A team of lawyers announced that it plans to file more than 100 sexual assault lawsuits against Sean Combs, better known as Diddy.
The announcement marks yet another legal battle for the embattled music mogul. He had been facing series of civil lawsuits plagued him for months, accusing him of sex trafficking, sexual abuse and rape. His legal woes came to a crescendo when federal agents arrested Diddy in September on sex trafficking and racketeering charges. He has denied all the allegations against him.
“The biggest secret in the entertainment industry, that really wasn’t a secret at all, has finally been revealed to the world,” Tony Buzbee, one of the lead attorneys, said at a Tuesday press conference. “The wall of silence has now been broken and victims are coming forward.”
He said his firm represents 120 individuals who are accusing Diddy and his associates. Twenty five of the victims were minors when the alleged acts in the complaints occurred, the lawyer said. The youngest was nine years old.
Most of the complaints will be filed in New York, Los Angeles, or in Miami. The laundry list of accusations against the music mogul include “violent sexual assault or rape, sexual abuse, facilitated sex with a controlled substance, false imprisonment, compelling prostitution, sexual misconduct, dissemination of video recordings… and sexual abuse of minors,” Buzbee said.
Many of the complaints stemmed from instances that occurred at parties, namely after parties, as well as hotels, well-known music venues, and even at auditions, where people were “coerced into this type of conduct” while trying to break into the music industry, the lawyer said. The conduct spans from 1991 through 2024.
He expects to start filing the cases within the next 30 days.
Buzbee urged other victims to come forward: “If you are a victim, you are not alone.”
Federal agents arrested the music mogul in mid-September on racketeering and sex trafficking charges. A judge denied his bail, ordering the rapper to remain in federal custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn while awaiting trial.
“We will expose the enablers who enabled this conduct behind closed doors. We will pursue this matter no matter who the evidence implicates,” Buzbee said.
Another attorney, Andrew Van Arsdale, commented on the sheer volume of claims they had received: “Never ever in a 10-day period have we seen over 3,000 people come forward.” They have chosen to represent 120 of them and more than 100 more to vet.
The Independent has reached out to Diddy’s lawyer for comment on the announcement.
