Sean “Diddy” Combs is asking a federal judge to throw out one of the many sexual-assault cases he's facing, arguing the “harmless” lawsuit is filled with “blatant lies” designed to force him to settle.
In a motion filed Monday in Manhattan federal court, the star's attorneys are asking a judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed in February by Rodney “Lil Rod” Joneswho claims Combs sexually assaulted, drugged and threatened him while working as a producer on the rapper's 2023 The album of love.
While they say the case is nothing more than a “commercial dispute,” Combs' attorneys allege that Jones' attorney added “nonsense allegations and blatant falsehoods” in order to “create media hype and exploit it to gain compromise”.
“Nearly 100 pages, it includes countless stories, shameless celebrity name-calling and irrelevant images,” Combs' lawyers write. “However, for all its extravagance and bleak theatricality, the [complaint] fails to state a single viable claim against any of the Combs defendants.”
The deposition took personal aim at Jones' attorney Tyrone Blackburnciting a recent ruling in a separate case in which a federal judge slammed the attorney for filing lawsuits designed to “attract media attention” and “embarrass defendants.”
Once one of the most powerful men in the music industry, Diddy has been hit with at least seven civil sexual assault lawsuits in the past year, including claims from his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura which was followed by a video showing him attacking her. The hip-hop mogul also faces an apparent federal criminal investigation after authorities raided his homes in March.
Although the rapper denied the legal charges against him, he apologized in May for his behavior captured in the video of the attack on Ventura: “My behavior in this video is inexcusable. I take full responsibility for my actions in this video.”
Jones sued in February, accusing Deedy not only of sexual assault, but of orchestrating a sweeping conspiracy that violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act — the federal RICO statute most often used in criminal cases against mobsters and cartels drugs. He also accused Combs and others of violating federal sex-trafficking laws.
In Monday's motion to dismiss the case, the rapper's lawyers argued that Jones had not proven he could sue under RICO.
“Because litigants often attempt to turn fraud or breach of contract into RICO claims, the civil provisions of RICO are the most abusive provisions in the federal body of law,” Combs' attorneys wrote, citing prior decisions. “Thus, courts try to flush out frivolous RICO charges early in litigation.”
Combs' attorneys also asked the judge to dismiss the other claims in the case. They argued that the sexual assault claim is couched in “two vague paragraphs” in which Jones “fails to allege material facts, such as the where, when, and how of the alleged misconduct, or even any discussion of the report, or witnessing of any specific incident”.
Jones' attorney, Blackburn, did not immediately return a request for comment Bulletin board. But inside a statement to DeadlineBlackburn called the motion to dismiss “nothing more than a pricing exercise by Sean Combs' latest team of lawyers.”
“It's a feeble attempt to line their pockets before he's indicted and they decide to kick his ass like his five previous lawyers did,” Blackburn told the outlet.
Jones' case was originally called Universal Music Group (UMG) and CEO Lucian Grainge as defendants, alleging that they “aided and abetted” Combs in his alleged misconduct and were members of the RICO conspiracy. But Jones later dismissed them from the case, with Blackburn admitting there was “no legal basis for the allegations and allegations made against the UMG defendants.”
Read the full motion filed by Combs' attorneys here:
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/pro/sean-diddy-combs-producer-lurid-sex-abuse-lawsuit/