Sean “Diddy” Combs is confronting a wave of new sexual assault allegations, with several lawsuits expected to be filed in the coming days.
According to Tony Buzbee, who is representing the accuser, a 9-year-old boy is among the 120 individuals accusing Combs of sexual assault and abuse in forthcoming lawsuits. Buzbee claimed that a 9-year-old boy was sexually abused after auditioning at the Bad Boy Records studio in New York City.
“Other kids were also there for the audition,” Buzbee said. “All of them were trying to get a record contract. They were all underage. This boy [the 9-year-old boy] was sexually abused, allegedly by Sean Combs and several other people in the studio, with the promise to his parents and himself to get a record contract”.
He then stated that: “We will expose the enablers who enabled this conduct behind closed doors. We will pursue this matter no matter who the evidence implicates”. He also stated that his teams of attorneys have collected a trove of pictures, videos and text messages.
With regards specifically to allegations, these involve a number of crimes such as: violent sexual assault or rape, facilitated sex with a controlled substance, dissemination of video recordings, sexual abuse of minors.
Attorney Buzbee revealed that more than 3,000 people have reached out to his office with allegations against Combs and that he intends to begin filing lawsuits in several states within the next 30 days and that more defendants will be appointed later on.
He also noted that 62% of the new group of accusers identify as African American and come from more than 25 states, most of them residing in New York, California, Georgia and Florida. It also revealed that 25 of the accusers were minors at the time of the alleged incidents, some of which date as far back as 1991. One of the accusers was reportedly just 9 years old at the time the alleged incidents took place.
In a statement, rapper’s lawyer, Erica Wolff, asserted: “Mr. Combs categorically and emphatically denies as false and defamatory any allegation that he has sexually abused anyone, including minors” and that “he looks forward to proving his innocence and vindicating himself in court”.
As of right now, Mr. Combs is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, after prosecutors in the Southern District of New York charged him with sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation of persons for prostitution.
Although Combs has been denied bail twice, on Monday his legal team filed initial papers to appeal the bail decision.
The legal troubles for Combs began some time ago, when his ex-girlfriend, Cassandra Ventura, filed a civil suit against him last year, accusing him of assault and sex trafficking during their relationship; Combs, who firmly denied the allegations, did, however, reach an agreement with Ventura for an undisclosed sum.
Combs denied all the allegations against him, describing them as “disgusting accusations” by people seeking “a quick payday”.
Most of the lawsuits against Combs were filed in the city of New York, which enacted the Gender-Motivated Violence Victim Protection Act. Specifically, this law allows people to sue for allegations of sexual assault even after the statute of limitations has expired.
