Sean “Diddy” Combs was hit with another round of disturbing lawsuits Monday as he sits in a federal jail in Brooklyn awaiting trial on racketeering and sex trafficking charges. One of the new plaintiffs says he was a 10-year-old aspiring rapper when Combs allegedly drugged and raped him in a New York City hotel in 2005 during an audition.
The new complaints were filed by prominent Houston lawyer Tony Buzbee and his California counterpart, Andrew Van Arsdale, as the latest in a barrage of lawsuits from a purported pool of more than 120 vetted clients. The lawyers previously filed 13 lawsuits against Combs on Oct. 14 and Oct. 20, with many of the anonymous plaintiffs alleging they were surreptitiously drugged, forced into sex acts without consent and threatened into silence.
In the first new lawsuit filed Monday in New York state court, the John Doe plaintiff says he was 10 when his parents accompanied him to Manhattan to meet with music industry executives, including Combs, to advance his “burgeoning” music career. He says a consultant hired by his parents delivered him to a hotel room and then left him with Combs. According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff was given a soda that he believes was laced with drugs.
“After plaintiff consumed his soda and began feeling its effects, Combs told plaintiff to move closer to him, which plaintiff did. Combs then abruptly pushed plaintiff down and said words to the effect of, ‘You have to do some stuff you don’t want to do sometimes,’” the lawsuit reads. “Once plaintiff had pushed plaintiff down, Combs pulled his penis out of his pants and told the ten-year-old plaintiff to ‘kiss it.’ When plaintiff resisted, Combs nevertheless forced his penis into plaintiff’s mouth and proceeded to repeatedly push it in and out.” The plaintiff alleges he “froze in terror,” lost consciousness and later woke up with his pants undone and pain in his anus and buttocks.
The new plaintiff alleges that his parents later noticed something was wrong. He says he told them what allegedly happened and that they “were terrified of the potential consequences of reporting the abuse.” He alleged he suffers from severe depression and anxiety and had to be homeschooled after the alleged incident.
“The lawyer behind this lawsuit is interested in media attention rather than the truth, as is obvious from his constant press appearances and 1-800 number,” Combs’ media team wrote in an email to Rolling Stone on Monday. “As we’ve said before, Mr. Combs cannot respond to every new publicity stunt, even in response to claims that are facially ridiculous or demonstrably false. Mr. Combs and his legal team have full confidence in the facts and the integrity of the judicial process. In court, the truth will prevail: that Mr. Combs never sexually assaulted or trafficked anyone—man or woman, adult or minor.”
In a second lawsuit filed Monday, also in state court Manhattan, a John Doe plaintiff alleges he was 17 years old in 2008 when he participated in a three-day audition for Making the Band. He alleges that on the first day, Combs began groping and fondling him during a private meeting while asking how he would handle situations of “sexual pressure” in the music industry. He says that a day later, during another private interview, Combs allegedly forced him to perform oral sex and sodomized him.
The John Doe plaintiff alleges Combs and a bodyguard then assaulted him in tandem on the third day, with Combs framing the assault as a test of his “willingness to do anything necessary to succeed in the music industry,” the lawsuit states. He alleges his obvious discomfort with the incident led to his elimination from the competition.
Combs’ current legal woes date back to last November, when his ex-girlfriend, Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, filed her bombshell rape and sex-trafficking lawsuit against him. Combs settled with Ventura within 24 hours. In her disturbing complaint, Ventura accused Combs of repeated physical violence and forcing her to participate in highly choreographed, drug-fueled sexual encounters called “freak offs.”
Two more women stepped forward with rape claims a week after Ventura’s lawsuit made global headlines. Several others filed similar lawsuits in the months that followed as a parallel criminal investigation led to Combs’ indictment by a grand jury last month. The embattled music mogul, 54, has pleaded not guilty. His trial is set to begin next May.
On Friday, the judge overseeing Combs’ criminal case issued an order saying he expects all parties to follow evidence rules and keep sensitive, non-public information about Combs’ criminal case under wraps leading up to the trial. U.S. District Court Judge Arun Subramanian issued his directive in the Southern District of New York after Combs’ lawyers accused federal officials of leaking information to the media.
“To be clear, this order isn’t based on a finding that there has been any wrongdoing thus far, as the court has made no findings at this juncture relating to defendant’s allegations that information related to the case has been leaked,” the judge wrote. “The point of this order is to help ensure that nothing happens from now on that would interfere with a fair trial.”
If convicted as charged, Combs faces a minimum of 15 years in prison and a maximum of life behind bars.
From Rolling Stone US
