The hip-hop mogul is accused of sexually abusing women and men for years and silencing his victims through blackmail and violence, including kidnapping and arson.
HOUSTON — Seven new lawsuits have been filed against Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, including one alleging the rape of a 13-year-old girl. They come as his lawyers tried again Monday to get him freed on bail, and complained that a “fresh wave of publicity” is endangering his right to a fair criminal trial.
In the lawsuits filed Sunday in state and federal courts, four men and three women, all anonymous, allege they were sexually assaulted by Combs at parties over the last two decades.
Combs, 54, has pleaded not guilty to federal sex trafficking charges contained in an indictment unsealed the day after his Sept. 16 arrest. Charges include allegations he coerced and sexually abused women and men for years and silenced victims through blackmail and violence, including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings.
Combs has remained incarcerated pending a May 5 trial after two judges denied bail in rulings being appealed to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Combs’ lawyers asked a judge Sunday to order potential witnesses and their lawyers to stop making statements that could prevent a fair trial.
“As the Court is aware, Mr. Combs has been the target of an unending stream of allegations by prospective witnesses and their counsel in the press,” they wrote. “These prospective witnesses and their lawyers have made numerous inflammatory extrajudicial statements aimed at assassinating Mr. Combs’s character in the press.”
The latest lawsuits are drawn from what lawyers say are more than 100 accusers who are planning legal action against Combs. High-profile Houston attorney Tony Buzbee announced the planned litigation at an Oct. 1 news conference and posted a 1-800 number for accusers to call.
As before, Combs’ representatives dismissed the latest lawsuits as “clear attempts to garner publicity.” They said Combs and his legal team “have full confidence in the facts, their legal defenses, and the integrity of the judicial process.”
Combs “has never sexually assaulted anyone — adult or minor, man or woman,” they added.
One of the lawsuits filed Sunday alleges that a 13-year-old girl who was invited to a party by a limousine driver after the Video Music Awards in Manhattan in September 2000 was raped by a “male celebrity” and then by Combs as individuals identified only as “Celebrity A,” a male, and “Celebrity B,” a female, watched.
Another lawsuit alleged that Combs sexually assaulted a 17-year-old male at a Manhattan hotel penthouse party in 2022.
In the lawsuits, it was alleged that the plaintiffs believed they had been fed drinks laced with drugs before they were assaulted.
‘Dirty secrets’
Earlier this month, Buzbee said his firm is representing 60 males and 60 females who say they were raped, sexually assaulted or sexually exploited by Combs.
According to Buzbee, 25 of his clients were minors when the alleged assaults happened, including one who was only 9 years old.
“When you talk about the ages of the victims when the conduct occurred, it’s shocking,” Buzbee said at a news conference on Tuesday, Oct. 1.
He said the cases will reveal “dirty secrets” and expose powerful people who participated in the assaults with Combs or who witnessed the crimes and did nothing.
“The biggest secret in the entertainment industry, that really wasn’t a secret at all has finally been revealed to the world. The wall of silence has now been broken and victims are coming forward,” Buzbee said.
The attorney, who also represented women who sued Deshaun Watson alleging sexual assault, claims more than 3,285 have contacted his firm with allegations against Combs. After vetting each case with the help of a former Houston Police Department detective, the firm agreed to represent 120 of them. Some have already been interviewed by the FBI, according to Buzbee.
Meanwhile, lawyers for Combs on Monday told the 2nd Circuit in a filing that he’ll renew his bail application before the lower court based on “significant changed circumstances.” They said the issues include “constitutional concerns stemming from his conditions of confinement and evidence contained in recently produced discovery.”
In a filing last week, prosecutors told the appeals court that judges denied bail after evidence showed Combs “used methodical and sophisticated means to silence and intimidate witnesses throughout the racketeering conspiracy and during the Government’s investigation.”
