Combs, formerly known as Puff Daddy, P. Diddy and a host of other names, has undergone a myriad of reinventions since the start of his career – but has since entered a new and unwelcome “era.”
Federal agents with US Homeland Security raided two of the rapper’s houses in Los Angeles and Miami on 25 March as he faces a string of varying accusations.
Rapper Diddy Surprises Twins With Range Rovers On 16th Birthday
American rapper, Sean Combs aka Diddy, has gifted his twin daughters, D’Lila and Jessie, with matching Range Rovers, on their 16th birthday.
Combs, 54, has strongly denied all of the allegations against him. His attorneys have branded the lawsuits and their accusations as money grabs, “baseless” or “sickening.”
The entertainer has not been formally charged or accused by federal prosecutors of any crime.
The new lawsuits come months after Combs’s former partner, Casandra “Cassie” Ventura filed a lawsuit against him in November. She accused him of raping her in 2018, beating her, demanding she carry a firearm to “make her uncomfortable and demonstrate how dangerous he is” and forcing her into “unwanted sexual encounters with male sex workers.”
Ms Ventura’s lawsuit against Combs was settled a day after she filed it for an undisclosed amount of money.
The slew of allegations in lawsuits against Combs date as far back as the 1990s, when he founded his own record label, Bad Boy Records.
Lawsuits against the rapper began on 16 November 2023 when he was sued by singer and dancer Cassie, his former partner, who alleged years of abuse.
R&B singer Cassie, whose full name is Casandra Ventura, filed a lawsuit in 2023 alleging that she was trafficked, raped and beaten by Combs on many occasions over 10 years.
Her lawsuit claimed that Combs brought the singer into his “ostentatious, fast-paced, and drug-fueled lifestyle” not long after she met him, and signed her to his label in 2005 when she was just 19 and he was 37.
Ms Ventura said that the pattern of abuse began as soon as their relationship started and that, as she was trying to end it in 2018, he forced himself into her Los Angeles home and raped her.
The lawsuit against Combs was settled a day after she filed it for an undisclosed amount of money.
Ms Ventura told CNN she had chosen to “resolve this matter amicably,” while Combs’ attorney said the settlement was “in no way an admission of wrongdoing” and didn’t change his denial of the allegations.
Her accusations against Combs were brought through the New York Adult Survivors Act (ASA), which expired at midnight on 23 November 2023.
The act provided survivors a one-year window to pursue civil litigation regardless of when the abuse occurred, meaning incidents from decades were finally brought to light.
More than 2,500 cases were filed under the ASA before its expiry at midnight on 23 November 2023, court data sent to The Independent showed.
Survivors brought lawsuits against some of the state’s most powerful men, including major players in entertainment, such as Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein, Axl Rose, and Combs.