Whereas Sean “Diddy” Combs has fervently denied ex-girlfriend Cassie’s rape and assault allegations, a number of ladies have come ahead with comparable claims of alleged misconduct by the music mogul.
Us Weekly confirmed in November 2023 that Cassie (actual title Casandra Ventura) filed a lawsuit in opposition to Diddy, accusing him of rape and repeated bodily abuse that lasted almost a decade. Cassie and Diddy dated on and off from 2007 to 2018.
“After years in silence and darkness, I’m lastly prepared to inform my story, and to talk up on behalf of myself and for the good thing about different ladies who face violence and abuse of their relationships,” Cassie stated in a press release.
Cassie’s legal professional Douglas Wigdor additionally alleged that Diddy supplied his consumer “eight figures” in a bid to “silence her.” Cassie denied his supposed payday.
Nicholas Hunt/Getty Photographs Sean “Diddy” Combs and ex-girlfriend Cassie weathered many ups and downs throughout their romance earlier than parting methods for good in 2018. Whereas Cassie (actual title Cassandra Ventura) has since married Alex Superb and turn out to be a mom, her relationship with Diddy hasn’t stopped making headlines. The New York Occasions reported in November 2023 […]
Diddy refuted Cassie’s allegations in a press release offered by his lawyer. “Mr. Combs vehemently denies these offensive and outrageous allegations,” Ben Brafman instructed Us. “For the previous six months, Mr. Combs has been subjected to Ms. Ventura’s persistent demand of $30 million, underneath the specter of writing a dangerous e-book about their relationship, which was unequivocally rejected as blatant blackmail. Regardless of withdrawing her preliminary menace, Ms. Ventura has now resorted to submitting a lawsuit riddled with baseless and outrageous lies, aiming to tarnish Mr. Combs’s popularity and looking for a payday.”
Following Cassie’s criticism, a number of different ladies got here ahead with new or previous accusations, together with Danity Kane’s Aubrey O’Day and Kimora Lee Simmons.
In March 2024, a number of of Diddy’s houses, together with properties in Miami and Los Angeles, had been raided by Homeland Safety in connection to a intercourse trafficking investigation.
A rep for each Cassie and an nameless plaintiff suing Diddy launched a press release in response to the raids: “We’ll at all times assist regulation enforcement when it seeks to prosecute those who have violated the regulation. Hopefully, that is the start of a course of that may maintain Mr. Combs accountable for his wicked conduct.”
Hold studying for extra particulars in regards to the allegations in opposition to Diddy:
Cassie
Cassie’s lawsuit got here with a “set off warning” discover on the prime, noting that her claims contained “extremely graphic data of a sexual nature.” Cassie asserted in her submitting that Diddy usually tried to manage her once they had been courting by taking medication, bodily hurting her and forcing her to have intercourse with male prostitutes on digicam. She additionally claimed that Diddy pressured his means into her dwelling in 2018 and sexually assaulted her.
In accordance with Cassie, Diddy additionally threatened to explode Child Cudi’s automobile. Cudi, who Cassie began courting throughout considered one of her splits from Diddy, corroborated her claims to The New York Occasions. Cudi’s rep asserted that the rapper’s car did explode after Diddy’s warning.
Diddy denied all of Cassie’s claims.
In the future after submitting the lawsuit, Cassie confirmed to Us by way of her legal professional Douglas Wigdor that she and Diddy had reached a settlement.
“I’ve determined to resolve this matter amicably on phrases that I’ve some stage of management,” the November 17 assertion learn. “I need to thank my household, followers and attorneys for his or her unwavering assist.”
Diddy additionally launched a press release distributed by way of Window, telling Us, “We’ve got determined to resolve this matter amicably. I want Cassie and her household all one of the best. Love.”
Following the settlement, legal professional Neama Rahmani completely instructed Us that the case was possible settled so shortly was as a result of “Cassie ran out of time,” noting that a few of her allegations had been “a bit of bit older.”
Rahmani went on to elucidate {that a} New York statute of limitations regulation about submitting civil lawsuits and sexual assault instances was set to shut days after Cassie’s submitting. “Cassie was up in opposition to the clock and the events actually had been unable to finalize their negotiations earlier than that window was going to shut,” he shared. “So, she was pressured to file a lawsuit.”
Almost six months after the duo settled their lawsuit, CNN obtained video footage of Diddy allegedly assaulting Cassie in 2016. Within the clip, Diddy wore solely a towel and appeared to seize Cassie by her neck.
“The gut-wrenching video has solely additional confirmed the disturbing and predatory habits of Mr. Combs,” Wigdor instructed Us in a press release after the footage resurfaced. “Phrases can not specific the braveness and fortitude that Ms. Ventura has proven in coming ahead to convey this to gentle.”
Diddy didn’t instantly tackle the claims.
Kimora Lee Simmons
In 2004, a then-pregnant Simmons was profiled by New York journal when she attended the Manhattan Metropolis Heart’s profit efficiency of The Owl and the Pussycat. The interview referred to an alleged earlier incident the place “Kimora stated one thing to Combs and he threatened to hit her.” Per the profile, Diddy “finally bought down on his knees” to publicly apologize.
Kimora Lee, who was married to Russell Simmons on the time, accepted Diddy’s apology. “I respect him for being a fierce entrepreneur and I respect understanding that the whole lot he does is emulating my husband,” she instructed the outlet.
Whereas Hollywood could look like all glitz and glam on the floor, the business has seen its justifiable share of scandals by way of the years. The New York Occasions and the New Yorker first revealed investigative items in 2017 that accused disgruntled film producer Harvey Weinstein of many years of sexual assault and harassment. Quickly after, Weinstein stood trial and was […]
Gina Huynh
Huynh, often known as Virginia V, claimed throughout a 2019 interview on “Unwine With Tasha Okay” that Diddy bodily assaulted her at one level throughout their five-year relationship.
“He stomped on my abdomen actually laborious — like, took the wind out of my breath,” she alleged. “I couldn’t breathe. He stored hitting me. I used to be pleading to him, ‘Are you able to simply cease? I can’t breathe.’”
In accordance with Huynh, Diddy additionally grabbed her by the hair and began “punching” the again of her head. “He was mentally, emotionally and bodily abusing me. He would at all times evaluate me to Cassie and inform me that I’m the unhealthy one, she’s a very good one,” added Huynh.
Diddy by no means publicly addressed Huynh’s claims.
Aubrey O’Day
O’Day first crossed paths with Diddy when she auditioned for his MTV collection Making the Band 3. Diddy selected her to begin Danity Kane alongside Daybreak Richard, Shannon Bex, D. Woods and Aundrea Fimbres. The lady group was instantly signed to Diddy’s label Dangerous Boy Information. Throughout Making the Band 4, Diddy revealed that O’Day had been kicked out of the band however claimed there was no unhealthy blood.
O’Day beforehand instructed Us her aspect of the story in July 2019.
“Diddy broke us up within the peak of our fame on nationwide tv, on MTV,” she claimed to Us. “I need to discuss what we’re going by way of as a result of I feel what Danity Kane has gone by way of since then is so highly effective for ladies, for individuals, for artists. We’ve got needed to be taught the whole lot the laborious means since we had been damaged up by [Diddy] on nationwide tv.”
Throughout a 2022 interview on Alex Cooper’s “Name Her Daddy” podcast, O’Day claimed she was fired from Danity Kane as a result of she “wasn’t prepared to do what was anticipated of [her] — not talent-wise, however in different areas.” In September 2023, O’Day additional claimed that Diddy requested her to signal an NDA in trade for Danity Kane’s publishing rights.
“I’ve to launch him for any claims or wrongdoings or actions previous to the date of the discharge,” she alleged on the “OnlyStans” podcast. “I’ve to signal an NDA that I’ll by no means disparage Puff, Dangerous Boy, [Diddy’s mom] Janice Combs, or Justin Combs Music, or EMI, or Sony ever in public.”
O’Day has since been a vocal advocate for Cassie following her lawsuit. “Cash > accountability. Each time,” present wrote by way of her Instagram Story in response to Cassie and Diddy’s November 2023 lawsuit settlement. “Welcome to a different chapter of the system is nicely in place 💔.”
Joi Dickerson-Neal
Dickerson-Neal filed a lawsuit in opposition to Diddy in New York Supreme Court docket in November 2023. In accordance with courtroom docs obtained by Us on the time, Dickerson-Neal claimed the musician “drugged, sexually assaulted and abused” her throughout her time as a university scholar in 1991 and claimed Diddy created and distributed “revenge porn” that includes her in it.
Within the lawsuit, Dickerson-Neal recalled showing in a single his music movies whereas learning at Syracuse College. The duo allegedly went out to dinner following the video shoot, after which Dickerson-Neal claims Diddy “deliberately drugged” her and assaulted her at his dwelling. Dickerson-Neal alleges that Diddy filmed the incident and shared the footage with others.
Dickerson-Neal sued Diddy for “substantial and lifelong accidents,” in addition to financial compensation for “psychological and emotional damage, misery, ache and struggling and damage to her popularity.”
A spokesperson for Diddy denied Dickerson-Neal’s allegations in a press release to CNN on the time, calling her claims “made up and never credible” and “purely a cash seize.” The assertion continued: “Mr. Combs by no means assaulted her, and he or she implicates firms that didn’t exist.”
Sean “Diddy” Combs. Paras Griffin/Getty Photographs
Jane Doe
In December 2023, an nameless plaintiff, known as Jane Doe, accused Diddy of sex-trafficking and gang-raping her in 2008 in a Southern District of New York lawsuit. Doe, who was simply 17 years previous on the time of the alleged incident, stated she was flown to New York Metropolis by Diddy to satisfy with him.
Throughout their time collectively, Doe says Diddy and his associates pressured themselves onto her after giving her “copious quantities of medicine and alcohol,” based on courtroom docs obtained by Us.
“As alleged within the criticism, Defendants preyed on a weak highschool teenager as a part of a intercourse trafficking scheme that concerned plying her with medication and alcohol and transporting her by personal jet to New York Metropolis the place she was gang raped by the three particular person defendants at Mr. Combs’ studio,” Doe’s legal professional, Douglas H. Wigdor, instructed Us in a press release on the time. “The depravity of those abhorrent acts has, not surprisingly, scarred our consumer for all times.”
Diddy as soon as once more denied any wrongdoing, telling Us in a press release, “ENOUGH IS ENOUGH.” He continued: “For the final couple of weeks, I’ve sat silently and watched individuals attempt to assassinate my character, destroy my popularity and my legacy. Sickening allegations have been made in opposition to me by people searching for a fast payday.”
He ended his message by emphasizing he “didn’t do any of the terrible issues being alleged,” including, “I’ll struggle for my title, my household and for the reality.”
Rodney ‘Lil Rod’ Jones
Jones sued Diddy for $30 million in damages in February 2024, accusing the rapper of drugging, threatening and sexually assaulting him for greater than a 12 months. In courtroom docs obtained by NBC Information, Jones alleged that whereas dwelling with Diddy from September 2022 to November 2023, he recorded audio of the rapper partaking in “critical criminal activity” with associates and colleagues. The music producer additionally claimed he was sexually harassed and assaulted by Diddy within the artist’s Florida, Los Angeles and New York houses and a yacht Diddy rented within the U.S. Virgin Islands.
In accordance with the lawsuit, the extent of Jones’ assaults and harassment included “fixed unsolicited and unauthorized groping and touching of his anus.”
Diddy’s legal professional Shawn Holley known as Jones a “liar” in a press release to Us. “Lil Rod is nothing greater than a liar who filed a $30 million lawsuit, shamelessly searching for an undeserved payday,” he acknowledged. “His reckless name-dropping about occasions which can be pure fiction and easily didn’t occur is nothing greater than a clear try and garner headlines.”
Holley went on so as to add that Diddy and his group have “overwhelming, indeniable proof that his claims are full lies” and that the “outlandish allegations” could be addressed in courtroom.
In March 2024, Jones amended his criticism to incorporate Cuba Gooding Jr. as a defendant. Whereas the unique submitting accused the actor of sexually harassing and assaulting Jones on a yacht that Diddy rented, Gooding wasn’t initially included as one of many individuals being sued.
The lawsuit alleged that Diddy tried to “go off” Jones to Gooding when leaving them alone collectively in a studio on the boat. “Cuba Gooding Jr. started touching, groping, and fondling Mr. Jones’ legs, his higher internal thighs close to his groin, the small of his again close to his buttocks and his shoulders,” Jones’ lawsuit alleges, per courtroom docs obtained by USA As we speak, additional claiming that Diddy “didn’t step in and cease” Gooding from assaulting Jones.
Us Weekly reached out to Gooding for remark.
Jones’ amended go well with was filed the identical day that a number of of Diddy’s properties had been raided by Homeland Safety in connection to a intercourse trafficking investigation.
For those who or somebody you recognize has been sexually assaulted, contact the Nationwide Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).