CELEBRITY
Here’s everyone caught in the web of the Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs allegations so far….read more
Sean “Diddy” Combs remains in a Brooklyn jail while awaiting a May 5 trial on federal charges of sex trafficking and racketeering.
The hip-hop mogul has pleaded not guilty on all charges and has been denied bail twice thus far.
Before and after his arrest, Combs has also been served 12 civil lawsuits for physical assault, rape and more.
The indictment and many of the lawsuits name Combs’ numerous business ventures and claim they are complicit in financing and enabling the rapper’s abuse inside and outside of the recording studio.
They also detail how Combs allegedly used his position of power in the entertainment industry to lure, coerce and silence those around him.
Here’s an ongoing list of notable people named in lawsuits and criminal investigations against Combs so far, excluding the accusers who have chosen not to reveal their names.
THE ACCUSERS
Casandra Ventura, aka Cassie
The R&B singer was in a personal and professional relationship with Combs for over a decade.
In November 2023, Ventura filed a federal lawsuit against Combs alleging years of physical, sexual and emotional abuse.
The lawsuit also named Bad Boy Entertainment, Bad Boy Records, Epic Records and Combs Enterprises.
A day after the filing, the two parties settled the trafficking, rape and physical assault case out of court — but Ventura’s willingness to come forward opened the floodgates for nearly a dozen other lawsuits against Combs.
The pair reportedly met in 2005, when Ventura was 19 and Combs was 37.
The following year, Ventura signed a deal with Bad Boy Entertainment and released her self-titled debut album.
Ventura’s lawsuit alleged this was the beginning of Combs’ coercion and abuse, which she said completely took over her life and included forcing her to take illicit substances, forcing her to participate in sex with male sex workers while Combs filmed her — encounters Combs referred to as “freakoffs” — and frequent beatings.
The lawsuit stated that the beatings were often witnessed by Combs’ staff, employees of Bad Boy Entertainment and Combs’ affiliated businesses.
Earlier this year, CNN published footage dated to 2016 that showed Combs repeatedly hitting and kicking Ventura in the hallway of a Los Angeles hotel.
Shortly after, Ventura took to Instagram to address the video and subsequent public response.
“The outpouring of love has created a place for my younger self to settle and feel safe now, but this is only the beginning,” she wrote.
“Domestic Violence is THE issue.
It broke me down to someone I never thought I would become.
With a lot of hard work, I am better today, but I will always be recovering from my past.”
JOI DICKERSON NEAL
Days after Ventura’s lawsuit, a woman named Joi Dickerson filed a lawsuit accusing Combs of drugging, sexually harassing and abusing her and distributing “revenge porn.”
The suit states that Dickerson was a psychology student at Syracuse University when she agreed to go on a date with Combs in 1991.
She had appeared in one of the rapper’s music videos.
After the pair had dinner, the suit alleges that Combs pressured Dickerson to keep the night going and drove them to a recording studio.
There, Dickerson says she realized she had been drugged and was unable to get out of the car, since she could no longer stand or walk on her own.
This is when the suit alleges that Combs took her to another location and proceeded to sexually assault her.
Days later, Dickerson was told by a male friend that Combs had recorded the assault and had shown it to him and several others.
The lawsuit states that the ensuing feelings of violation and humiliation derailed Dickerson’s studies and have had prolonged effects on her mental health, career and economic opportunities.
Like Ventura, Dickerson filed the lawsuit under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which provided a one-year window for victims of sexual abuse who were age 18 or older at the time of the crime to file civil action regardless of the statute of limitations of the crimes themselves.
LIZA GARDNER
Last November, Liza Gardner filed a lawsuit alleging that in 1990, she was raped by Combs and R&B singer Aaron Hall.
The lawsuit says that days later, Combs assaulted and choked Gardner until she lost consciousness.
In an amended complaint filed Oct. 8, Gardner adds that she was 16 years old when she was invited to New Jersey from her home in North Carolina by her friends DeVante Swing and Dalvin DeGrate of the R&B group Jodeci.
The lawsuit states that Jodeci’s housing, where Gardner was staying, was “subsidized” by their label, Uptown Records, a subsidiary of MCA and UMG.
It goes on to allege that Gardner and her 15-year-old friend, Monica Case, met Combs and Hall at an MCA Records event in New York, where they were reportedly supplied with alcohol.
Combs and Hall allegedly provided the minors with more drinks and with marijuana later that night.
The lawsuit states that Gardner and her friends were later taken back to Hall’s apartment in New Jersey, where Combs raped Gardner.
The suit states that unbeknownst to Gardner at the time, Devante Swing was in the room at the time and did nothing to stop Combs.
Swing was added as a co-defendant in the new complaint for “aiding and abetting” the sexual assault.
The lawsuit also names UMG Recordings, Universal Music Group and more.
RODNEY “LIL ROD” JONES
Producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones worked with Combs on his 2023 release, The Love Album: Off the Grid. In February, Jones filed a lawsuit alleging that during the making of the album — from 2022 to 2023 — he lived with Combs, who he says repeatedly groped him, forced him to solicit sex workers, take illegal drugs, and more.
The suit states that Combs would often walk around naked in front of Jones, and that the music mogul attempted to groom the producer into engaging in sex with other men in the music industry, allegedly promising Jones a Grammy if he complied.
Jones also alleges that a cousin of rapper Yung Miami, who was dating Combs at the time, sexually assaulted him in Combs’ home in 2022 in front of Combs and his staff.
Jones’ lawsuit also names Combs’ son, Justin Dior Combs, Love Records, Combs Global Enterprises and Combs’ chief of staff, Kristina Khorram, as co-defendants.
In addition to the allegations of abuse, the suit describes a shooting at a recording studio involving Combs, his son Justin Dior Combs and an unnamed victim.
The suit also claims that Combs did not properly compensate Jones for his work on The Love Album.
The lawsuit originally included Universal Music Group, Motown Records, former Motown CEO Ethiopia Habtemariam and UMG chairman and CEO Lucian Grainge as co-defendants.
Lawyers for Grainge and UMG denied their involvement in the allegations, eventually leading Jones’ lawyer to drop Grainge and the labels from the charges.