Warning: This story includes point out of rape, sexual and bodily assault
Sean “Diddy” Combs, seen right here in Atlanta in 2023.
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Sean “Diddy” Combs stays in a Brooklyn jail whereas awaiting a Might 5 trial on federal expenses of intercourse trafficking and racketeering. The hip-hop mogul has pleaded not responsible on all expenses and has been denied bail twice to date.
Earlier than and after his arrest, Combs has additionally been served 12 civil lawsuits for bodily assault, rape and extra. The indictment and lots of the lawsuits title Combs’ quite a few enterprise ventures and declare they’re complicit in financing and enabling the rapper’s abuse inside and outdoors of the recording studio. In addition they element how Combs allegedly used his place of energy within the leisure trade to lure, coerce and silence these round him.
Right here’s an ongoing checklist of notable folks named in lawsuits and legal investigations in opposition to Combs to date, excluding the accusers who’ve chosen to not reveal their names.
The Accusers
Casandra Ventura, aka Cassie
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The R&B singer was in a private {and professional} relationship with Combs for over a decade. In November 2023, Ventura filed a federal lawsuit in opposition to Combs alleging years of bodily, sexual and emotional abuse. The lawsuit additionally names Dangerous Boy Leisure, Dangerous Boy Data, Epic Data and Combs Enterprises. A day after the submitting, the 2 events settled the trafficking, rape and bodily assault case out of courtroom — however Ventura’s willingness to come back ahead opened the floodgates for practically a dozen different lawsuits in opposition to Combs.
The pair reportedly met in 2005, when Ventura was 19 and Combs was 37. The next yr, Ventura signed a take care of Dangerous Boy Leisure and launched her self-titled debut album. Ventura’s lawsuit alleged this was the start of Combs’ coercion and abuse, which she mentioned fully took over her life and included forcing her to take illicit substances, forcing her to take part in intercourse with male intercourse employees whereas Combs filmed her — encounters Combs known as “freakoffs” — and frequent beatings. The lawsuit acknowledged that the beatings had been usually witnessed by Combs’ employees, staff of Dangerous Boy Leisure and Combs’ affiliated companies.
Earlier this yr, CNN revealed footage dated to 2016 that confirmed Combs repeatedly hitting and kicking Ventura within the hallway of a Los Angeles resort. Shortly after, Ventura took to Instagram to deal with the video and subsequent public response. “The outpouring of affection has created a spot for my youthful self to settle and really feel protected now, however that is solely the start,” she wrote. “Home Violence is THE concern. It broke me all the way down to somebody I by no means thought I’d turn out to be. With a number of arduous work, I’m higher at this time, however I’ll all the time be recovering from my previous.”
Joi Dickerson-Neal
Days after Ventura’s lawsuit, a lady named Joi Dickerson filed a lawsuit accusing Combs of drugging, sexually harassing and abusing her and distributing “revenge porn.” The go well with states that Dickerson was a psychology pupil at Syracuse College when she agreed to go on a date with Combs in 1991. She had appeared in one of many rapper’s music movies. After the pair had dinner, the go well with alleges that Combs pressured Dickerson to maintain the evening going and drove them to a recording studio. There, Dickerson says she realized she had been drugged and was unable to get out of the automotive, since she might now not stand or stroll on her personal. That is when the go well with alleges that Combs took her to a different location and proceeded to sexually assault her.
Days later, Dickerson was informed by a male good friend that Combs had recorded the assault and had proven it to him and several other others. The lawsuit states that the following emotions of violation and humiliation derailed Dickerson’s research and have had extended results on her psychological well being, profession and financial alternatives. Like Ventura, Dickerson filed the lawsuit below New York’s Grownup Survivors Act, which offered a one-year window for victims of sexual abuse who had been age 18 or older on the time of the crime to file civil motion whatever the statute of limitations of the crimes themselves.
Liza Gardner
Final November, Liza Gardner filed a lawsuit alleging that in 1990, she was raped by Combs and R&B singer Aaron Corridor. The lawsuit says that days later, Combs assaulted and choked Gardner till she misplaced consciousness.
In an amended criticism filed Oct. 8, Gardner provides that she was 16 years previous when she was invited to New Jersey from her house in North Carolina by her associates DeVante Swing and Dalvin DeGrate of the R&B group Jodeci. The lawsuit states that Jodeci’s housing, the place Gardner was staying, was “sponsored” by their label, Uptown Data, a subsidiary of MCA and UMG. It goes on to allege that Gardner and her 15-year-old good friend, Monica Case, met Combs and Corridor at an MCA Data occasion in New York, the place they had been reportedly provided with alcohol. Combs and Corridor allegedly offered the minors with extra drinks and with marijuana later that evening.
The lawsuit states that Gardner and her associates had been later taken again to Corridor’s house in New Jersey, the place Combs raped Gardner. The go well with states that unbeknownst to Gardner on the time, Devante Swing was within the room on the time and did nothing to cease Combs. Swing was added as a co-defendant within the new criticism for “aiding and abetting” the sexual assault.
The lawsuit additionally names UMG Recordings, Common Music Group and extra.
Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones
Producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones labored with Combs on his 2023 launch, The Love Album: Off the Grid. In February, Jones filed a lawsuit alleging that through the making of the album — from 2022 to 2023 — he lived with Combs, who he says repeatedly groped him, compelled him to solicit intercourse employees, take unlawful medicine, and extra. The go well with states that Combs would usually stroll round bare in entrance of Jones, and that the music mogul tried to groom the producer into partaking in intercourse with different males within the music trade, allegedly promising Jones a Grammy if he complied. Jones additionally alleges {that a} cousin of rapper Yung Miami, who was relationship Combs on the time, sexually assaulted him in Combs’ house in 2022 in entrance of Combs and his employees.
Jones’ lawsuit additionally names Combs’ son, Justin Dior Combs, in addition to a number of high-ranking members of Motown Data and Common Music Group, Love Data, Combs International Enterprises and Combs’ chief of employees, Kristina Khorram, as co-defendants. Along with the allegations of abuse, the go well with describes a taking pictures at a recording studio involving Combs, his son Justin Dior Combs and an unnamed sufferer. The go well with additionally claims that Combs didn’t correctly compensate Jones for his work on The Love Album.
The lawsuit initially included Common Music Group, Motown Data, former Motown CEO Ethiopia Habtemariam and UMG chairman and CEO Lucian Grainge as co-defendants. Legal professionals for Grainge and UMG denied their involvement within the allegations, ultimately main Jones’ lawyer to drop Grainge and the labels from the fees.
Crystal McKinney
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In Might, Crystal McKinney filed a lawsuit in opposition to Combs, Dangerous Boy Leisure, Common Music Group (UMG) and Combs’ clothes firm, Sean John Clothes. The fees in opposition to UMG Recordings had been later dismissed, and Daddy’s Home Recordings was added as a co-defendant.
The go well with states that in 2003, McKinney was 22 years previous and dealing as a mannequin when an unnamed designer launched her to Combs at a Sean John vogue present in New York Metropolis. Combs allegedly expressed curiosity in attending to know McKinney higher and serving to her modeling profession develop.
Later that evening, he invited her to a recording studio, the place McKinney says Combs and several other different males had been smoking marijuana and consuming. She took a success of a joint, which based on the lawsuit, she believed was laced with one other substance. The lawsuit states that Combs pressured McKinney to proceed consuming and smoking, and as she turned extra intoxicated, she was led to a toilet by Combs, who compelled her to carry out oral intercourse on him. Afterward, McKinney misplaced consciousness and awoke in a taxi en path to the designer’s house. The lawsuit states that following the assault, McKinney turned severely depressed. In line with the lawsuit, she believes Combs “blackballed” her within the trade, which led to the downfall of her modeling profession, and has had long-lasting results on her psychological well being.
April Lampros
In Might, April Lampros filed a lawsuit naming Combs, Dangerous Boy Leisure and Arista Data, a subsidiary of Sony Music. Lampros met Combs in 1994 whereas finding out on the Style Institute of Know-how in New York Metropolis. She says Combs usually invited her to the Dangerous Boy studio, promised to mentor and assist her advance her profession and commenced “love-bombing” her. They began relationship and Lampros would usually journey to see Combs, although he requested that their relationship be stored personal.
Within the go well with, Lampros accuses Combs of sexually assaulting her on 4 separate events and repeatedly threatening to hurt her, each bodily and professionally. In a single such occasion, Combs allegedly compelled Lampros and his then-girlfriend Kim Porter to take ecstasy, compelled them to interact in intercourse whereas he watched after which raped Lampros. Although she tried to distance herself from Combs as the connection turned abusive, Lampros says Combs regularly contacted her, and she or he feared the repercussions of rebuffing his advances. The lawsuit states that after Lampros’ relationship with Combs had ended, she was informed by somebody she knew that he had seen a video of her and Combs having intercourse, recorded with out her information.
Derrick Lee Cardello-Smith
In June, a person incarcerated in Michigan filed a lawsuit in opposition to Combs alleging that the rapper drugged and sexually assaulted him in Detroit in 1997. Throughout a listening to in September, a default judgment was granted to Cardello-Smith for $100 million after Combs and his attorneys failed to look in courtroom. Shortly after, the judgment was put aside on grounds that Cardello-Smith’s lawsuit, mailed to a Combs residence in Los Angeles, was not correctly served. Cardello-Smith is presently serving sentences for kidnapping and legal sexual conduct.
Adria English
In July, a lady named Adria English filed a lawsuit in opposition to Combs, Dangerous Boy Leisure, Sean John Clothes, Combs International Enterprises, Tamiko Thomas, Jacob Arabov aka “Jacob The Jeweler,” VIBE journal, Penske Media Company and several other unnamed defendants. The go well with alleges that in 2004, English was working as a dancer at a membership in New York Metropolis when she and her then-boyfriend, aspiring mannequin Anthony Gallo, had been employed to work at certainly one of Combs’ well-known “White Events” within the Hamptons.
English alleges that whereas working on the occasion, she was compelled to drink alcohol, which she believes was laced with ecstasy, and compelled to devour narcotics. The go well with alleges that Combs and a Dangerous Boy Leisure worker continued to rent her to work at “White Events” in New York and in Miami. In line with the lawsuit, across the third occasion, English alleges that she was requested to swap the same old white apparel for a black mini-dress and compelled to start having intercourse with visitors. She believes the black costume was meant to sign to visitors that she was a “intercourse trafficked intercourse employee.”
The lawsuit names Jacob Arabov aka “Jacob The Jeweler” as one such visitor she was coerced into having intercourse with, together with different unnamed defendants. English believes there are secret recordings of these defendants sexually assaulting her in Combs’ houses whereas she was unconscious.
Daybreak Richard
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In September, singer Daybreak Richard filed a lawsuit in opposition to Combs for sexual assault and battery. The criticism additionally states that Richard witnessed Combs beat and abuse Ventura on many events.
Richard first met Combs when she auditioned for the MTV present Making the Band in 2004 and was chosen to be a member of the group Danity Kane below Combs’ mentorship. The lawsuit alleges that Richard and her bandmates had been subjected to inhumane working situations throughout their time on the present and within the musical group, generally being compelled to rehearse for as much as 48 hours with out meals or breaks and sometimes being berated by Combs. The criticism states that the abusive habits continued all through Richard’s skilled relationship with Combs, and that he instilled a tradition of concern within the girls he labored with.
After Danity Kane disbanded in 2009, Richard continued to work with Combs within the trio Diddy — Soiled Cash, together with singer Kalenna Harper — who allegedly additionally witnessed a lot of Combs’ abusive habits and was topic to his quite a few threats. The lawsuit alleges Combs would drive Richard to take conferences whereas he was in his underwear, and he would barge into her dressing room unannounced and would grope her breasts and buttocks throughout stylist fittings.
In a single occasion in 2010, the lawsuit states that Combs berated Richard and Harper within the foyer of SIR Studios and tried to punch Richard when she requested him to cease calling them “bitches” in entrance of individuals. Richard alleges the ladies had been then ushered into an organization automotive and that Combs and Harve Pierre falsely imprisoned them within the car for over two hours.
Along with the allegations of abuse, Richard’s lawsuit calls for unpaid salaries, royalties and wages for Richard’s work as a part of Danity Kane and Diddy — Soiled Cash. The criticism additionally names Harve Pierre, Distant Productions, Dangerous Boy Leisure, Daddy’s Home Recording Studio and quite a few different music, publishing and finance companies related to Combs for enabling his violence.
Thalia Graves
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In September, a lady named Thalia Graves filed a lawsuit accusing Combs and his bodyguard Joseph Sherman of raping her, recording the assault with out her information and distributing the video as pornography.
Graves alleges that the assault occurred in 2001, when she was 25 years previous and relationship an unnamed file producer who labored with Combs. She says Combs and Sherman took benefit of her relationship with their colleague to lure her to a recording studio alone, the place they gave her a drink she believes was laced with some form of drug. The lawsuit says Graves misplaced consciousness and awoke to search out herself sure and restrained; Combs and Sherman then proceeded to take turns raping her.
Graves says she didn’t report the alleged crime out of concern of Combs’ retaliation, and that her boyfriend on the time discouraged her from doing so as a result of it would harm his profession. In November 2023, Graves alleges she discovered the rape had been recorded by Sherman and Combs, who confirmed it to others with the aim of humiliating Graves and her then-boyfriend. The lawsuit particulars how the crime and the information of its recording has had dire, long-lasting penalties on Graves’ psychological well being.
The Accused
Aaron Corridor
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The R&B singer is known as in Gardner’s lawsuit, alleging that he and Combs raped her and an unnamed good friend in 1990. Corridor couldn’t be reached for remark.
Harve Pierre
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In December 2023, an unnamed girl filed a lawsuit accusing Combs, former Dangerous Boy Leisure president Harve Pierre and a 3rd man of trafficking and gang raping her when she was 17 years previous. The go well with states that the sufferer met Pierre at a lounge in Michigan in 2003 whereas she was nonetheless in highschool, and that the file government sexually assaulted her by forcing her to carry out oral intercourse on him. Pierre allegedly known as Combs, who satisfied the underaged girl to board a non-public jet to New Jersey.
After the airplane trip, the go well with states that the unnamed sufferer, Pierre and two different males had been pushed to Combs’ recording studio in New York, the place they “plied Ms. Doe with medicine and alcohol.” The lawsuit says that Combs, Pierre and one other man proceeded to “gang-rape” {the teenager}, and that she has restricted recollection of the journey again to Michigan the next day. The lawsuit additionally names recording studio Daddy’s Home Recordings and Dangerous Boy Leisure as co-defendants. Pierre denied the allegations in a assertion to TMZ.
Kristina Khorram
Khorram is known as as Combs’ chief of employees and a co-defendant in Jones’ lawsuit. Jones alleges that Khorram steadily solicited illicit medicine and intercourse employees for Combs and his visitors, compelled Jones to hold substances for Combs and ordered Jones to rent intercourse employees for Combs. He additionally accuses Khorram of “aiding and abetting” Combs’ sexual assault and serving to Combs groom Jones. Although she just isn’t listed as a co-defendant, Khorram can also be named in a September 2024 sexual abuse lawsuit filed by an unnamed girl who says the Combs worker usually paid for her to journey and “carry out” for Combs — the criticism alleges Combs’ staffers would “ship drivers to [the victim’s] house to choose her up earlier than she agreed to journey, to the purpose the place she didn’t imagine she had a alternative.”
NPR reached out to Khorram’s attorneys Thursday morning for remark and is awaiting a reply.
Cuba Gooding Jr.
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The actor, who pled responsible in 2022 to forcibly touching a lady and settled a civil sexual abuse case in 2023, was named in an modification to Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones’ unique lawsuit in opposition to Combs. The producer alleges that Gooding Jr. fondled and groped him on Combs’ yacht. The actor has denied the allegations. “It’s probably the most ridiculous factor ever,” he mentioned in an interview with Additional TV. “Welcome to being a star. Welcome to my world.”
Justin Dior Combs and Christian Combs
Justin Dior Combs (left) and Christian Combs
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Sean Combs’ son, Justin Dior Combs, can also be named in Jones’ lawsuit in opposition to the rapper, which alleges that the producer witnessed the daddy and son solicit intercourse employees and admit underaged women to a listening occasion the place they laced the ladies’s drinks. The lawsuit additionally alleges that Jones witnessed Christian Combs, one other son of Combs, drug and assault a lady. Tyrone Blackburn, an legal professional representing Jones, can also be a part of a separate lawsuit filed in April in opposition to Christian Combs on behalf of a plaintiff named Grace O’Marcaigh, alleging the youthful Combs assaulted her on a yacht owned by Combs, who is known as as co-defendant. Each Justin Dior Combs and Christian Combs have denied the allegations in opposition to them.
Jacob Arabov, aka “Jacob The Jeweler” aka Jacob Arabo
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The founder and chairman of high-profile jewellery and watch firm Jacob & Co. is known as as a co-defendant in English’s go well with, which alleges he was one of many “White Occasion” visitors she was compelled to have intercourse with. Jacob & Co didn’t reply to NPR’s request for remark.
Joseph “Massive Joe” Sherman
Combs’ former bodyguard is known as as a co-defendant in Graves’ lawsuit, together with Daddy’s Home Recordings, Dangerous Boy Leisure and extra. Graves claims that Sherman actively raped her alongside Combs in 2001. The lawsuit states that when she tried to flee the assault, Combs slammed her head right into a pool desk, inflicting her to lose consciousness. After waking up, she says Sherman continued to assault her and slapped her till she handed out a 3rd time. Sherman has denied Graves’ claims, saying he now not labored for Dangerous Boy in 2001 and by no means met the younger girl.
DeVante Swing
In an amended criticism filed on Oct. 8, Liza Gardner added Devante Swing of the R&B group Jodeci as a co-defendant to her lawsuit. Gardner alleges that Swing, who was an grownup on the time, was her “assumed co-guardian” when he invited the underaged Gardner to New Jersey. The go well with alleges that Swing “trafficked and or coerced the kid to journey throughout state traces from North Carolina to New York and New Jersey with the hidden intention of offering the kid with alcohol, and marijuana and prostituting the kid to his A&R Combs.” Gardner’s good friend, Monica Case, additionally filed a sworn declaration alleging Swing was within the room “watching no matter Puffy was doing to Liza.”
Different Names To Know
Jimmy Iovine
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In her lawsuit, Richard alleges that she attended a celebration the place Interscope Data co-founder Jimmy Iovine witnessed Combs punch Ventura within the abdomen. The lawsuit blames Iovine — and Interscope — for shifting ahead with a take care of Combs and Dangerous Boy Leisure after turning into conscious of his violent and abusive habits. Individually, in 2022, Iovine was accused of sexual abuse and harassment by an unnamed girl below New York’s Grownup Survivors Act. The girl later dropped the case.
Child Cudi
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Child Cudi and Ventura had been romantically concerned in 2011. In her lawsuit, Ventura alleged that when Combs discovered emails between the 2 on Ventura’s cellphone, he turned enraged and attacked her. Ventura tried to run away however returned on account of stress from Combs’ employees; the lawsuit alleged that Combs then hit and kicked her. The lawsuit acknowledged that in 2012, Combs informed Ventura he wished to “blow up” Child Cudi’s automotive whereas the rapper was house. Child Cudi corroborated to The New York Occasions that his automotive exploded in his driveway round that point.
Caresha Brownlee, aka Yung Miami
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Yung Miami, half of the rap duo Metropolis Ladies, dated Combs lately. In August, she denied realizing something in regards to the accusations which have surfaced in opposition to her ex. “I can’t communicate on these allegations as a result of I wasn’t round on the time,” she mentioned on her Revolt TV present, Caresha Please. “I don’t know that individual, and that wasn’t my expertise.”
In September, nevertheless, Brownlee was named in a lawsuit filed in opposition to Combs by an unnamed girl. The lawsuit alleges that the plaintiff was compelled to journey and “carry out” for Combs many instances from 2021 to 2024. A lot of this journey was reportedly paid for by Combs’ staffer Kristina Khorram. The go well with states that in 2022, the plaintiff was compelled to take medicine and have intercourse with Combs. When she discovered she was pregnant and informed Combs, the lawsuit states that Brownlee — who just isn’t a co-defendant on the criticism — harassed and known as the plaintiff repeatedly, pressuring her to get an abortion. The stress allegedly led the girl to undergo a miscarriage.
NPR reached out to Brownlee’s illustration Thursday morning and is awaiting a reply.
Tony Buzbee
On Oct. 1, Texas legal professional Tony Buzbee held a press convention asserting that his agency will likely be submitting at the least 120 particular person civil lawsuits in opposition to Combs within the coming weeks. “The most important secret within the leisure trade that wasn’t actually a secret in any respect has lastly been revealed to the world,” Buzbee mentioned through the presser. “The wall of silence has been damaged, and victims are coming ahead.”
Buzbee is understood for representing shoppers in high-profile circumstances, together with Texas legal professional common Ken Paxton throughout his 2023 impeachment trial, the ladies who sued soccer participant Deshaun Watson for sexual misconduct, and the victims of the Astroworld lethal crowd surge. Throughout Paxton’s trial, Buzbee took his personal share of the highlight for a public spat with the media over how they photographed his tan within the courtroom. Along with training on the Buzbee Legislation Agency, his skilled ventures embody property improvement, a short-lived THC-infused seltzer firm and native politics. He self-funded a run for Houston mayor in opposition to Democratic incumbent Sylvester Turner in 2019 and ran for Houston Metropolis Council in 2023, in the end shedding each races.
