Sean ‘Diddy' Combs accused of sexual harassment and assault by producer on his newest album

Sean “Diddy” Combs was sued Monday in federal courtroom by a producer on his most up-to-date album, who accuses the music mogul of sexually harassing, drugging and threatening him over greater than a 12 months. The producer, Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, says within the lawsuit that he lived and traveled with Combs from September 2022 to November 2023, throughout which period he recorded hours of video and audio of Combs, his workers and others “participating in severe criminality.”

NBC Information stories that among the many allegations is that Combs compelled Jones to obtain intercourse employees and pressured him to have interaction in unwelcomed intercourse acts with them and others and that Combs gave laced alcoholic drinks to individuals who attended events at his houses. 

The lawsuit consists of what it says are screenshots from gatherings hosted at Combs’ houses that included underage ladies and intercourse employees, a few of whom he stated have been supplied drinks that had been laced with medicine at Combs’ path.

The swimsuit, filed in U.S District Courtroom for the Southern District of New York, additionally names Combs’ grownup son, Justin; his chief of workers, Kristina Khorram; Common Music Group CEO Sir Lucian Grainge; and former Motown Information CEO Ethiopia Habtemariam as defendants. Jones says within the lawsuit that Grainge, Habtemariam, Motown Information, Love Information and Common Music Group successfully labored along with Combs in a “RICO enterprise” that “didn’t adequately monitor, warn, or supervise” the actions of Combs, his son and his chief of workers. A RICO enterprise is any people or teams that act collectively to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

Representatives for Justin Combs, Khorram, Grainge, Motown Information and Love Information additionally didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark. Habtemariam couldn’t instantly be reached for remark.

Combs’ lawyer Shawn Holley known as the allegations “pure fiction.”

“We now have overwhelming, indeniable proof that his claims are full lies,” Holley stated in an announcement. “We are going to handle these outlandish allegations in courtroom and take all applicable motion towards those that make them.”

The swimsuit is the most recent in a sequence of damning allegations towards Combs.

In accordance with Jones’ lawsuit, in or about August 2022, Combs known as Jones and requested that he produce a number of songs on the R&B album “The Love Album: Off the Grid,” which was launched in September 2023 and is nominated for a Grammy.

“Mr. Jones agreed, and his life has been detrimentally impacted ever since,” the lawsuit says.

Jones alleges that Combs sexually harassed and assaulted him whereas he lived with him at Combs’ houses in Florida, Los Angeles and New York, in addition to on a yacht Combs rented within the U.S. Virgin Islands. The harassment and assault included “fixed unsolicited and unauthorized groping and touching of his anus,” in response to the lawsuit.

Jones says he was compelled to work in Combs’ rest room as Combs showered bare in a glass enclosure, in response to the lawsuit.

When he raised considerations concerning the conduct to Khorram, Combs’ chief of workers, the lawsuit says, she dismissed them as “pleasant horseplay, stating that these acts have been Mr. Combs approach of ‘displaying that he likes you.’”

 The lawsuit accuses Khoramm of aiding and abetting Combs’ sexual assault of Jones and of working with Combs “to groom him into accepting a gay relationship.”

Jones additionally alleges that he was compelled to solicit intercourse employees and carry out intercourse acts with them to please Combs. 

To assist within the alleged recruitment, Jones stated, Combs supplied him with “an unique Dangerous Boy baseball cap” and required him to put on it to a Miami institution “as a sign to any intercourse employee he approached” that Combs was on the town and had despatched Jones to recruit them, the lawsuit says.

The civil lawsuit was filed by singer Cassie, Combs’ former romantic companion.

Jones alleges Combs, whom he describes within the swimsuit as “forceful and demanding” and somebody who doesn’t take no for a solution, leveraged his energy as probably the most influential individuals in hip-hop and enterprise to intimidate him, together with by threatening to inflict bodily hurt if Jones didn’t comply together with his calls for.

On one event, Jones alleges, Combs compelled him to look at as he displayed weapons and bragged about getting away with capturing individuals. In a separate incident, Jones alleges, Combs shared that he was answerable for a capturing in a nightclub in New York Metropolis in 1999 with the rapper Shyne, born Jamal Barrow. A jury acquitted Combs of gun possession and bribery expenses in reference to that incident, whereas Barrow was sentenced to 10 years in jail. Jones was frightened of Combs and felt he couldn’t inform him no, in response to the swimsuit.

“Mr. Combs persistently made it clear that he has immense energy within the music business and with legislation enforcement,” the lawsuit says.

Jones says within the lawsuit that he has video and audio proof to help among the allegations. The lawsuit says that Combs required Jones to “report him continuously” and that on a number of events, Combs took Jones’ cellphone to report himself. Consequently, Jones alleges, he has a whole lot of hours of video and audio information of Combs, his workers and his friends “participating in severe criminality.”

Jones says within the swimsuit that he believes Combs additionally drugged him on Feb. 2, 2023. He alleges he awakened bare, dizzy and confused in mattress with Combs and two intercourse employees.

In response to a request for remark, Jones’ lawyer, Tyrone Blackburn, used a Latin phrase, “res ipsa loquitur,” which loosely interprets as “the factor speaks for itself,” referring to the lawsuit.

Jones says within the swimsuit that he was “beneath an implied work-for-hire settlement” and was not compensated for the songs he produced on “The Love Album.” Consequently, the lawsuit says, Combs, Love Information, Motown Information and Common Music Group have been all unjustly enriched at his expense. The labels didn’t instantly reply to requests for remark. 

Combs has been sued by 4 ladies who’ve accused him of sexual assault. Cassie, whose authorized title is Casandra Ventura, stated Combs bodily abused her and compelled her to have intercourse with male prostitutes whereas he masturbated and recorded the encounters. The lawsuit was settled the day after it was filed. The settlement was “under no circumstances an admission of wrongdoing,” Combs’ lawyer, Ben Brafman, has stated.

Following Cassie’s lawsuit, two different ladies, Liza Gardner and Joie Dickerson-Neal, have alleged in lawsuits that Combs sexually assaulted them. And a girl recognized as Jane Doe in courtroom paperwork stated Combs and two different males gang-raped her when she was 17 and Combs was 34. 

These three circumstances towards Combs are nonetheless pending. In an announcement in December, he denied the allegations, saying “sufficient is sufficient,” and known as the claims towards him “sickening.” 

“Let me be completely clear: I didn’t do any of the terrible issues being alleged. I’ll battle for my title, my household and for the reality,” he stated within the assertion.

The mounting allegations stand to hurt Combs’ legacy and enterprise empire. A day after Ventura filed her swimsuit, three of Combs’ former artists expressed help for her. The identical month, Combs stepped down because the chairman of Revolt TV. In December, Hulu scrapped a actuality tv present that was to have adopted his household. And in January, Combs withdrew his lawsuit towards Diageo as a part of a settlement with the London-based spirits big, which he had accused of racism.

This text first appeared on NBCNews.com. Extra from NBC Information: