Music mogul Sean Combs, best known as Diddy, has been accused of rape, sexual assault and sex trafficking by singer and former partner Cassie. Through his attorney, Combs has denied the allegations.
Cassie, who sued under her legal name, Casandra Ventura, dated the famed hip-hop producer for about 11 years before they split in 2018. She filed her sex trafficking and sexual assault lawsuit against Combs on Thursday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
Ventura’s lawsuit alleges that she “was held down by Mr. Combs and endured over a decade of his violent behavior and disturbed demands,” referring to that period with him as “dark times” during which she was “trapped by Mr. Combs in a cycle of abuse,” according to a copy of the complaint obtained Thursday by The Times.
The lawsuit — brought under New York’s Adult Survivors Act — comes in the wake of others filed in that state this month against Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler, music executive Antonio “L.A.” Reid and former Grammys chief Neil Portnow. The Adult Survivors Act created a one-year “lookback window” for adults who allege they were sexually abused to sue despite the statute of limitations having run out. That window expires next week.
In the filing, 37-year-old Ventura accuses Combs, 54, of raping her in her home after she tried to leave him; physically attacking and injuring her; forcing her to engage in sex acts with male sex workers while filming the encounters; running around with a firearm; introducing her to “a lifestyle of excessive alcohol and substance abuse”; and requiring her “to procure illicit prescriptions to satisfy his own addictions.”
“He signed her to his label, Bad Boy Records, and within a few years, lured Ms. Ventura into an ostentatious, fast-paced, and drug-fueled lifestyle, and into a romantic relationship with him — her boss, one of the most powerful men in the entertainment industry, and a vicious, cruel, and controlling man nearly two decades her senior,” the lawsuit said.
Diddy’s lawyer, Ben Brafman, said in a statement to The Times that his client “vehemently denies these offensive and outrageous allegations” and accused Ventura of being “persistent” in demanding more than $30 million from Diddy for the last six months.
He added that the lawsuit is “riddled with baseless and outrageous lies, aiming to tarnish Mr. Combs’ reputation and seeking a payday.”
The lawsuit also names Diddy’s businesses Bad Boy Entertainment and Bad Boy Records among the defendants, as well as Epic Records and Combs Enterprises LLC.
The producer, label exec and entrepreneur got his start in the ‘90s at Uptown Records, where he worked with R&B acts including Mary J. Blige and Jodeci. At an early event Combs promoted, an AIDS fundraiser at City College of New York, a crowd stampede led to nine deaths. After founding his own Arista Records imprint, Bad Boy Entertainment in 1993, he became a pivotal yet confounding figure in hip-hop — a label owner and producer intent on being just as famous as his stars.
He shepherded acts like the Notorious B.I.G. and Faith Evans to huge sales and international renown, becoming part of the lore of the era’s bicoastal gangsta-rap feuds. After B.I.G.’s 1997 murder, Combs released his own solo debut, “No Way Out,” a Grammy winner and Billboard No. 1 with singles including “I’ll Be Missing You” (the first rap track to debut atop the Billboard 100) and “It’s All About the Benjamins.”
While his frequent artist name changes — from Puffy to Puff Daddy to P. Diddy to Diddy and later Love and back to Diddy — became a punchline, Combs expanded well beyond music, launching his successful clothing line Sean John, his reality TV show “Making the Band,” the Revolt cable TV network and high-profile endorsement deals from Ciroc vodka and others.
Violent incidents have shadowed his career. In 1999, Combs was charged with assaulting Interscope Records exec Steve Stoute, and he pleaded guilty to harassment. Later that year, he faced weapons charges after a shooting in a Manhattan nightclub, where he was found not guilty. In 2015, he was arrested after attacking his son’s football coach with a kettlebell weight. Prosecutors declined to charge him with a felony in that case.
Diddy’s most recent LP, the September release “The Love Album: Off the Grid,” was nominated last week for a Grammy in the progressive R&B album category. The album features collaborations with a number of lauded female singers and songwriters including H.E.R., Blige, Coco Jones, Summer Walker and Jazmine Sullivan.
“[P]raying for Cassie and her family, for peace and healing. you are beautiful and brave,” singer Dawn Richard tweeted Thursday after the lawsuit news broke. Richard was a member of Danity Kane, a group that formed via Combs’ show “Making the Band.”
This story is developing.