Diddy accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old boy as a new wave of abuse lawsuits kicks off
A new lawsuit says that Sean “Diddy” Combs (left) molested a then-16-year-old (right) at the rapper’s 1998 white party in the Hamptons.
Sean “Diddy” Combs has been accused of rape, molesting a teenage boy, and sexual assault in six new lawsuits filed against the embattled hip-hop music mogul.
The lawsuits, filed Monday in Manhattan federal court, are part of a larger wave of complaints that Combs is expected to face. Texas-based attorney Tony Buzbee said in September that his firm is representing 120 accusers who he says will bring lawsuits against Combs.
Buzbee said the cases will also include allegations against other celebrities. The lawsuits will detail alleged incidents that took place between 1991 and 2024 and will come from men, women, and minors at the time, he said during a September press conference.
“The claims we intend to bring will include the following: 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 at the time.
One of the plaintiffs, a man identified only as John Doe, who now lives in North Carolina, accused Combs of molesting him in 1998 at one of Diddy’s famous white parties in the Hamptons.
The complaint says he was 16 years old when he was invited to the party through a mutual connection and was hopeful that it would be a chance to break into the music industry.
At the party, he ran into Combs, who, during a conversation about the music industry, asked him to “drop his pants and expose his penis so that Combs could inspect it,” the complaint says.
Out of “fear, anxiety and the imbalanced power dynamic,” the plaintiff listened to Combs, a lawyer for the man, who is now in his 40s, said.
The lawsuit alleges Combs described the act as a rite of passage, quoting him as having said, “Don’t you want to break into the business?”
Combs went on to fondle the plaintiff’s genitals “for an extended period of time,” the complaint says.
Sean “Diddy” Combs remains jailed in Brooklyn.
Attorneys for Combs released a statement Monday, again denying that the artist ever committed sexual assault. They called the lawsuits filed Monday an attempt to “garner publicity.”
“Mr. Combs and his legal team have full confidence in the facts, their legal defenses, and the integrity of the judicial process,” the lawyers said. “In court, the truth will prevail: that Mr. Combs has never sexually assaulted anyone—adult or minor, man or woman.”
A Manhattan grand jury indicted Combs in September on federal charges of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy, and transportation for the purposes of prostitution. He also faces at least a dozen civil lawsuits accusing him of sexual misconduct.
Until Monday, Combs had only been accused in the civil and criminal cases of sexual activity with adults.
The rapper and entrepreneur has vehemently denied the charges and any previous claims accusing him of sexual assault or misconduct.
Combs’ legal troubles began last November when his former girlfriend, Cassandra Ventura, sued him, accusing him of abuse and rape. The two settled, and Combs at first denied wrongdoing, though he later apologized for his behavior when footage of him physically abusing her at a California hotel came to light.
Following Ventura’s lawsuit, other women came forward, accusing Combs in additional lawsuits of a slew of actions, including drugging and rape.
The federal investigation into Combs had been brewing at the time. The investigation became public in March, when agents from the Department of Homeland Security raided Diddy’s homes in Los Angeles and Miami. Combs was arrested in September on three felony charges.
Prosecutors accuse Combs and his associates of wielding “the power and prestige” of Combs’ success to “intimidate, threaten, and lure female victims” into his orbit “often under the pretense of a romantic relationship.”
“Freak Offs,” which prosecutors describe in court papers as “elaborate and produced sex performances that Combs arranged, directed, masturbated during, and often electronically recorded,” are at the center of his indictment.
Prosecutors also allege he assaulted women by “striking, punching, dragging, throwing objects at, and kicking them.”
Combs remains locked up at a notorious Brooklyn jail after being twice denied his request to be released on a $50 million bond package.
Diddy was placed in the same dormitory as Sam Bankman-Fried, who’s serving 25 years for fraud after stealing $8 billion from customers of his FTX crypto exchange.