Three men filed a lawsuit Thursday in New York claiming hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs drugged and raped them.
The lawsuit, filed anonymously in state court, adds to a wave of sexual assault lawsuits against rappers, producers and record executives. He also faces federal sex trafficking charges in New York.
Thomas Giuffra, a New York attorney who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the men on Thursday, said Combs used his power and wealth to take advantage of his accusers and ensure their silence through threats and fear.
“This is a long overdue opportunity for victims to take back their power after silently bearing the burden of their assault for years,” he said in a statement. “While lawsuits cannot undo the wrongs done to them, survivors can regain the power and dignity they were stripped from by Sean Combs.”
In this courtroom sketch, Sean “Diddy” Combs’ attorney Marc Agnifilo, left, addresses the judge as Combs, seated second from the right in prison uniform, watches a hearing in federal court in New York on October 10, 2024. there is. .
Elizabeth Williams via AP
Lawyers for Combs, 55, founder of Bad Boy Records, said the claims were baseless.
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“These complaints are full of lies,” the lawyers declined to say in a statement. “We will debunk the claims and sanction any unethical attorney who files a false lawsuit against him.”
The lawsuit includes incidents that occurred from 2019 to 2022. The men, all identified as John Doe, said they were unknowingly given drugged drinks and then sexually assaulted by Combs and others.
They each want to seek a jury trial and receive unspecified damages from Combs.
One of the men alleged that Combs drugged and raped her when the two met in 2020 in Combs’ suite at the InterContinental Hotel in Times Square.
Other claims say he met Combs at a Manhattan nightclub in 2019 and was invited to an after-party in Combs’ suite at the Park Hyatt Hotel, where he was drugged and sexually assaulted.
The man said he tried to resist before losing consciousness after taking the drug. He also said he was paid $2,500 after the attack by a man who was recording the bedroom assault.
A third man claims he was drugged and raped by Combs and record label associates at a 2020 summer party at Combs’ mansion in East Hampton, New York.
Combs has pleaded not guilty to federal charges that he coerced and abused women for years, using a network of co-workers and employees to organize drug-fueled, elaborate sex acts known as “Freak Offs” involving male sex workers. .
Prosecutors said he silenced the victims through threats and violence, including kidnapping, arson, and beatings.
Combs had been seeking release until his trial in May, but his third bail request was denied last month and he remains incarcerated in a Brooklyn federal prison.
© 2024 The Canadian Press
