Current:Home > ScamsSean 'Diddy' Combs faces 120 more sexual abuse claims, including 25 victims who were minors -ProgressCapital
Sean 'Diddy' Combs faces 120 more sexual abuse claims, including 25 victims who were minors
View
Date:2025-04-12 23:25:25
Sean "Diddy" Combs is set to face lawsuits from more than 100 people for allegations of sexual abuse and sexual assault.
Texas-based lawyer Tony Buzbee announced the pending civil lawsuits during a press conference Tuesday. The attorney revealed he's representing 120 accusers, who are bringing allegations of "violent sexual assault or rape," "facilitated sex with a controlled substance," "dissemination of video recordings" and "sexual abuse of minors" against the embattled music mogul.
"We will expose the enablers who enabled this conduct behind closed doors," Buzbee said. "We will pursue this matter no matter who the evidence implicates."
Buzbee added: "It's a long list already, but because of the nature of this case, we are going to make damn sure that we're right before we do that. But the names that we're going to name ... are names that will shock you."
This new wave of legal action follows Combs' September arrest and subsequent arraignment for sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution charges. The rapper, who has maintained his innocence amid an avalanche of civil lawsuits alleging sexual and physical abuse over the past year, remains in custody at the Special Housing Unit at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center.
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.
The cases, brought by 60 men and 60 women, span incidents going as far back as 1991, Buzbee said. Twenty-five of the accusers were minors when they were allegedly assaulted by Combs.
"When you talk about the ages of the victims when the conduct occurred, it's shocking," Buzbee said. "Our youngest victim at the time of the occurrence was 9 years old. We have an individual who was 14 years old. We have one who was 15."
Combs' legal team denied any "false and defamatory" claims made against him.
"As Mr. Combs' legal team has emphasized, he cannot address every meritless allegation in what has become a reckless media circus," Combs' attorney Erica Wolff said in an emailed statement to USA TODAY Tuesday. "He looks forward to proving his innocence and vindicating himself in court, where the truth will be established based on evidence, not speculation."
USA TODAY has reached out to Buzbee for comment.
Diddyis 'fighting for his life' amid sex trafficking charges. What does this mean for him?
Attorney Tony Buzbee called claims 'gut wrenching and heartbreaking' at Diddy press conference
Buzbee previously announced his law firm would pursue claims against Combs on Saturday in an Instagram post, adding that "many were minors" when the alleged incidents took place.
"This group of brave individuals include both men and women; many were minors when the abuse occurred. Some of these brave individuals reported the incidents to the police, others did not," Buzbee wrote.
Unraveling old lawsuits, allegations:Diddy arrest punctuates long history of legal troubles
"Each individual story is gut wrenching and heartbreaking. The acts complained of occurred at hotels, private homes, and also at the infamous PDiddy 'Freak Off' parties. The violations against this group of individuals are mindboggling and can only be described as debauchery and depravity, exacted by powerful people against minors and the weak."
Buzbee's Texas law firm has represented victims in cases involving high-profile before, including a July lawsuit leveled against R&B singer Chris Brown and represented 22 women who sued Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson during his time in Houston and accused him of sexual misconduct during massage sessions from early 2020 to March 2021.
Sean 'Diddy' Combs' recent legal troubles
The criminal charges against Combs arrive nearly a year after the rapper's ex-girlfriend and "Me & U" singer Casandra "Cassie" Ventura accused Combs of rape, sex trafficking and physical abuse in November 2023. The lawsuit spurred multiple civil suits leveled against him with allegations of rape, sexual assault and similar claims as the ones listed in the indictment unveiled by investigators.
Combs and Ventura settled for an undisclosed amount a day after her lawsuit filing, but the unsealed indictment marks the first criminal charges on the latest allegations against the Bad Boy Records founder. Combs has denied all accusations against him, although he publicly apologized in May after surveillance video leaked of him physically assaulting her at a Los Angeles hotel in 2016.
Prosecutors allegedly have "dozens" of videos depicting Combs' so-called "freak offs" – sometimes dayslong sex performances between sex workers and people he allegedly coerced into participating through narcotics and intimidation – that corroborate witness testimony.
Combs' indictment states Homeland Security Investigations agents procured drugs and more than 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant that were allegedly used in Combs' "freak offs" in the March 25 raids of Combs' homes. Multiple AR-15 rifles and large-capacity magazines were also allegedly discovered.
Additional allegations of sexual abuse followed in the wake of Combs' arrest. A woman, whose boyfriend purportedly worked as an executive at Bad Boy Records, claimed Combs and his former bodyguard "viciously raped" her in 2001 in a Sept. 24 complaint. Another woman, in a lawsuit filed Friday, alleged he drugged and impregnated her over a four-year span of abuse.
Contributing: Brent Schrotenboer and KiMi Robinson, USA TODAY
veryGood! (737)
Related
- Carolinas bracing for second landfall from Tropical Storm Debby: Live updates
- Biggest dog in the world was a towering 'gentle giant': Here's who claimed the title
- Hugh Jackman Makes Public Plea After Broadway Star Zelig Williams Goes Missing
- Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs to stay in jail while appeals court takes up bail fight
- Giants, Lions fined $200K for fights in training camp joint practices
- Ben Whittaker, Liam Cameron tumble over ropes during light heavyweight fight
- NFL MVP rankings: CJ Stroud, Lamar Jackson close gap on Patrick Mahomes
- Meet the California family whose house becomes a magical pumpkin palooza
- $1 Frostys: Wendy's celebrates end of summer with sweet deal
- Georgia election workers settle defamation lawsuit against conservative website
Ranking
- Immigration issues sorted, Guatemala runner Luis Grijalva can now focus solely on sports
- Singer El Taiger Dead at 37 One Week After Being Found With Gunshot Wound to the Head
- Taco Bell returns Double Decker Tacos to its menu for limited time. When to get them
- We Found Lululemon Under $99 Finds Including $49 Align Leggings, $29 Bodysuits & More Trendy Essentials
- Tom Holland's New Venture Revealed
- Jury finds ex-member of rock band Mr. Bungle guilty of killing his girlfriend
- North Dakota’s abortion ban will remain on hold during court appeal
- Obama’s callout to Black men touches a nerve among Democrats. Is election-year misogyny at play?
Recommendation
NCAA President Charlie Baker would be 'shocked' if women's tournament revenue units isn't passed
Historic ocean liner could soon become the world’s largest artificial reef
Meet the California family whose house becomes a magical pumpkin palooza
A Year After Historic Civil Rights Settlement, Alabama Slowly Bringing Sanitation Equity to Rural Black Communities
Meet 11-year-old skateboarder Zheng Haohao, the youngest Olympian competing in Paris
Stormzy Shares Kiss With Victoria Monét 3 Months After Maya Jama Breakup
Colorado has become Coach Prime University, sort of. Not everyone thinks that’s OK.
FACT FOCUS: A look at the false information around Hurricanes Helene and Milton