The Houston lawyer who promised a wave of new lawsuits against Sean “Diddy” Combs filed his first complaints Monday on behalf of two Jane Does and four John Does who allege they were the victims of violent sexual assaults between 1995 and 2021. One plaintiff claims he was 16 years old when Combs allegedly assaulted him at one of the music mogul’s famous “white parties.”
Lawyer Tony Buzbee recently touted his representation of 120 people who claim they suffered disturbing abuse by Combs. The six new lawsuits, filed in the Southern District of New York under the city’s Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Act, include allegations Combs drugged, raped, sodomized and threatened to kill the plaintiffs.
Combs’ attorneys largely denied the accusations in the lawsuits in a statement provided to Rolling Stone. “The press conference and 1-800 number that preceded today’s barrage of filings were clear attempts to garner publicity,” the statement read. “Mr. Combs and his legal team have full confidence in the facts, their legal defenses, and the integrity of the judicial process. In court, the truth will prevail: that Mr. Combs has never sexually assaulted anyone—adult or minor, man or woman.”
A John Doe who now lives in North Carolina is the first male to allege Combs assaulted him when he was a minor. The plaintiff claims he was 16 years old in 1998 when he attended one of Combs’ legendary Hamptons-based white parties after being invited through a mutual connection.
Doe claims he bumped into Combs during the event and took a photo with the Bad Boy Entertainment founder that’s included in the filing. He says they discussed Doe’s interest in the music industry and moved to a private area where the conversation “took an unexpected turn for the worst.” Combs allegedly told Doe to “drop his pants” and expose his penis so Combs could “inspect it,” the lawsuit states. When the teen resisted, Combs allegedly responded, “Don’t you want to break into the business?”
Editor’s picks
The lawsuit claims that Combs then “grabbed John Doe’s penis and genitals with his hand” and began “squeezing and feeling” the teen’s genitals. Afterward, Combs allegedly told Doe that his “people would be in touch.” The alleged encounter “continues to humiliate and cause shame,” Doe’s lawsuit claims.
Another plaintiff claims she was assaulted by Combs in 2004 when she was 19 years old. The Jane Doe alleges she was a college student in Brooklyn when she met Combs at a photoshoot promoting Combs’ musical act Da Band. She claims Combs invited her and a friend to an afterparty but asked them to stop by his Manhattan Marriott hotel room first. According to the 19-page complaint, someone in Combs’ entourage “suddenly grabbed” the women and isolated them in a separate room with Combs while allegedly telling them, “You know what you are here for.”
The Jane Doe alleges Combs instructed her and her friend to imbibe alcohol and cocaine that he had prepared for them on a table. “Combs continued getting gradually more aggressive with the two women and eventually began forcibly touching them without consent,” the lawsuit states. “When they resisted, Combs ordered Ms. Doe’s friend to perform oral sex on him or else he would have them both killed.”
The woman says Combs ignored her attempts to resist and forced her to take her clothes off under threat of violence. “Once she was undressed, Combs forced himself on her and began to sexually assault her. Combs fondled, molested, and ultimately raped Ms. Doe, all while she was begging him to stop,” the lawsuit states. According to the complaint, Combs told the woman he would be leaving the room, but she had to stay alone in the dark “otherwise she would be killed.” After 30 minutes, a security guard told her she could leave, and she fled the hotel, her lawsuit states.
Related
A third lawsuit came from a Georgia-based John Doe who claims he was invited to a New York City party hosted by Combs in October 2021. The man claims he was picked up at the airport by Combs’ associates and offered ecstasy by Combs’ employees at the event, which he refused. After consuming what he believed to be only an alcoholic drink, the man claims the room began spinning, and he became disoriented. “In a state of confusion, he attempted to remove himself from the situation, seeking a safe space,” the lawsuit claims. “As [Doe] tried to leave, a male voice told him to ‘hold on,’ and he promised to help him.”
Doe claims he later woke up in a bedroom paralyzed, unable to “move, speak, or fight back.” “He distinctly recalled seeing Combs above him, naked, at one point during the assault,” the lawsuit claims. “During this time, Plaintiff was sodomized by at least three men.”
The man described the night as “life-altering” and says he has continued to seek therapy to heal from the traumatic event. He is suing for rape, aggravated sexual abuse, assault, and battery.
The fourth lawsuit came from a John Doe who claims Combs sexually assaulted him at the flagship Macy’s Herald Square department store in Manhattan in May 2008. The man claims he worked as an advisor for Ecko Clothing — a rival to Combs’ Sean John line — and says he had previously met Combs on numerous occasions.
Doe — who is now based in Ohio — claims he was inside the Macy’s stockroom when Combs entered the space with three bodyguards. Doe claims he was suddenly struck in the back of the neck and fell to his knees. “Combs approached Plaintiff while Plaintiff was still on his hands and knees and said ‘Suck my dick, Ecko,’ referring to the clothing line that Plaintiff worked for,” the lawsuit claims. “Combs thereafter forced his penis into Plaintiff’s mouth and proceeded to forcefully, and brutally, orally rape Plaintiff.”
The man claims that Combs and his bodyguards made threats toward him before leaving the stockroom. Combs then proceeded to hand out Sean Jean merchandise on the Macy’s retail floor “as if nothing had happened,” the lawsuit says. Doe claims that although he tried reporting the alleged assault to Macy’s security, nothing was ever done, and he was later fired by Ecko.
In a fifth lawsuit, a John Doe claims he was also sexually assaulted at one of Combs’ white parties. The man claims MASS Security hired him to work the Hamptons event in August 2006, where Combs allegedly greeted him and offered him alcoholic drinks throughout the night.
By the second drink, the man felt “extremely ill and leaned against his truck for support,” the lawsuit states. While the security guard was in distress, allegedly because he had been drugged, Combs approached the man and “pushed [him] into an open van,” the complaint says. The lawsuit alleges Combs “overpowered” and sexually assaulted the man as he “struggled to escape.” The complaint says Combs dismissed the man’s “pleas for help by repeatedly saying, ‘You’ll be alright.’” The man says that while he considers himself an “all-American guy,” there is “not a day goes by without thoughts of the traumatic incident.”
The sixth lawsuit came from a Jane Doe who claims that she attended a promo party for The Notorious B.I.G.’s music video “One More Chance” at Elks Plaza in June 1995. The woman claims Combs took an interest in her while she was dancing with friends and asked to speak with her privately. She agreed, and they headed into a bathroom where Combs allegedly began kissing the woman.
“Feeling uncomfortable and confused, [Doe] asked him to slow down, believing they were there to talk,” the lawsuit claims. “Instead, Combs advanced aggressively. When [Doe] attempted to pull away, he violently struck her, slamming her head against the wall and causing her to fall to the floor.”
The woman claims that Combs hit her again before lifting her dress and raping her while she “lay helpless on the floor.” Afterward, he allegedly threatened her, saying, “You better not tell anyone about this, or you will disappear.” Describing herself as “emotionally shattered” in the aftermath of the alleged assault, the woman claims she has since avoided news about Combs because it triggers traumatic memories.
The six new lawsuits follow a dozen other complaints filed over the last year that allege Combs subjected people to sexual abuse during his heyday as a music industry impresario and gatekeeper. The flood of civil claims started with the bombshell rape and sex-trafficking lawsuit filed against Combs by his ex-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura last November. Several more accusers stepped forward in the weeks and months that followed, and a subsequent criminal investigation led to Combs’ indictment by a grand jury last month.
Combs, 54, was arrested in Manhattan on Sept. 16. A day later, the indictment’s racketeering and sex trafficking charges were unsealed. In the 14-page indictment, prosecutors said Combs ran a criminal enterprise that engaged in “unlawful acts of violence including sexual violence,” interstate transportation for the purposes of prostitution, narcotics distribution, arson, bribery, kidnapping, and obstruction of justice. Prosecutors said a main function of the alleged enterprise was to “lure female victims into Combs’ orbit, often under the pretense of a romantic relationship,” and then use “force, threats of force and coercion” to make the victims engage in “elaborate and produced sex performances” that Combs called “freak offs.” The extended sex acts often involved commercial sex workers and would sometimes last multiple days, prosecutors said. Combs allegedly distributed drugs to his alleged victims to keep them “obedient and compliant,” prosecutors said.
Trending
Combs has pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges and was denied bail. Last week, a judge set a trial date for May 2025.
“We will let the allegations in the filed complaints speak for themselves and will work to see that justice is done,” attorney Tony Buzbee said in a statement. The Houston-based litigator filed the lawsuits in association with fellow lawyers Andrew Van Arsdale in California, Crystal Del Toro in Texas and Antigone Curis in New York. “We expect to be filing many more cases over the next several weeks naming Mr. Combs and others as defendants as we continue to gather evidence and prepare the filings,” Buzbee said.
