Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ legal troubles are piling up.
While he has been held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, awaiting trial on federal racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution charges, the number of civil lawsuits against the hip-hop mogul has increased — and could soon reach more than 100.
Combs, who pleaded not guilty in his criminal case and maintains his innocence, is currently the defendant in more than a dozen civil lawsuits filed in the past year. The first was filed against the controversial music producer by his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura in November 2023, accusing him of rape, abuse and sex trafficking. A day later he settled the matter with the singer, but it led to a barrage of others.
Now, Texas attorney Tony Buzbee says he and a team of attorneys will file 120 individual sexual abuse charges against Combs over the next month.
The newest
At an October 1 press conference, Buzbee announced that the 120 individual sexual abuse lawsuits against the Bad Boys Entertainment founder are pending. The alleged assaults occurred between 2000 and 2020 in New York, Los Angeles and Miami at events including Combs’ famous “White Parties,” as well as album release events and holiday parties. The alleged victims are men and women and range from 9 to 38 years old. the time.
“The biggest secret in the entertainment industry, which wasn’t really a secret at all, has finally been revealed to the world,” Buzbee said at the press conference. “The wall of silence has now been broken.”
Buzbee also vowed to “expose the factors that enabled this behavior behind closed doors. We will pursue this case regardless of who the evidence relates to.”
Combs denied the allegations through a member of his legal team.
“As Mr. Combs’ legal team has emphasized, he cannot address every baseless allegation in what has become a reckless media circus,” attorney Erica Wolff said in a statement to Yahoo Entertainment. “That said, Mr. Combs emphatically and categorically denies any claim that he sexually abused anyone, including minors, as false and defamatory. He looks forward to proving his innocence and defending himself in court, where the truth will be determined on the basis of evidence, not speculation.”
Buzbee’s co-counsel is Andrew Van Arsdale, who represented more than 200 victims in a sex abuse lawsuit against the Boy Scouts of America.
The many cases against Combs
Even if Combs avoids prosecution in his federal case, for which he faces a prison sentence of 15 years to life if convicted on the three charges, his legal team is stuck in civil lawsuits that could take years to resolve. And that’s before the promised 120 additional lawsuits have been filed.
Here are all the charges he’s facing.
Cassie Ventura: On November 16, 2023, the singer, who dated Combs on and off from 2007 to 2018, sued him for rape, abuse and sex trafficking. They settled the lawsuit the next day, with Combs admitting no wrongdoing. Ventura’s allegations form the basis of the federal case against him.
Joi Dickerson-Neal: Days later, on November 23, 2023, Dickerson-Neal filed a lawsuit alleging that Combs drugged, sexually assaulted and abused her in New York City in 1991 while she was still a student. She also claims she was the victim of “revenge porn.”
Liza Gardner: On the same day that Dickerson-Neal’s lawsuit was filed, Gardner sued Combs, alleging that he and R&B singer-songwriter Aaron Hall took turns raping her and a friend after they met at a 1990 event at the office of MCA Records in New York, when she was 16.
Combs denied both allegations, calling them “fabricated” and a “cash grab.”
Jane Doe: On December 6, 2023, a fourth civil lawsuit was filed against Combs by a woman who alleged she suffered sex trafficking and gang rape by Combs, his Bad Boys Entertainment associate Harve Pierre, and an unknown third man in a bathroom at Combs’ studio. in 2003. She said she was 17 at the time and in high school.
Combs issued a statement denying all allegations, saying that he “watched people try to assassinate my character, destroy my reputation and my legacy,” but “enough is enough.”
Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones: Combs was sued on February 26 by Jones, a producer of Combs’ 2023 album, for sexual harassment and assault. Jones claimed he was drugged and woke up naked and disoriented in bed with Combs and two sex workers. Jones made a litany of other accusations, including that Combs was involved in a shooting at a Los Angeles recording studio in 2022.
On March 25, Jones amended his complaint by filing Cuba Gooding Jr. as a co-defendant, alleging that the Oscar winner sexually harassed and assaulted him on Combs’ yacht. Like Combs, Gooding denied the allegations. Combs’ son Justin is also a co-defendant in the lawsuit.
That same day, Combs’ homes in Los Angeles and Miami were raided in an alleged sex trafficking investigation. His attorney said Combs was innocent and that he would “fight to clear his name.”
Crystal McKinney: Hotel surveillance video of Combs apparently attacking Ventura in 2016 was published by CNN. Combs released a video statement taking responsibility for the alleged physical abuse, saying: “My behavior in that video is inexcusable. I take full responsibility for my actions in that video.” He also said he had sought therapy and was working on “becoming a better person.”
That prompted another plaintiff, McKinney, to file her lawsuit on May 21. She alleged that Combs drugged and sexually assaulted her at his New York City studio in 2003 when she was a 22-year-old model. She said modeling career opportunities dried up after the alleged incident, and she believes Combs “blackballed” her professionally.
April Lampros: The former fashion student, who was mentored by Combs, sued him on May 23 over “four terrifying sexual encounters” that took place in 1995, 1996 and 2000. During one of them, she claims he forced her to take ecstasy and then have sex with his partner. then-girlfriend Kim Porter. She claims Combs and Porter, who died in 2018, later fired her.
Lampros also claimed that an unknown man approached her partner in 2023 and said he had seen a “sex tape” of Lampros and Combs years earlier. The alleged video was filmed without her consent.
Derrick Lee Cardello-Smith: A Michigan inmate with a lengthy criminal record filed a lawsuit against Combs in June, alleging that the artist sexually assaulted him during a hotel party in Detroit in 1997. Because Combs’ legal team did not respond to the complaint, the plaintiff was a $100 million default judgment. The lawsuit has since been set aside pending a hearing and is expected to be dismissed.
Dawn Richard: Former Danity Kane singer Dawn Richard filed a lawsuit against Combs on September 10 for sexual abuse. She claims he groped her several times and locked her in a locked car for two hours. Richard also said Combs withheld payments for work on albums and hosted parties where drunken young girls were sexually assaulted. She also claimed he threatened her life when she tried to intervene after witnessing his alleged abuse of Ventura.
Wolff, Combs’ attorney, accused Richard of trying to “rewrite history” and seek “a payday.”
Days after Richard’s indictment, on September 16, Combs was arrested for federal racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. He pleaded not guilty to the charges. The case, handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, alleges that Combs threatened and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires for more than 16 years. Part of that involved forcing victims to participate in “freak offs,” sexual performances that lasted for days, with male sex workers while Combs watched.
The victims were allegedly forced to participate, drugged and recorded without their knowledge. Prosecutors allege Combs created a “criminal enterprise” – through his various companies and involving employees and associates – to carry out crimes including sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice.
Thalia Tombs: While Combs remains in jail, another accuser sued him on September 24, alleging that Combs and his bodyguard Joseph “Big Joe” Sherman drugged, tied up and raped her in 2001. Graves claimed they filmed the attack and showed the recording to other people. Both men have denied the allegations.
