25 Nov 2023

Rapper Sean 'Diddy' Combs accused of sexual assault in new lawsuits

10:03 am on 25 November 2023
(FILES) Sean Combs arrives for the 2018 Met Gala on May 7, 2018, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Superstar rapper and music industry mogul Sean Combs was sued November 16 by the singer Cassie, who accused him of rape and physical abuse.
The hip-hop artist -- also known as both Puff Daddy or Diddy -- subjected the R&B singer, whose real name is Casandra Ventura, to more than a decade of coercion by physical force and drugs as well as a 2018 rape, she said in her suit, filed in federal court in Manhattan.
The suit says that Ventura met Combs in 2005, when she was 19 and he was 37. (Photo by Angela WEISS / AFP)

Rapper Sean 'Diddy' Combs. Photo: AFP / ANGELA WEISS

Rap mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs has been accused of sexual assault by a third woman who is suing him in the US.

The new complaint alleges he and singer-songwriter Aaron Hall took turns raping the woman and her friend in 1990 or 1991.

The legal documents have been obtained by US media including Rolling Stone.

A representative for Combs said: "These are fabricated claims falsely alleging misconduct from over 30 years ago and filed at the last minute.

"This is nothing but a money grab. He is an easy target for anonymous accusers who lie ... for financial benefit," the representative said.

The BBC also contacted representatives for Hall.

The flurry of recent lawsuits came as the New York Adult Survivors Act, which allows alleged victims of sex crimes to sue after the statute of limitations has lapsed, ends on 24 November.

The act was passed to acknowledge the impact of trauma on sexual assault survivors and how it could delay people from coming forward.

Multiple high-profile people face sexual assault lawsuits under the act, including Jamie Foxx and Axl Rose. Both denied the allegations against them.

In the latest filing, the woman, referred to as Jane Doe, alleged she and her friend attended an event in New York hosted by a record company where they met Combs and Hall.

The woman alleged the two men offered the pair drinks throughout the night, and later invited them back to Hall's apartment, where the woman claimed she was "coerced into having sex with Combs".

The legal action also alleged Combs visited Jane Doe's home a few days later and became violent. "He was worried that [Jane Doe's friend] would tell the girl he was with at the time what he and Hall had done to them," it said.

The lawsuit, filed in New York County Supreme Court, alleged Jane Doe "informed her close friends and family about what had occurred". It claimed she sought medical treatment "to heal from the trauma visited upon her".

It is the third sexual assault lawsuit Combs' faced this month. On Thursday, a second lawsuit alleged Combs had drugged and sexually assaulted the plaintiff, Joi Dickerson-Neal, in 1991.

She said during that time she was drugged by the rapper "resulting in her being in a physical state where she could not independently stand or walk".

He later drove Dickerson-Neal to the place he was staying, where he sexually assaulted her, according to the lawsuit.

In a statement to the BBC, a spokesperson for Combs said the allegations were "not credible" and "purely a money grab and nothing more".

Combs settled the first sexual assault suit which was brought by his former partner Casandra Ventura, an R&B singer known as Cassie, last week.

Ventura accused the music mogul of rape and sex trafficking. She alleged that the rap producer raped and beat her over 10 years starting when she was 19 and he was 37.

The two reached a settlement a day after the suit was filed.

Combs had denied Ventura's claims and his lawyer said the decision to settle was not an admission of wrongdoing.

- This story was first published by BBC.

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