Sean “Diddy” Combs has been accused of raping a woman in a New York recording studio with his then-bodyguard and recording the alleged attack more than 20 years ago in a lawsuit filed Tuesday.
The dispute comes about a week after Combs, 54, was indicted on federal charges He allegedly used his business empire as a criminal enterprise, with prosecutors accusing him of sexually and physically abusing women through so-called “freak offs.” He faces charges including sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation for the purpose of engaging in prostitution.
He He was denied bail twice after pleading not guilty in federal court in New York.
The complaint, filed in federal court in the Southern District of New York, accuses him of raping Thalia Graves in 2001, when she was 25 and dating one of his employees. CBS News Los Angeles does not typically identify potential victims of sexual assault, but Graves publicly identified herself Tuesday, speaking to reporters at a news conference in Los Angeles Tuesday alongside her attorney, Gloria Allred.
In court documents, the complaint alleges that Combs and another man, described in the complaint as his bodyguard and head of security at the time, gave him a drink “likely laced with a drug that ultimately caused him to briefly lose consciousness” at a Bad Boy Records studio.
“She woke up to find herself bound and tied up,” the suit alleges, claiming Combs “mercilessly raped her.”
Two attorneys for Combs did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.
Shareif Ziyadat/Getty Images for Sean “Diddy” Combs)
According to the complaint, Graves first learned that the alleged assault had been videotaped on Nov. 27, 2023, and that Combs and the other man allegedly showed the video to several other men — “seeking to publicly degrade and humiliate” her and her boyfriend. That same month, Combs had reached a settlement agreement with singer Cassie Ventura.
The verdict came just a day after Ventura filed a lawsuit against him, accusing him of raping and physically abusing her for years. At the time, Combs denied the allegations through a lawyer.
“To be clear, a decision to settle a lawsuit, especially in 2023, is in no way an admission of wrongdoing,” Combs’ attorney Ben Brafman said in a statement to CBS News.
Speaking to reporters Tuesday, Graves said the alleged attack — and its recording — left her “emotionally scarred” as she struggles with issues including post-traumatic stress disorder, depression and anxiety.
“It’s a pain that reaches deep inside you,” she said through tears. “Being blamed, questioned and threatened often made me feel worthless, isolated and sometimes responsible for what happened to me.”
The lawsuit alleges she faced multiple threats that forced her to remain silent in the years that followed.
“For decades, she remained silent and did not report the crime out of fear that the defendants would use their power to ruin her life, as they had repeatedly and explicitly threatened to do,” the complaint states, adding that she “still lives in fear of the defendants.”
“Based on information and belief, the defendants continued to show the rape video to others over the years and up to the present and/or sold the video as pornographic material,” the lawsuit later alleges.
When Combs was indicted last week, federal prosecutors said his alleged crimes dated back to 2008 and were part of a larger criminal enterprise involving several other people.
“The indictment alleges that from at least 2008 to the present, Sean Combs abused, threatened and coerced his victims to gratify his sexual desires, protect his reputation and conceal his behavior,” U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams told reporters last week. “As the indictment alleges, to carry out this conduct, Sean Combs directed and participated in a racketeering conspiracy that used the business empire he controlled to carry out criminal activity.”
Williams said federal agents raided Combs’ homes in Los Angeles and Miami Earlier this year, firearms, ammunition and other evidence were discovered. Combs was charged with crimes including trafficking, kidnapping and obstruction of justice.
Federal prosecutors said he threatened his victims and accused him of using recordings of alleged attacks as “collateral.”
“He used the embarrassing and sensitive recordings he made of the ‘freak offs’ as collateral against the victims, and the indictment alleges that he maintained control over the victims in a number of ways, including by giving them drugs, giving and threatening to take away financial support or housing, promising them career opportunities, monitoring their whereabouts and even dictating their physical appearance,” Williams said.
