Lawsuits and allegations against Sean 'Diddy' Combs: Timeline
Sean "Diddy" Combs was for decades among the most influential entertainers and music entrepreneurs in the business, along the way becoming fabulously wealthy by turning hip-hop stardom into luxury business branding.
As allegations of sexual assault, physical violence and human trafficking mounted over the last months -- allegations Combs has largely and vehemently denied -- his business empire has been taking hits.
Several brands and organizations have cut ties with Combs, as have two of the cities he's called home: New York City took back his ceremonial key and Miami Beach terminated its "Diddy Day."
Combs, through his attorneys, has denied allegations of criminal activity, but did issue a video apology to onetime girlfriend Cassie Ventura during the spring after graphic footage showing Combs assaulting Ventura surfaced in the media. The footage appeared to confirm some of the allegations in a complaint filed by Ventura and later settled. At the time, Combs said settling was not an admission of guilt.
At the same time, Combs has been facing a litany of civil suits alleging offenses as far back as the early 1990s. Some were brought under the specific New York laws that allowed a lookback window and extended the time alleged victims of sexual offenses could file a complaint, even long after the statutes of limitations might have lapsed.
Separately, federal authorities, led by Manhattan prosecutors assigned to the US Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, have quietly been pushing forward on a probe into Combs as the subject of an ongoing investigation into alleged human trafficking. As part of that investigation, a grand jury and investigators have been probing some of the accusations that have been made in some of the civil suits against Combs, among other things.
Federal authorities with Homeland Security Investigations raided Combs’ properties in both Los Angeles and Miami Beach on March 25 as part of their investigation, seizing electronic devices in the process.
The searches of those two homes sought evidence to corroborate accounts of his accusers, and signaled federal prosecutors in New York believed they were close to filing charges in the case they were building. Prosecutors have interviewed a number of Diddy’s accusers, including those who filed civil lawsuits, law enforcement sources familiar with the matter told ABC News.
Combs was arrested on Monday in New York City by federal agents with Homeland Security Investigations, law enforcement sources told ABC News. He was charged with sex trafficking by force, transportation to engage in prostitution and racketeering conspiracy, alleging he ran an "enterprise that he engaged in sex trafficking, forced labor or, kidnapping, arson and other crimes," according to the indictment unsealed on Tuesday.
Cassie Ventura
Complaint filed on Nov. 16, 2023
Former longtime girlfriend Cassie Ventura filed a civil suit against Combs alleging years of physical, sexual and emotional abuse, saying she had endured "over a decade of his violent behavior and disturbed demands" and was "trapped by Mr. Combs in a cycle of abuse, violence, and sex trafficking."
Ventura's suit alleged that Combs had raped her, "often punched, beat, kicked and stomped on" her, "forced Ms. Ventura to engage in sex acts with male sex workers while masturbating and filming the encounters," and "introduced Ms. Ventura to a lifestyle of excessive alcohol and substance abuse and required her to procure illicit prescriptions to satisfy his own addictions."
Combs “vehemently” denied the allegations. A day after filing, Ventura’s suit was settled with both parties saying it had been resolved “amicably.”
In May, hotel surveillance footage taken in 2016 and obtained by CNN allegedly showed Combs physically assault Ventura during an altercation that aligned closely with allegations in her previous suit.
Two days later, Combs released a video on Instagram acknowledging the footage and apologizing, saying in part, "my behavior on that video is inexcusable. I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I was disgusted then when I did it. I'm disgusted now. I went and I sought out professional help. I got into going to therapy, going to rehab. I had to ask God for his mercy and grace. I'm so sorry. But I'm committed to be a better man each and every day. I'm not asking for forgiveness. I'm truly sorry."
Joi Dickerson-Neal
Complaint filed: Nov. 23, 2023
One day before the Adult Survivors Act, a New York law that allowed alleged victims of sexual offenses dating back decades to file for a 1-year period, was scheduled expire, Joi Dickerson-Neal filed suit against Combs accusing him of drugging and raping her in January 1991, when she was a college student at Syracuse University.
She alleged in the suit that Combs videotaped the assault and distributed it to others in the music industry. A spokesperson for Combs denied the allegations, calling the case a “last-minute lawsuit” and “an example of how a well-intentioned law can be turned on its head.”
Liza Gardner
Complaint filed: Nov. 23, 2023
Liza Gardner filed a lawsuit against Combs claiming that he and a singer-songwriter both took turns raping her and a friend one night in the early 1990s. The suit said Gardner and her friend met Combs and the singer-songwriter at an MCA Records event, was invited back to the singer-songwriter's apartment for an afterparty, and there was “offered more drinks" and was "coerced” into having sex with Combs. When Combs was done, the suit says, the singer-songwriter "barged into the room, pinned her down, and forced Liza Gardner to have sex with him" and "when Combs finished with Liza Gardner, he and [the singer-songwriter] switched, and they commenced assaulting Liza Gardner's friend."
Days later, the suit said, Combs tracked Gardner and the friend down where they were staying because he was "worried" his actions would be exposed to his girlfriend. Combs was "irate and began assaulting and choking" Gardner "to the point that she passed out."
A spokesperson for Combs said "these are fabricated claims falsely alleging misconduct from over 30 years ago and filed at the last minute. This is nothing but a money grab. Because of Mr. Combs’ fame and success, he is an easy target for anonymous accusers who lie without conscience or consequence for financial benefit. The New York Legislature surely did not intend or expect the Adult Survivors Act to be exploited by scammers. The public should be skeptical and not rush to accept these bogus allegations.”
Jane Doe
Complaint filed: Dec. 6, 2023
Combs, a business associate and a third defendant are named in a complaint by a woman identified only as Jane Doe who alleged that in 2003, when she was 17 years old, she was sex-trafficked and gang-raped by Combs, the associate and a "third assailant."
According to the complaint, the associate approached the teen at a Michigan lounge, and then, with Combs on the phone, convinced the teen to take a private jet to New York. The suit alleges the associate smoked crack cocaine in the lounge bathroom, "forced" Doe to give him oral sex, then "directed her to accompany" him and others to the jet. Once at the New York studio, the suit alleges in graphic detail, Doe was plied with drugs and alcohol, "directed" by Combs to accompany him to the bathroom, and gang raped by Combs, the associate and the third person.
In a post to Instagram Combs denied the allegations saying, "enough is enough."
"For the last couple of weeks, I have sat silently and watched people try to assassinate my character, Destroy my reputation and legacy," he said. "Sickening allegations have been made against me by individuals looking for a quick payday. Let me be absolutely clear; I did not do any of the awful things being alleged. I will fight for my name, family and for the truth. I did not do any of the awful things being alleged."
Rodney 'Lil Rod' Jones
Complaint filed: Feb. 26, 2024
Music producer Rodney "Lil Rod" Jones sued Combs, accusing him in graphic detail of unwanted sexual contact and of forcing him to hire prostitutes and to participate in sex acts with them.
While working on Combs’ “Love” album during 2022 and 2023, Jones alleges Combs grabbed his genitals without consent, and that he also tried to “groom” him into having sex with another man, telling him it was “a normal practice in the music industry.”
Attorneys for Combs have sought to dismiss Jones' suit, claiming the music producer’s complaint is an “attempt to dress up a run of the mill commercial disagreement as a salacious RICO conspiracy” to siphon money from the rap mogul. An attorney for Combs, Erica Wolff, mocked Jones’ lawsuit as more than 100 pages of “countless tall tales, shameless celebrity namedrops, and irrelevant images” that lacks “a single viable claim” against Combs.
“Mr. Jones’s lawsuit is pure fiction -- a shameless attempt to create media hype and extract a quick settlement. There was no RICO conspiracy and Mr. Jones was not threatened, groomed, assaulted, or trafficked. We look forward to proving -- in a court of law -- that all of Mr. Jones’s claims are made-up and must be dismissed,” Wolff said in a statement.
Grace O'Marcaigh
Complaint filed: April 4, 2024
A lawsuit against Sean Combs’ younger son Christian alleged he sexually assaulted Grace O’Marcaigh, a yacht worker, while she attended to the Combs family on a holiday outing in December 2022. The suit accused Sean Combs of aiding and abetting and premised liability, since he had rented the yacht, and included ten other unnamed people as defendants.
The suit claimed there are recordings of the encounter and described in graphic detail the alleged sexual assault in the yacht’s cinema room after Christian Combs allegedly forced O’Marcaigh to take a tequila shot that, she said she suspected, was spiked with drugs. The suit noted Rodney Jones was on the yacht at the time and made audio recordings of Christian Combs drugging and sexually assaulting O’Marcaigh. The filings include images of bruises O’Marcaigh said she suffered when Christian Combs was "violently grabbing her and attempting to force her to perform" oral sex.
Aaron Dyer, attorney for Christian and Sean Combs, said in a statement that “this is just another lewd and meritless claim from [lawyer] Tyrone Blackburn -- just like what he filed in the Rodney Jones lawsuit, which he still has not served. This complaint is filled with the same kind of manufactured lies and irrelevant facts we’ve come to expect from Blackburn. This is exactly why the federal judge in New York slapped him two days ago for a ‘pattern of behavior’ in ‘improperly [filing] cases in federal court to garner media attention, embarrass defendants with salacious allegations, and pressure defendants to settle quickly,’ and why he was referred to the disciplinary committee in the Southern District of New York. We will be filing a motion to dismiss this outrageous claim.”
Crystal McKinney
Complaint filed: May 21, 2024
A former model named Crystal McKinney accused Combs of sexually assaulting her in 2003 at his recording studio in New York City, when she was 22 years old.
The suit alleged McKinney met Combs at a Fashion Week event at Cipriani Downtown, where he "was flirtatious, bordering on leering," plied her with alcohol, and later that night requested her presence at his studio.
McKinney arrived there finding Combs and others drinking and smoking marijuana, which she also smoked, and, according to the suit, "later came to understand" Combs had "laced" it with "a narcotic or other intoxicating substance." The suit alleged Combs "demanded" she "follow him" and "physically led" her to the bathroom where he forced her to perform oral sex, claiming the assault "has caused ... lifelong harm," severe depression and substance abuse, and that Combs "blackballed" her from the industry.
April Lampros
Complaint filed: May 23, 2024
A woman named April Lampros filed a civil suit accusing Combs of drugging and sexually assaulting her after she met him more than 20 years ago, while she was a student in New York City.
Lampros claimed that she met Combs in 1994 while studying at the Fashion Institute of Technology, and he had made promises of helping her career and "love-bombed" her with gifts and flowers, including a picture of one Valentine's Day card, signed with "love" from "Puffy."
But what were "kind gestures quickly turned into an aggressive, coercive, and abusive relationship based on sex," the suit alleged, adding that Lampros was "in fear of him" and that "throughout the years" there were "four terrifying sexual encounters," including allegedly being assaulted by the hip-hop mogul, and including one where she was forced to take ecstasy and have sex with Combs’ former girlfriend Kim Porter.
Derrick Lee Cardello-Smith
Complaint filed: June 10, 2024
A Michigan inmate claims Combs drugged and sexually assaulted him at a party in Detroit in June 1997. Cardello-Smith says he met Combs while he was working as a bartender, and was invited to a party where he drank with Combs and some women and they all later engaged in group sex.
The suit claims Combs offered Cardello-Smith a drink that, he believes, was spiked, that he passed out, and woke up to Combs having anal sex with a woman and telling him, "I did this to you too." Then checking himself in the bathroom, Cardello-Smith alleges he found himself bleeding.
In early September, Cardello-Smith was awarded a $100 million default judgement -- a judgement made when a party fails to take action, either by not responding to a summons or failure to appear in court -- but just a few days later, Combs' lawyers fought back seeking to set aside the judgement, saying Combs was never informed of the suit and only learned of it through the media. The lawyer said the allegations are "incoherent" and "unbelievable."
Adria English
Complaint filed: July 3, 2024
A former adult film actress Adria English file a suit accusing Combs of sex trafficking and also naming a woman accused of being to Combs what Ghislaine Maxwell was to Jeffrey Epstein.
English alleged that she met Combs while she was working as a dancer at the Hustler club in New York in the early 2000s, and her then-boyfriend, an aspiring model, auditioned for Sean John, a company run by Combs, and was told he could work if English agreed to dance at parties Diddy hosted in the Hamptons and in Miami.
But she "did not agree to a lifetime of aftermath of being used as a sexual pawn for the pleasure and financial benefit of others," the lawsuit said.
English said she was "forced" to drink alcohol and consume drugs and then "passed off" to be sexually assaulted, and "specifically, from 2004-2009, [English] was sex trafficked" by Combs and others.
English said she "has lived her adult life with the memories of being trapped in a cycle of sex trafficking she never asked to be a part of and was chosen because Defendant Combs knew he could groom her." The suit also named Tamiko Thomas, a woman accused of facilitating Diddy's alleged sex trafficking operation. The woman identified as Thomas, for her part, has denied what she calls English's "false accusations and ensures that she is the wrong ‘Tamiko.’" adding she has "no affiliation with Adria English or Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs," has "never met Ms. English and has never had any prior encounters with Ms. English."
In a statement Jonathan Davis, attorney for Combs, said, “No matter how many lawsuits are filed it won't change the fact that Mr. Combs has never sexually assaulted or sex trafficked anyone. We live in a world where anyone can file a lawsuit for any reason and without any proof. Fortunately, a fair and impartial judicial process exists to find the truth and Mr. Combs is confident he will prevail against these and other baseless claims in court.”
In mid-August, English filed a police report with Miami Beach human trafficking detectives regarding what she alleged happened to her at Combs' hands and direction in Florida.
In that police report, English said that "around 2007 while working as an entertainer" at one of Combs' White Parties "she felt obligated to engage in sexual intercourse with three different men" and "believed she would be compensated for her services but was not."
That case narrative, however, alleges her relationship with Combs was from 2004-2008, and some of the language appears to characterize the allegations differently than her civil complaint, which alleges Combs "forced" her "to engage in prostitution and sex work at his homes," including at his residence on Miami Beach’s famous enclave of Star Island, that he "caused" her "to engage in commercial sex acts in the United States cities of Miami and New York by means of force, threats or force, fraud and coercion, and a combination of such means."
The police report notes the Miami Beach human trafficking detectives "will confer with federal investigators" about the allegations.
Dawn Richard
Complaint filed: Sept. 10, 2024
A former bandmate of Combs has accused him of terrorizing and sexually abusing her in a lawsuit that also alleged she witnessed him beating his ex-girlfriend, Cassie.
Dawn Richard, a member of Combs' Danity Kane, said in her lawsuit that on numerous occasions she witnessed Combs “brutally beat” his girlfriend, "persistent abuse included choking and strangling Ms. Ventura, striking her with his hands and with objects, slapping her, punching her, and throwing items at her, including a scalding hot pan,” the lawsuit said.
“On many occasions, Ms. Richard tried to intervene, offering Ms. Ventura support and encouragement to leave Mr. Combs. Each time, Mr. Combs learned of her efforts to help Ms. Ventura and became enraged, threatening Ms. Richard’s life with statements such as ‘you want to die today,’ ‘I make n----- go missing’ and ‘I end people.’”
Richard accused Diddy of exploiting her while withholding her earnings, stealing her copyrighted works and subjecting her to “years of inhumane working conditions which included groping, assault, and false imprisonment, among other violations.” The suit also cited work the two did together on MTV’s Making the Band 3 and 4, when it alleged “Mr. Combs deprived Ms. Richard and her Danity Kane bandmates of basic needs such as adequate food and sleep. When Ms. Richard or her Danity Kane bandmates requested meals or rest, Mr. Combs refused and chastised them with derogatory comments like ‘you b**ches don’t want this’ or ‘y’all are not hungry enough’ and ‘I’m paying you b**ches to work.’”
Combs denied the “series of false claims” in Richard’s lawsuit in a statement provided by his attorney, according to the Washington Post.
ABC News' Luke Barr contributed to this report.
