprise was printed, former mannequin Crystal McKinney filed a brand new lawsuit claiming the rapper sexually assaulted her at his recording studio in New York Metropolis in 2003.

McKinney stated she was a profitable 22-year-old mannequin when she met Combs at a restaurant throughout Males’s Trend Week in Manhattan. Combs invited her to his recording studio later that evening, based on the federal grievance filed in New York Metropolis.

The lawsuit alleged that McKinney arrived to seek out Combs consuming and smoking marijuana with a number of different males. She smoked some marijuana, which she “later got here to know” was laced with a narcotic or intoxicating substance, the lawsuit stated.

She alleged that Combs led her to the lavatory the place she was pressured to carry out oral intercourse on him.

Days after McKinney’s lawsuit was filed, April Lampros – who met Diddy whereas she was a scholar – claimed Diddy had sexually assaulted a number of instances between 1995 and the early 2000s.

Lampros stated she met the rapper in 1994 whereas she was a school scholar on the Trend Institue of Know-how in New York and interning at Arista, then the father or mother firm of Diddy’s label Unhealthy Boy Leisure.

After assembly her at a bar in New York, she “succumbed to stress” to drink alcohol after “delusional and violent outbursts”, based on the federal grievance filed in New York Metropolis.

Lampros claimed she started to really feel just like the “partitions had been closing in on her” after sipping her drink and Combs escorted her again to a resort. The lawsuit alleged Combs pressured himself on Lampros regardless of her protests. “Ms Lampros was being raped by Mr Combs, and she or he quickly handed out,” it stated.

The rapper allegedly then “love-bombed her” and his advances later “manifested into an aggressive, coercive and abusive relationship primarily based on intercourse”.

The lawsuit claimed Combs assaulted Lampros a second time by bodily forcing her to carry out oral intercourse in a storage close to his condo in Manhattan. When the coed tried to distance herself from the rapper following the assault he allegedly gave her “items and empty guarantees” earlier than turning “indignant, threatening and forceful” and claiming he would destroy her profession.

In 1996, Combs sexually assaulted Lampros for a 3rd time when he pressured her and his ex-girlfriend Kim Porter to take ecstasy and have intercourse collectively, the lawsuit alleged. Combs masturbated whereas he watched the ladies collectively earlier than assaulting Lampros, the submitting claimed.

Lampros says she ended her relationship with Combs two years later. Nevertheless, when she noticed him at an occasion on the Rockefeller Middle within the early 2000s he begged to see her once more and she or he allowed him to come back to her condo the place he kissed and touched her in opposition to her will, the lawsuit alleged.

In 2023, Lampros alleges an unidentified man approached her companion on the time and stated he had seen a sexual video of Lampros and Combs years earlier. Lampros was knowledgeable “Mr Combs apparently recorded them having intercourse with out her understanding and confirmed it to a number of folks,” the submitting claimed.

Combs’s response to allegations

Sean Combs has strongly denied all of the accusations in opposition to him and vowed to “combat for my identify, my household and for the reality.”

In an announcement in December, following the lawsuit introduced by Jane Doe, he referred to as the claims “sickening” and stated his accusers had been “in search of a fast payday”.

“Let me be completely clear: I didn’t do any of the terrible issues being alleged,” he stated in an announcement. “I’ll combat for my identify, my household and for the reality.”

Combs’ lawyer, Shawn Holley, branded the occasions described within the lawsuit as “pure fiction”.

“We’ve overwhelming, indeniable proof that his claims are full lies,” he stated. “We’ll tackle these outlandish allegations in court docket and take all applicable motion in opposition to those that make them.”

Following the settlement with Ventura, Ben Brafman, one other lawyer for Combs, informed The Impartial: “Simply so we’re clear, a call to settle a lawsuit, particularly in 2023, is by no means an admission of wrongdoing.

“Mr. Combs’ choice to settle the lawsuit doesn’t in any method undermine his flat-out denial of the claims.

“He’s glad they bought to a mutual settlement and desires Ms Ventura the perfect.”

Shortly after the discharge of footage that reveals Combs attacking Ms Ventura in a resort hallway, Combs condemned his personal actions and apologised in a video posted to social media.

Within the clip, Combs refers back to the incident as “one of many darkest instances in his life”, saying that he was “f***ed up” and is “disgusted by his actions”.