Sean “Diddy” Combs was hit with another wave of six civil abuse lawsuits late Sunday, including several alleging assaults dating back to 2022 and one alleging he sexually assaulted a 13-year-old girl.
Filed by the anonymous plaintiffs Jane Doe and John Doe, the lawsuits are the latest from attorneys Andrew Van Arsdale and Tony Buzbee, who filed six other cases against Combs last week and warned earlier this month that they are representing at least 120 such alleged victims.
In one case, a Los Angeles businessman says Combs exposed himself and mocked him during a 2022 promotional event for his Ciroc vodka brand. In another, a music artist says the rapper drugged and raped her at a party in 2022 in New York. In another, a personal trainer says the star gave him a similar dose and forced him to perform repeated sexual acts during an awards after party in 2022.
“While in and out of consciousness, individuals at the party forced the plaintiff to engage in sexual acts with both men and women,” the lawsuit states. “The plaintiff's physical disposition made it impossible for him to reject their advances or otherwise control his body. These individuals, including Combs, were essentially passing Plaintiff's drugged body around as party favors for their own sexual enjoyment.”
In the most shocking allegation, one case alleges that Combs “drugged and raped a thirteen-year-old girl at a house party,” an incident that allegedly followed the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards and took place in the presence of other unnamed celebrities who also participated in the assault. .
A spokesman for Combs did not immediately return a request for comment on the new cases. In an earlier statement about Buzbee's previous lawsuits, his legal team said he has “never sexually assaulted anyone” and has “complete confidence in the facts, their legal defenses and the integrity of the judicial process.”
Once one of the music industry's most powerful men, Combs has faced a flood of abuse allegations over the past year, starting with a civil bombshell case from his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura, followed by a dozen additional lawsuits. Last month, he was indicted by federal prosecutors on allegations that he ran an extensive criminal enterprise for years aimed at satisfying his need for “sexual gratification.” If convicted of the charges, which include sex trafficking and extortion, he faces a possible life sentence.
Many of the previous lawsuits involve allegations that stretch back years, some as far back as the early 1990s. Some of Sunday's new cases include similar allegations, including one from an Arizona woman who claims Combs drugged her and raped after a party at the Planet Hollywood Hotel in Las Vegas.
But the new cases also include charges reaching back to December 2022, less than a year before Combs began facing allegations of public abuse. In that case, filed by the unnamed artist, the plaintiff claims she attended a party in New York hosted by Combs that month. After drinking a single glass of wine, she says she soon began “slipping in and out of consciousness.”
“Due to the effects of her drugged drinking, Combs raped and sexually assaulted the plaintiff,” her lawyers say. “The plaintiff could not stop him from doing so, as if she were trapped inside her body without participating but unable to resist.”
Three of the cases on Sunday were filed by men and three by women. five of them were filed in New York federal court, as were Buzbee's previous lawsuits. However, one was filed in state court in Manhattan, where an unnamed security guard says Combs drugged him at a party in 2005 and “reached down the plaintiff's pants and grabbed the plaintiff's penis and genitals.”
Also Sunday night, Combs' attorneys filed a motion asking the judge overseeing the criminal case for a gag order barring the alleged victims and their attorneys from issuing “out-of-court statements” about Combs to the press. They argued that such victims are potential witnesses in the upcoming criminal trial and that media statements “threaten Mr. Combs' right to a fair trial.”
from our partners at https://www.billboard.com/pro/sean-diddy-combs-civil-sexual-abuse-lawsuits/
