NEW YORK — A new wave of lawsuits filed Monday accuses Sean “Diddy” Combs of raping women, sexually assaulting men and molesting a 16-year-old boy.
At least six lawsuits have been filed against the hip-hop mogul in Manhattan federal court. They were submitted anonymously, two by women identified as Jane Does and four by men identified as John Does.
The accusers are part of what their lawyers say is a group of more than 100 alleged victims who are filing lawsuits against Combs following his arrest on sex trafficking charges last month.
One John Does, a man living in North Carolina, claims Combs fondled his genitals when he was 16 during one of the rapper’s famous all-nighters in the Long Island Hamptons in 1998.
The man alleges that during a conversation about possibly entering the music industry, Combs abruptly ordered the then-teenager to pull down his pants.
According to the man’s lawsuit, Combs explained to him that it was a rite of passage to become a music star, asking him at one point, “Don’t you want to go into the business?”
The man said he complied with the fear, anxiety and power imbalance he felt with Combs, only later realizing what happened was sexual assault.
Until Monday’s trial, Combs had only been charged in civil cases and in his criminal indictment for sexual activity with adults.
Combs’ attorneys and other representatives did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. When the planned lawsuits were announced Oct. 1, a lawyer said Combs “cannot respond to all the baseless allegations in what has become a reckless media circus.”
Combs, 54, has pleaded not guilty to racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges, alleging he coerced and abused women for years with the help of a network of associates and employees while silencing victims through blackmail and violence, including kidnapping, arson and physical beating.
Combs’ lawyers unsuccessfully tried to get the Bad Boy Records founder released on bail. He has been held in a federal prison in Brooklyn since his arrest on September 16.
Two judges concluded that Combs would pose a danger to the community if released from the Metropolitan Detention Center, a facility plagued by violence and dysfunction for years. At a bail hearing three weeks ago, a judge rejected a $50 million bail proposal, including home detention and electronic monitoring, after finding Combs could tamper with witnesses and hinder the continuation of the investigation.
An appeals court judge on Friday denied Combs’ immediate release while a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals weighs his request for bail.
Other lawsuits filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Manhattan include allegations of rape, forced oral sex and drugs to incapacitate the victims.
One of the Jane Does suing Combs alleges he raped her in a locked hotel room in 2004 after inviting her and a friend to a party, giving them drinks and telling them to snorting cocaine.
The woman, then a college freshman, alleges that Combs also forced her friend to perform oral sex on him and said he would have them both killed if they did not comply with his demands.
The other Jane Doe alleges that Combs violently attacked and raped her in a bathroom in 2005 during a party for the late rapper Biggie Smalls’ music video, “One More Chance.”
According to the woman, Combs brought her into the bathroom to talk privately, then unexpectedly began kissing her. When she tried to walk away, she claims, he slammed her head against the wall, causing her to fall to the ground. The woman said she tried to escape, but Combs hit her again and raped her.
Afterward, according to the woman, Combs casually adjusted her clothes and told her, “You better not tell anyone about this, or you’ll disappear.” »
In another lawsuit against John Doe, a man working as a security guard at Combs’ white party in the Hamptons in 2006 alleges the star gave him an alcoholic drink he thought contained a drug that made him extremely ill . The man claims Combs then pushed him into a van, held him down and sexually assaulted him.
In the other lawsuits filed Monday, Combs is accused of forcing a man to perform oral sex on him in the warehouse of the Macy’s flagship store in Manhattan’s Herald Square in 2008 and of sexually assaulting a man at a party in October 2021. The latter man, who suspects a drugged drink prevented him from fighting back, remembers several men assaulting him and distinctly remembers seeing Combs on top of him, naked, at one point in course of the assault, according to his lawsuit.
