Sean Combs Accused Of Rape & Abuse In Lawsuit
Sean Combs, the renowned music producer and mogul synonymous with hip-hop for decades, faced a federal court lawsuit on Thursday from Cassie, an R&B singer formerly under his label. The suit, filed in the Federal District Court in Manhattan, alleges that Mr. Combs, also known as Puff Daddy, Diddy, and Love, subjected Cassie to rape and sustained physical abuse over approximately ten years.
According to the lawsuit, Cassie, whose real name is Casandra Ventura, contends that the abuse began shortly after their meeting in 2005, when she was 19. The pattern allegedly included control, drug administration, physical assaults, and coercion into engaging in sexual activities with multiple male prostitutes, all while being recorded by Mr. Combs. In 2018, the suit claims that Mr. Combs forcibly entered Cassie’s home and raped her, marking the culmination of their tumultuous relationship.
In response to the allegations, Mr. Combs’s lawyer, Ben Brafman, vehemently denied the claims, asserting that Cassie had demanded $30 million over six months, threatening to write a damaging book about their relationship. Despite Mr. Combs rejecting this as blatant blackmail, Cassie proceeded with the lawsuit, prompting Wigdor, Cassie’s lawyer, to reveal that Mr. Combs had offered eight figures to silence her, an offer she declined.
Cassie, in her statement, expressed her readiness to share her story after years of silence and darkness, aiming to shed light on the issue of violence and abuse in relationships for the benefit of other women.
The lawsuit marks the latest in a series of sexual assault civil suits against prominent figures in the music industry, joining others against Steven Tyler, L.A. Reid, and Neil Portnow. The court papers also implicate individuals associated with Mr. Combs in facilitating and concealing the alleged abuse, seeking unspecified damages from Mr. Combs and his affiliated companies.
According to the allegations in Ms. Ventura’s lawsuit, her introduction to Mr. Combs’s opulent lifestyle occurred shortly after signing with Bad Boy and releasing her debut album in 2006. However, the suit contends that this lavish lifestyle soon turned into a nightmare as Mr. Combs allegedly exerted an extraordinary level of control over her life.
Beyond dominating her career, Mr. Combs reportedly financed her car, apartments, and clothing while maintaining access to her personal medical records. The suit claims that even the results of an M.R.I. scan, conducted for memory loss possibly induced by drug use or beatings from Mr. Combs, were directly sent to him.
The lawsuit further asserts that Mr. Combs supplied Ms. Ventura with substantial amounts of drugs, including ecstasy and ketamine, urging her to consume them. The suit alleges frequent violent episodes, with Mr. Combs allegedly assaulting her multiple times each year. Despite the abuse, Ms. Ventura refrained from seeking police intervention, fearing it would only provoke further harm.
One disturbing incident from 2009 in Los Angeles details Mr. Combs allegedly assaulting Ms. Ventura, leaving her bleeding, and subsequently arranging for her recovery in a hotel room for a week. Her request to return home was allegedly denied.
The suit suggests that Ms. Ventura felt trapped due to the violent consequences of rejecting Mr. Combs and his efforts to isolate her from her support network. It claims that leaving him proved challenging as he allegedly sent employees to persuade her back.
In a concerning revelation, the lawsuit states that Mr. Combs coerced Ms. Ventura into engaging in a sexual fantasy called “voyeurism,” involving encounters with male prostitutes while he watched, masturbated, and recorded. These incidents, termed “freak offs,” continued for years and took place in high-end hotels and Mr. Combs’s residences across the United States.
The suit contends that Ms. Ventura was a victim of sex trafficking due to these encounters, accusing Mr. Combs of sexual battery, sexual assault, and violations of New York City’s gender-motivated violence law.
Despite several attempts to escape Mr. Combs’s control, as detailed in the lawsuit, Ms. Ventura ultimately left him in 2018 after an alleged rape. She subsequently married and has two children, with her association with Bad Boy ending in 2019.
Ms. Ventura’s case falls under the Adult Survivors Act, a New York law allowing victims of sexual abuse to file civil suits even after the statute of limitations has expired. With the one-year window for such cases ending soon, Ms. Ventura emphasized the importance of speaking up about her trauma, signaling her intention to recover from the lasting effects of the alleged abuse.
[NYTimes.com]
