second wave On Sunday night, a prominent Houston lawyer filed a lawsuit against Sean “Diddy” Combs on behalf of at least five accusers, including those who said they were sexually assaulted by Combs in 2022. This includes three people who claim that
A personal trainer claims he was drugged the night the Bad Boy Entertainment founder accepted a lifetime achievement award at the BET Awards in June 2022. The man claims he was passed around unconscious during an after-party celebration. “It’s like a party favor that provides sexual pleasure to[Coms’ guests].”
The anonymous plaintiffs, all using the pseudonyms John or Jane Doe, are represented by attorney Tony Buzbee, who says he represents more than 120 clients for Combs. said. He filed the first of six lawsuits against the tycoon last Monday. Buzbee said in a statement that he plans to file a total of seven lawsuits against Combs this week, bringing the total number of lawsuits against Combs to more than 20.
In light of the growing civil litigation and explosives charges, Combs’ criminal defense team filed a motion Sunday night with U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian, calling for “further extrajudicial action by prospective witnesses and their attorneys that would substantially obstruct them. He called for a gag order prohibiting him from making such statements. Mr. Combs is entitled to a fair trial. ”
The new lawsuit adds to already serious legal problems, as the 54-year-old awaits trial on racketeering and sex trafficking charges in a Brooklyn jail. The embattled music mogul has maintained his innocence as his trial is scheduled to begin next May.
Combs’ representatives referred to Rolling Stone in a statement released last week calling Buzbee’s “series of lawsuits” a “clear attempt to gain publicity.” “Mr. Combs and his legal team have full confidence in the facts, their legal defense, and the integrity of the judicial process. In the courtroom, Mr. Combs and his legal team have full confidence in the facts, their legal defense, and the integrity of the judicial process. The truth that he has never sexually assaulted anyone will prevail,” a statement from Combs’ media team said.
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Sunday’s new lawsuit details conduct that allegedly occurred between 2000 and 2022. One of the lawsuits comes from a woman who claims she was 13 years old at the time after the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards, when she was allegedly drugged and sexually assaulted by Combs and an unnamed celebrity. (Buzbee said the anonymous celebrities mentioned in the filing have not been officially added as defendants at this time.)
Two men and a woman allege they were assaulted by Combs in 2022. The personal trainer claims he was invited to Combs’ Holmby Hills mansion after the BET Awards and asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement as a condition of attending the afterparty. After signing the document, the man was handed a cocktail and asked to take a few sips, the complaint states.
The man claims he was taken to a small room where about a dozen people were having group sex. After entering the room, the man began to feel “disoriented, dizzy and weak,” police said. When the man “realized he was severely impaired,” Combs approached him, “removed his pants and began performing non-consensual oral sex,” the complaint alleges.
Combs then allegedly directed the man to perform oral sex on the unnamed celebrity, and the man was “in a drug haze” and “unable to resist Combs’ coercion and commands,” the complaint states. listed. The man claims he lost consciousness at times and eventually woke up outside his apartment without a shirt or phone and no idea how he got home.
Another plaintiff, a 29-year-old singer, claims she met Combs at a party in the New York City area in December 2022. The woman claims she noticed widespread drug use throughout the star-studded party. It was foisted on guests by people working at Comms.
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Combs was the night’s host and allegedly approached the singer, struck up a conversation about her career, and offered to feature her on a track. At one point, Combs suggested they go to his office to further discuss her music in private, the complaint alleges.
The singer claims that even though he had only had one glass of wine, he began to feel disoriented. While alone in his office, “under the influence of a drug-laced drink, Combs raped and sexually assaulted Plaintiff,” the lawsuit alleges. “Plaintiff was unable to stop him from doing so, as if she were trapped within her own body, unable to participate but also unable to resist.”
The woman claims she woke up the next morning confused, with blood on her legs, bruises on her lip, and marks on her arms and wrists, leading her to believe she had been tied up with rope. I am doing it. “As a result of this incident, Plaintiff has suffered significant emotional distress and trauma,” the lawsuit alleges. “She continues to deal with the psychological and emotional effects of the assault.”
The second man alleges that Combs sexually assaulted him in 2022 during a Searock promotional event. A Los Angeles-area businessman claims he knew Combs from renting the mogul’s luxury cars and jewelry. He attended the event to further his network, but at one point Combs is said to have taken the man back to his private office, believing it to be a business conversation. The complaint says Combs was “acting strangely while intoxicated” and exposed himself before groping the man’s genitals. “The situation further escalated and another person, Pro Athlete A, entered the office and intervened, ending Combs’ assault,” the complaint alleges.
A fourth woman claims she met Combs in Las Vegas over Memorial Day weekend in 2014, and includes a photo of Combs at an afterparty as part of her filing. After taking a few sips of the Searock vodka drink provided by Combs, the woman claims she began to feel nauseated and dizzy.
“The next thing Plaintiff remembers is waking up the next morning and feeling extremely heavy and in pain,” the lawsuit alleges. “My whole body hurt and I had a hard time moving. As soon as she woke up, she saw Combs in the corner of the room, shirtless, screaming loudly and animatedly at someone over the phone. The woman claims that she was “horrified when she realized that Combs had raped her.”
Buzbee and his co-counsel Andrew Van Arsdale filed the initial 12-count lawsuit against Combs in federal court in the Southern District of New York, but late Sunday they also filed a lawsuit against Combs in Manhattan Supreme Court, including the man who alleges he was assaulted by Combs. filed a lawsuit on behalf of. Inside a music studio in Harlem, 2005. John Doe claims he was 21 years old and the owner of a private security company when Combs spiked his drink, put his hand in his pants and “attempted to masturbate with (the man’s) penis.” .
Buzbee and Van Arsdale filed their first lawsuit last week after announcing at a press conference that they had at least 120 clients with scrutinized claims against the music mogul. One of the lawsuits came from a man who claimed to have attended Combs’ “white party” in the Hamptons in 1998, when Combs was 16 years old. Two women and two additional men filed separate claims in the other lawsuits. Combs allegedly committed sexual assaults between 1995 and 2021.
Last Tuesday, Combs’ lawyers filed a letter asking a federal judge to direct prosecutors to release the names of the alleged victims in the criminal case. They need to help Combs prepare for his trial in May 2025 and to identify any overlap between the accusers behind the civil suit and the alleged victims associated with his criminal case. He insisted that we need to know the name as soon as possible. They argued the clarification was needed so they could respond to Combs’ civil complaint without running afoul of rules governing what can be said in criminal cases.
“The government is unfairly forcing (Mr. Combs) to play a guessing game,” the four-page letter, signed by Combs’ lawyers Mark Agnifilo and Tenny Geragos and obtained by Rolling Stone, says. Ta. Combs’ lawyers said in the letter that the government “opposes the release of the names of the alleged victims at this time.” A pretrial hearing in the case is scheduled for Dec. 18.
In the criminal indictment, Combs is accused of “abusing, threatening, and coercing” unidentified “women and others” for his sexual gratification. The filing says Combs engaged in a “persistent and pervasive pattern of abuse against women and other individuals,” including “verbal, mental, physical, and sexual” abuse. Combs allegedly distributed drugs to the victims to keep them submissive and compliant. Prosecutors were vague in the indictment about the dates and details of the alleged abuse, which involved anyone other than Combs’ ex-girlfriend Cassandra “Kathy” Ventura, identified as Victim 1.
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If convicted as charged, Combs could face a minimum sentence of 15 years and a maximum of life in prison. Even with good behavior, the once-billionaire founder of Bad Boy Entertainment will likely remain behind bars until at least his late 60s.
Before Buzbee’s first lawsuit began, Combs had already faced more than a dozen other charges filed last year for allegedly sexually abusing people during his decades-long career as an industry promoter and gatekeeper. I was facing it. The deluge began when Ventura filed a graphic sex trafficking complaint last November. Combs settled with Ventura for an undisclosed amount within 24 hours, but her 35-page complaint, now at the center of the music mogul’s criminal prosecution, opened the floodgates. Ms. Combs’ home was searched in March, and in May CNN reported that in 2016, Ms. Combs threw, kicked, stomped and dragged Ms. Ventura in a hallway at the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles. Obtained surveillance footage. After initially denying Ventura’s allegations against her, Combs released a video apology related to the incident, acknowledging that “the actions in the video are inexcusable.”