American rapper Sean Combs (also known as Diddy, Puff Daddy, and P. Diddy) has faced repeated accusations of sexual misconduct for incidents dating from 1991 to 2023. He has faced at least 10 civil lawsuits related to abuse and sexual misconduct, and has also faced accusations of rape, drug-facilitated sexual assault, child sexual abuse, and sexual harassment. He pleaded not guilty to all his federal criminal charges from 2024.[1]
In 1990, a woman accused him and R&B singer Aaron Hall of sexually assaulting her and her friend. Between November and December 2023, he was accused of sexual misconduct by four women including his former girlfriend Cassie Ventura, who alleged that she had been raped, trafficked and physically assaulted by Combs multiple times under a period of ten years.[2] Over the next few months, numerous civil complaints were filed by claimants who alleged that they had been sexually abused by Combs between 1991 and 2009, and many more are in the planning stages as of October 2024. He was further accused of sexual assault by his former producer Rodney Jones in February 2024 and, in September of the same year, he was federally charged with sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution.[3][4]
On October 1, 2024, the Washington Post reported that a team of lawyers will be filing as many as 120 more lawsuits, covering assaults that took place during the 2000s and 2010s. Plaintiffs, 25 of whom are minors, are both male and female. Half of the alleged victims say they reported the assault to police, to a doctor, or to the FBI. Some claim to have been drugged or offered hush money. Additional potential defendants other than Combs are also to be named in the lawsuits.
On October 10, 2024, a federal judge set May 5, 2025, as the start date for Combs' criminal trial.[5][6]
- ^ Wolfe, Elizabeth; Wagmeister, Elizabeth; Campbell, Josh (September 18, 2024). "Sean 'Diddy' Combs was arrested after a year of intensifying allegations. How we got here". CNN. Retrieved September 30, 2024.
- ^ Ventura v. Combs, 1:23-cv-10098 - CourtListener.com
- ^ "A timeline of allegations against Sean 'Diddy' Combs". Los Angeles Times. March 27, 2024. Retrieved September 30, 2024.
- ^ "Opinion | The checkered origins of the law at the center of Sean "Diddy" Combs' prosecution". MSNBC.com. September 22, 2024. Retrieved September 30, 2024.
- ^ Scannell, Kara (October 10, 2024). "Judge sets trial date in Sean 'Diddy' Combs racketeering and sex trafficking case". CNN. Retrieved October 10, 2024.
- ^ "'He thought of himself as a King': The parties that led to Diddy's downfall". BBC News.