Over the course of four months, Sean “Diddy” Combs was hit with five lawsuits in which he’s been accused of several abuse allegations, including rape, gang rape, sex trafficking, drugging and more.
On Monday, Homeland Security raided the rapper’s homes in the New York City, Los Angeles and Miami areas. While there are no publicly confirmed reasons for the federal government’s involvement, the slew of allegations against him remain.
Though the music mogul slammed the raids as “excessive,” they’ve only added to the media attention he’s been receiving over his lawsuits. TheWrap has laid out the details of all five of the suits Combs has faced since November, below.
Casandra “Cassie” Ventura — Nov. 16, 2023
On Nov. 16, 2023, R&B singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura filed a lawsuit against Combs, whom she dated for over 10 years after the two met in 2007 when she was 19 and he was 37.
The complaint alleged a years-long campaign of sexual abuse and control for the duration of their relationship, which ended in 2018 after she claimed Combs raped her in her home when she attempted to leave him. She also accused her ex of physical abuse that resulted in bruises, burst lips, black eyes and bleeding. Ventura filed the federal civil suit in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and sought undisclosed damages.
“With the expiration of New York’s Adult Survivors Act fast approaching, it became clear that this was an opportunity to speak up about the trauma I have experienced and that I will be recovering from for the rest of my life,” she said in a statement at the time via her attorneys, Douglas H. Wigdor, Meredith A. Firetog and Michael J. Willemin of Wigdor LLP.
At one point in the document, she also alleged that Combs “blew up” a fellow artist’s car after he learned that the man was romantically interested in Ventura. In addition, Ventura claimed Combs “forced her to engage in sex acts with male sex workers while masturbating and filming the encounters” – hence the sex trafficking charges – and stated that Combs “introduced her to a lifestyle of alcohol and substance abuse and required her to procure illicit prescriptions to satisfy his own addictions.”
His team’s statement in response, released on Nov. 17, read: “Mr. Combs vehemently denies these offensive and outrageous allegations. For the past six months, Mr. Combs has been subjected to Ms. Ventura’s persistent demand of $30 million, under the threat of writing a damaging book about their relationship, which was unequivocally rejected as blatant blackmail. Despite withdrawing her initial threat, Ms. Ventura has now resorted to filing a lawsuit riddled with baseless and outrageous lies, aiming to tarnish Mr. Combs’ reputation and seeking a pay day.”
Combs and Ventura settled the lawsuit on Nov. 17, just one day after it was filed.
Joi Dickerson-Neal — Nov. 23, 2023
Joi Dickerson-Neal filed a lawsuit against Combs on Nov. 23, 2023, accusing Combs of drugging, sexually assaulting and secretly recording the assault. The incident allegedly took place on Jan. 3, 1991, when she was a college student at Syracuse University (Dickerson-Neal made an appearance with Combs in the music video, “Straight From the Soul”).
After “reluctantly” agreeing to go to dinner with Combs, which she stated happened after he pressured her, she said she was “intentionally drugged,” resulting in her “being in a physical state where she could not independently stand or walk,” the BBC reported. She added that she was also a victim of “revenge porn,” as she said DeVanté Swing, a member of the ’90s R&B group Jodeci, told her that he and other people saw the “sex tape.”
Liza Gardner — Nov. 23, 2023
On the same day Dickerson-Neal filed her suit, so did Liza Gardner in New York County Supreme Court (Gardner initially filed under the name Jane Doe). In the suit, she stated she met Combs and singer-songwriter Aaron Hall at an event that MCA’s Uptown Records was hosting in the ’90s.
“Combs and Hall were very flirtatious and handsy with Jane Doe and her friend, offering them drinks throughout the night,” the document read.
She went on to say that the alleged assault took place in Hall’s New York City apartment where she was coerced into having sex with Combs. In the suit, Gardner accused Combs and Hall of raping her and her friend.
Per media reports, Combs denied the allegations.
“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. Because of Mr. Combs’ fame and success, he is an easy target for anonymous accusers who lie without conscience or consequence for financial benefit,” the statement read. “The New York Legislature surely did not intend or expect the Adult Survivors Act to be exploited by scammers. The public should be skeptical and not rush to accept these bogus allegations.”
Jane Doe — Dec. 6, 2023
On Dec. 6, 2023, Combs was hit with another lawsuit filed by a Michigan woman identified as Jane Doe, who said her alleged incident took place in 2003 when she was 17. In the suit, she accused Combs, former Bad Boy Entertainment president Harve Pierre and an unidentified person labeled as “Third Assailant” of sex trafficking and gang rape.
In the suit, Doe said she first met Pierre at a Detroit lounge where he allegedly forced her to perform a sex act on him in the bathroom and convinced her to board a private jet with Combs and Third Assailant to Combs’ New York City studio. She stated that when she arrived, they gave her drugs and alcohol before being “viciously gang raped.”
“As alleged in the complaint, Defendants preyed on a vulnerable high school teenager as part of a sex trafficking scheme that involved plying her with drugs and alcohol and transporting her by private jet to New York City where she was gang raped by the three individual defendants at Mr. Combs’ studio,” Doe’s lawyer, Douglas H. Wigdor, wrote in a statement. “The depravity of these abhorrent acts has, not surprisingly, scarred our client for life.”
In his response to the slew of allegations, Combs took to social media to say “enough is enough.”
“For the last couple of weeks, I have sat silently and watched people try to assassinate my character, destroy my reputation and my legacy. Sickening allegations have been made against me by individuals looking for a quick payday,” he wrote. “Let me be absolutely clear: I did not do any of the awful things being alleged. I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth.”
— LOVE (@Diddy) December 6, 2023
Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones — Feb. 26
Music producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones sued Combs on Feb. 26, accusing him of grabbing his genitals without his consent and grooming him to have sex with another man, which he claimed Combs referred to as a “normal practice in the music industry.”
In the filing, which has since been amended to include Academy Award-winning actor Cuba Gooding Jr., Jones broke down his professional relationship with the rapper, detailing how from September 2022 to September 2023 he produced nine songs on Combs’ “Love” album. In that time, Jones said he missed out on major family events and holidays and lived with Combs for several months in his Los Angeles and Miami residences, as well as on Combs’ rented yacht.
Additionally, Jones stated he “witnessed and secured irrefutable evidence of” purchase, use and distribution of drugs, including cocaine, ketamine and ecstasy. The producer also provided screenshots of alleged video evidence supporting his various claims in the filing.
He further named several other codefendants in his suit, including Combs’ son, Justin Combs; Lucian Grainge, CEO of Universal Music Group; and Combs’ chief of staff Kristina Khorram; as well as Love Records, Motown Records, Combs Global Enterprises and Universal Music Group. One unidentified person was removed from the initial lawsuit in the new amendment.
TheWrap has reached out to Combs’ team for comment.
