Sean “Diddy” Combs was hit with two new lawsuits on Friday, one from a woman who claims that minutes before a fatal stampede broke out at City College of New York in December 1991, the-then still rising music executive brought her to a makeshift dressing room, handed her a drink that made her feel woozy, and sexually assaulted her.
The woman, who sued under a Jane Doe pseudonym, claims that she had been let into the ill-fated charity basketball game ahead of the unruly crowd, later scrambling to escape a chaotic scene where nine people were crushed to death due to a surge of people trying to enter the gymnasium.
Rolling Stone has reached out to Combs for comment.
The woman alleges she had been visiting New York City with a friend and had been invited to the event by a male acquaintance, described as a prominent rapper at the time. (Although the lawsuit doesn’t directly name the male acquaintance, there is an errant mention of a “Myers,” seemingly referring to Dwight Arrington Myers aka Heavy D, an Uptown Records artist that was promoting the event with Combs. Myers died in 2011.)
Unable to get a hold of the rapper, Doe recalls being directed to ask for Combs, the event’s co-sponsor and promoter. Minutes later, she and a female friend were led to a makeshift dressing space in a locker room’s office. There, the woman claims she met Combs for the first time.
Combs briefly left to take the woman’s excited friend to meet some of the celebrity guests in attendance, while Doe says she waited to meet her rapper friend. Combs later returned to the room with a “plastic cup full of what he purported to be Coca-Cola,” the lawsuit claims. After taking a sip, the woman “began to feel woozy and attempted to leave to find her rapper friend on her own, but Combs blocked her exit.”
Combs allegedly began touching himself in a sexually suggestive manner, before reaching for Doe and fondling her. Although the woman claims she tried to resist Combs, he overpowered her. “Combs removed her underwear and began molesting her before climbing on top of her and penetrating her,” the lawsuit alleges.
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At some point, Combs was interrupted by a bodyguard at the door, who indicated Combs was needed, the woman claims. Attempting to leave to “go deal with something,” Doe claims that she stopped Combs and told him “what he did was not right” and that she intended to tell her rapper friend what had happened. Combs allegedly threatened her, saying that she shouldn’t say anything to her friend because “people can come up missing.”
After Combs left, the woman says she hung back for a few minutes to make sure Combs wasn’t returning. Upon leaving, she claims she discovered a “chaotic” scene where people were running in every direction. She says she searched for her friend for 30 minutes before finding an exit and reuniting with her friend outside, the two leaving together.
The woman, who is being represented by attorney Tony Buzbee, is seeking compensatory and punitive damages to be determined at trial.
A second woman sued Combs for sexual assault on Friday. LaTroya Grayson says she was 23 and living in Oklahoma in 2006 when her sibling won a radio contest offering a free trip to New York to attend one of Combs’ infamous “White Parties.” She says she accompanied her sibling on the all-expenses-paid trip but that the October 2006 gathering was switched to a “Black Party” at the last minute, requiring her to purchase a new outfit. The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan federal court, includes images of Delta airlines tickets, a receipt from the Roger Smith Hotel and photos of Grayson mingling with famous guests inside.
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Grayson claims that after consuming less than two pre-made drinks served by roving waitresses, she began to feel sick and apparently passed out. She alleges she woke up at Saint Vincent’s Medical Center with “no recollection” of how she got there. She claims that a day after she returned to Oklahoma, an anonymous woman called her from a New York number and cautioned her against reporting her “assault” because Combs was a “celebrity” and she would “just be wasting her time.” Grayson claims that for a week after she returned home, she felt “constant pain” that she believed was from “rough intercourse” she could not remember.
“The assault and fear after the assault led plaintiff into a tailspin of anxiety and depression,” the lawsuit alleges. The complaint alleges Combs engaged in a racketeering conspiracy with multiple co-defendants including the Oklahoma-based radio station KJAMZ, Atlantic Records (which Grayson says “facilitated” the party), and Delta Airlines. It also accuses Combs of assault and claims all the co-defendants acted negligently. “Defendants knew, or should have known, that Defendant Combs was not fit to be in a position of authority,” it reads.
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The two new lawsuits against Combs mark nearly 40 civil lawsuits that have been filed against the Bad Boy Entertainment founder after his ex-partner Casandra “Cassie” Ventura filed a sex trafficking complaint against him in November 2023. (Combs and Cassie reached a settlement a day after she filed her case.)
The 55-year-old was arrested and charged in September on racketeering and sex trafficking charges. He pleaded not guilty to the charges and has denied all claims of sexual abuse. “In court, the truth will prevail: that Mr. Combs never sexually assaulted or trafficked anyone — man or woman, adult or minor,” his team said in a previous statement.
