Sean Combs likens his reinventions to ‘eras.’ The newest is three-time intercourse assault accused

A little greater than two years in the past, Sean Combs – then calling himself “Love” within the newest nomenclature rebranding of his multi-vertical profession – held court docket in his Los Angeles mansion for a prestigious journal profile author. They delved into his psyche, his successes, his attitudes and historical past; by way of the course of the navel-gazing discourse at his dwelling and on Zoom, Combs – sorry, ‘Love’ – started waxing lyrical about #MeToo.

It was an instance, mentioned Combs (previously generally known as Puff, or Puff Daddy, or P. Diddy, or Diddy, the checklist goes on), of “folks on the market which can be drained … of the way in which that it doesn’t must be.

“Like once they mentioned it was over — once they mentioned within the #MeToo, when it was over, it was over,” the mogul advised Self-importance Truthful, including: “The #MeToo motion, the reality, is that it impressed me. It confirmed me that you may get most change.”

It could even have impressed the three separate ladies who’ve filed lawsuits towards him in every week, laying out jaw-dropping allegations of sexual and bodily abuse, management and violence – the final of which has at all times been related to the rapper’s rise and picture. However gun expenses, membership fights and murdered associates exist in a single realm; the intimate and home nature of those new allegations are on an entire totally different airplane.

In addition they date again a long time – elevating questions on whether or not, as Combs leapt from one picture to the subsequent, one payday enterprise to an even bigger one, a darker and extra private thread in his life remained unchanged. Inside a day, he settled one go well with by former long-term girlfriend Cassie Ventura, an artist almost 20 years his junior who’d accused him of rape, intercourse trafficking and abuse.

One other go well with was filed on Thanksgiving by a New York girl alleging Combs drugged and raped her in 1991; a 3rd was filed the identical day by an unidentified plaintiff. The authorized actions have been taken earlier than the expiration of New York’s Grownup Survivors Act, which offered a one-year window for the pursuit of litigation, no matter when the abuse occurred. The allegations towards Combs embody claims of abuse greater than 30 years in the past.

That’s when one plaintiff, Joi Dickerson-Neal, claims Combs drugged her, raped her, filmed and shared the incident whereas she was enrolled as a psychology pupil at Syracuse College. In court docket paperwork filed on Thursday, demanding a jury trial, Dickerson-Neal alleges that Combs took her out to dinner in New York Metropolis, however “moving into Combs’ automobile that day was one thing Ms Dickerson would come to remorse eternally”.

“Throughout their date, Combs had deliberately drugged Ms. Dickerson, leading to her being in a bodily state the place she couldn’t independently stand or stroll,” continues the grievance, seen by The Unbiased. “Driving first to a music studio the place she couldn’t get out of the automobile, Combs proceeded to a spot he was staying to sexually assault her. As was his apply, however unbeknownst to Ms. Dickerson, Combs video recorded the sexual assault. Days later, a male good friend revealed to her that he had seen the ‘intercourse tape’ together with different males. Horrified, Ms. Dickerson requested what number of others noticed it, to which he responded, ‘everybody.’

“Ms. Dickerson’s life went right into a tailspin,” it continues, outlining how the younger girl suffered extreme melancholy and suicidal ideation, finally dropping out of faculty.

The second go well with filed on Thursday additionally entails allegations from across the identical time interval, in accordance with Rolling Stone, which seen the paperwork; the grievance and summons have been listed on Friday as “returned for correction” on the New York State court docket’s web site. A lawyer for the plaintiff, listed solely as Jane Doe, didn’t instantly return a request for touch upon Friday from The Unbiased.

In line with the journal, Jane Doe and a good friend attended an occasion hosted by MCA Data in 1990 or 1991, finally heading to an afterparty with Combs and one other singer-songwriter on the latter’s condo. There, “Jane Doe was supplied extra drinks and was coerced into having intercourse with Combs,” Rolling Stone reviews the submitting alleges. “After Combs completed doing his enterprise, Jane Doe laid in mattress, shocked and traumatized.

“As she was within the means of getting dressed,” the grievance continues, the opposite musician “barged into the room, pinned her down and compelled Jane Doe to have intercourse with him.”

A spokesperson for Combs advised The Unbiased: “These are fabricated claims falsely alleging misconduct from over 30 years in the past and filed on the final minute. That is nothing however a cash seize. Due to Mr. Combs’ fame and success, he’s a straightforward goal for nameless accusers who lie with out conscience or consequence for monetary profit. The New York Legislature certainly didn’t intend or anticipate the Grownup Survivors Act to be exploited by scammers. The general public must be skeptical and never rush to simply accept these bogus allegations.”

However the more moderen, extra long-term and extra graphic allegations could be discovered within the submitting from Combs’ former girlfriend of a decade, singer Casandra Ventura, recognized professionally as Cassie, who lists Combs’ Unhealthy Boy and Epic Data alongside different named defendants. Whereas the go well with was settled the subsequent day for an undisclosed sum, the claims are staggering.

Representatives for Combs didn’t instantly return request for remark from The Unbiased, however considered one of his legal professionals insisted within the days after the settlement announcement that it was “by no means an admission of wrongdoing.”

“Mr. Combs‘ resolution to settle the lawsuit doesn’t in any manner undermine his flat-out denial of the claims,” lawyer Ben Brafman advised Us. “He’s comfortable they bought to a mutual settlement and needs Ms. Ventura one of the best.”

The singer, who was simply 19 when she met the mogul almost 20 years her senior, alleges Within the go well with hat Combs raped her “in her own residence after she tried to go away him; Typically punched, beat, kicked and stomped on Ms. Ventura, leading to bruises, burst lips, black eyes and bleeding;” and launched her “to a life-style of extreme alcohol and substance abuse and required her to acquire illicit prescriptions to fulfill his personal addictions.”

Much more shockingly, the go well with claims Combs had one other rapper’s automobile blown up after studying the musician was romantically desirous about Cassie; pressured her to have interaction in intercourse acts with male intercourse employees in periods he known as “freak offs” whereas masturbating and filming the encounters; and demanded she “carry his firearm in her purse simply to make her uncomfortable and reveal how harmful he’s.”

Combs didn’t start a relationship in any capability with Cassie till round 2006, when he signed her to his label, regularly exerting increasingly more management over her private {and professional} life, the go well with alleges. It had been almost a decade since Combs’ good friend, Infamous B.I.G., was gunned down after the 2 individually left a celebration in LA – an unsolved killing attributed to the rap feud between the Coasts – and years since his 1999 arrest on weapons expenses after a New York membership taking pictures when he was courting Jennifer Lopez. He was later acquitted.

After Combs, as Puff Daddy, “had simply bought by way of East-West warfare,” he advised Self-importance Truthful in 2021, “No person wished to get within the room with me. They thought they was going to get shot.”

He added: “After I modified names, I put durations on these eras.”

He’d appeared eager to distance himself from among the extra unruly thug-life parts of his persona, pursuing diversified success within the eating, vogue and enterprise spheres; a September 2002 New Yorker profile gushed in regards to the then-32-year-old as a “rap impresario, restaurateur, clothes entrepreneur, bon vivant, actor, and Web page Six common.”

The author adopted Combs to Paris Style Week, quoting big-name heavyweights about Combs’ visions whereas additionally capturing some hard-edged moments. When one good friend advises the mogul about worldwide cellphone calls as they put together to take off for Europe, the singer responds “in a low, regular voice. ‘That is my fourteenth Concorde flight. I’m a worldwide f***ing participant. I’ll inform you learn how to use a cellphone.’”

In the identical piece, many inside Combs’ circle show a fierce loyalty to the performer and an optimistic spin on his litany of controversies – although now, greater than 20 years later and in a really totally different cultural local weather, Diddy’s sturdiness could also be doubtful.

“The factor I really like about Puff is that he comes again,” his righthand girl advised The New Yorker in 2002. “After B.I.G. died, folks thought he would go proper down the bathroom – then he put out a No. 1 album. In the course of the trial, Jennifer dumped him, they mentioned his music profession was over, he could be going to jail – and even when he bought off he could be by way of.

“Effectively, guess what? He has a best-selling document, he’s a cheerful father, his clothes firm completely rocks,” she mentioned. “Puffy will at all times come again. He’s like nature.”

Maybe this time would be the true take a look at.