Former Danity Kane member Dawn Richard has sued Sean “Diddy” Combs, alleging the music mogul groped her on numerous occasions, witnessed him become physically violent with women, trapped her inside a locked car for two hours as a form of punishment, and threatened her life.
Richard, who was also in the group Diddy-Dirty Money alongside Combs and singer Kalenna Harper, filed suit on Tuesday in the Southern District of New York. She has also sued former Bad Boy Entertainment CEO Harve Pierre, who is facing two sexual assault lawsuits stemming from his time working for Combs.
From the time Richard met Combs while auditioning for his hit MTV series Making The Band in 2004 until her music career with Combs ended in 2012, she claims in her lawsuit obtained by Rolling Stone, the music executive “manipulated her with mantras that submission to his depraved demands was necessary for career advancement, instilling in her the belief that such abuse and exploitation were required for female artists to succeed in the music industry.”
Her filing details dozens of disturbing encounters that she observed while in Combs’ orbit, including drug-fueled parties with young women who seemed “lethargic or passed out” while “Combs and his friends performed sexual acts on them.”
She also supported allegations that Combs’ ex-girlfriend singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura leveled against Combs in her sex trafficking and abuse lawsuit, which was filed in November. (Combs reached a private settlement with Ventura one day after it was filed.) Richard said she personally observed Combs choke and strangle Ventura, and once saw him throw a scalding hot pan of eggs at Ventura before dragging her up the stairs of his Los Angeles home. Around 2005, Richard claims that she observed the mother of Combs’ children Kim Porter emerge crying from Combs’ recording studio with visible facial injuries, including a lacerated lip.
Richard claimed she once tried to intervene and encouraged Ventura to leave the relationship, only for Combs to be enraged when he found out, threatening that he makes “n—– go missing” and “I end people,” the lawsuit alleges. (Reps for Combs and Pierre did not immediately reply to requests for comment.)
Richard’s lawsuit comes 10 months after Ventura’s, making her the seventh woman, in addition to one man, who have since come forward to sue Combs, with allegations ranging from sex trafficking to sexual assault. (Combs has denied any wrongdoing in each case.) Richard said in the suit that Ventura’s bravery made her realize that “her own personal suffering was tied to the many years of abuse by Mr. Combs that had become normalized for her.”
Combs’ fall from grace began with Ventura’s lawsuit, where she claimed that Combs routinely physically attacked her and forced her to have drug-fueled intercourse with male sex workers during arrangements he dubbed “freak-offs” throughout their 10-year relationship. She also detailed a 2016 physical assault at a Los Angeles hotel after a freak-off, which was later confirmed by unearthed hotel surveillance video that shows Combs chasing after a fleeing Ventura. He is seen throwing her to the ground, kicking and stomping on her before he attempts to drag her away, later throwing a glass vase at her direction.
Although Combs’ attorney previously called Ventura’s 35-page lawsuit a shakedown “riddled with baseless and outrageous lies,” Combs issued an video apology after the video surfaced, saying he was at “rock bottom” and was “truly sorry” for his behavior in the disturbing footage. In response, Ventura’s lawyers called Combs’ mea culpa “pathetic.”
In May, Rolling Stone published its six-month investigation into the mogul, uncovering a previously unreported allegation of violence against a woman on the Howard campus, new details of alleged physical aggression, and claims that Combs sexually harassed a freelance employee at a 2001 party. Several people who spoke to Rolling Stone described Combs as a serial predator who used his fame, fortune, industry status, and reputation as a fun-loving party host to hide a volatile temper and disturbing, narcissistic behavior for decades.
