Music mogul Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, also known as P Diddy, faces yet another set of assault allegations. Diddy’s ex-partner, R&B singer Cassie, has accused him of rape and sex trafficking in a civil case. Cassie and Diddy had a relationship for over 10 years, and they decided to part ways in October 2018.
According to the New York Times, Cassie Ventura, also known as Cassie, filed the lawsuit against Sean “Diddy” Combs in Manhattan Federal Court. The allegations made in the lawsuit are quite serious and include rape, physical abuse, sex trafficking, and even bombing Kid Cudi’s car. She also alleges that Diddy used his power in the industry to subject her to years of sexual and physical violence.
Sean Combs, the music mogul who has been one of the most famous names in hip-hop for decades was sued in a federal court on Thursday, 16 November 2023 by Cassie, an R&B singer once signed to his label, who accused Mr. Combs of rape, and of repeated physical abuse over about a decade.
Cassie, whose real name is Casandra Ventura says that not long after she met him in 2005, when she was 19, he began a pattern of control and abuse that included plying her with drugs, beating her and forcing her to have sex with a succession of male prostitutes while he filmed the encounters.
“After years in silence and darkness,” Ms. Ventura said in a statement, “I am finally ready to tell my story, and to speak up on behalf of myself and for the benefit of other women who face violence and abuse in their relationships.”
In response, a lawyer for Mr. Combs, Ben Brafman, said: “Mr. Combs vehemently denies these offensive and outrageous allegations. For the past six months, Mr. Combs has been subjected to Ms. Ventura’s persistent demand of $30 million, under the threat of writing a damaging book about their relationship, which was unequivocally rejected as blatant blackmail. Despite withdrawing her initial threat, Ms. Ventura has now resorted to filing a lawsuit riddled with baseless and outrageous lies, aiming to tarnish Mr. Combs’s reputation and seeking a payday.”
Douglas Wigdor, a lawyer for Ms. Ventura, said the parties had spoken before the suit was filed. “Mr. Combs offered Ms. Ventura eight figures to silence her and prevent the filing of this lawsuit,” he said. “She rejected his efforts.”
Mr. Combs, 54, founded Bad Boy record label in 1993 and became one of the pioneers in the commercialisation of hip-hop music. His net worth has since risen to an estimated $1 billion, with Forbes recently calculating Diddy’s annual earnings at $90 million, attributing that amount largely to his former partnership in a liquor brand, Ciroc, that is owned by the spirits giant Diageo.
The suit depicts Mr. Combs as a violent person who, beyond repeatedly assaulting Ms. Ventura, asked her to carry his gun in her purse. The suit also suggests he was responsible for blowing up the car of a rival admirer of Cassie. In one incident, the suit says, Mr. Combs dangled a friend of Ms. Ventura’s over a 17th-floor hotel balcony.
The court papers assert that others who worked with Mr. Combs had helped him to control Ms. Ventura, often threatening her with retribution like suppressing her music if she did not obey his orders or by helping to conceal his behaviour. The suit, which names Mr. Combs and a number of his associated companies as defendants, seeks unspecified damages.
According to Ms. Ventura’s suit, she was swept into Mr. Combs’s jet-set lifestyle not long after meeting him and signing with Bad Boy, which released her debut album in 2006.
In addition to controlling her career, Diddy paid for her car, apartments and clothing, and even had access to her personal medical records. According to the suit, the results from an M.R.I. scan she had for
memory loss, possibly caused by drug use or by a beating she said she suffered from Mr. Combs went directly to Mr. Combs.
Mr. Combs apparently provided Ms. Ventura with “copious amounts of drugs,” including ecstasy and ketamine, and urged her to take them, the suit says, and often became violent, beating her “multiple times each year.” The suit says Ms. Ventura never went to the police because she feared it “would merely give Mr. Combs another excuse to hurt her.”
In one incident in Los Angeles in 2009, the suit says, Mr. Combs became enraged when he saw Ms. Ventura talking to another talent agent, then pushed her into a car and kicked her repeatedly in the face, making her bleed. According to the suit, Mr. Combs then had his staff bring her to a hotel room to recuperate for a week. She asked to go home to her parents, but Mr. Combs refused, the suit says.
The suit says that after seeing the violent repercussions of rejecting Mr. Combs, and the extent to which he would isolate her from her support network, “Ms. Ventura felt that saying ‘no’ to Mr. Combs would cost her something — her family, her friends, her career, or even her life.” And though she tried to leave Mr. Combs, the suit says he sent his employees to lure her back.
In one incident described in the court papers, Ms. Ventura says that in early 2012, Mr. Combs grew so angry about her dating the rapper Kid Cudi that he said he would blow up the rapper’s car. “Around that time,” the suit says, “Kid Cudi’s car exploded in his driveway.”
Through a spokeswoman, Kid Cudi confirmed Ms. Ventura’s account that he had a car that exploded. “This is all true,” he said.
A few years into Ms. Ventura’s relationship with Mr. Combs, the suit says, he began coercing her “to engage in a fantasy of his called ‘voyeurism,'” in which she was directed to have sex with a succession of male prostitutes, while Mr. Combs watched, masturbated, took pictures and shot videos.
According to the suit, Mr. Combs called these encounters “freak offs,” which involved costumes, like masquerade masks and lingerie. They continued for years, taking place at high-end hotels and in Mr. Combs’s homes. The suit says that he instructed Ms. Ventura to search the websites of escort services to procure male sex workers. Drugs were supplied on these occasions, which Ms. Ventura’s suit says she took because they “allowed her to disassociate during these horrific encounters.”
According to the suit, Ms. Ventura would delete videos from these incidents that had been shot on her phone, but Mr. Combs told her he still had access to those videos, and on a flight once made her watch a video she thought she had deleted.
The suit says that as a result of these sexual encounters in different cities, Ms. Ventura was a victim of sex trafficking. The suit also accuses Mr. Combs of sexual battery, sexual assault and violations of New York City’s gender-motivated violence law.
Ms. Ventura’s suit includes several accounts of her unsuccessful attempts to escape Mr. Combs’s control.
The suit mentions that during a “freak off” at a Los Angeles hotel in 2016, an intoxicated Mr. Combs punched Ms. Ventura in the face, giving her a black eye. He fell asleep and she tried to leave the room, but Mr. Combs woke up and followed her into the hallway, where he threw glass vases at her, sending glass shattering throughout the corridor. The hotel’s security cameras captured that incident, but Mr. Combs apparently paid the hotel $50,000 for the footage.
In 2018, after Mr. Combs and Ms. Ventura met for dinner, he forced himself into her apartment and raped her while she “repeatedly said ‘no’ and tried to push him away.” After that, the suit says, she left him for good.
Ms. Ventura later went on to marry Alex Fine, a personal trainer, in 2019 and now has two young children. According to the suit, her association with Bad Boy ended in the same year.
Diddy has denied some of these allegations and claims Cassie made the allegations in an attempt to extort money from him.
https://twitter.com/rosethaaartist/status/1725337288001888723P Diddy has faced several assault allegations and sex trafficking claims over the years.
In a 2015 assault case, Diddy was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon at the University of California campus. The alleged incident occurred when his son was on the football team. The weapon in question was a kettlebell, used for weight training. He was later released on bail.
In 2017, Cindy Rueda, a former chef to Combs, claimed she was made to serve Diddy and his guests post-sex meals while they were still naked, then was eventually fired for complaining about it.
In 1999, P Diddy was arrested for his involvement in the beating of former Interscope executive Steve Stoute in New York. Combs apologised, the charges were reduced, and he was ordered to attend an anger management class.
Ms. Ventura’s case, like other recent sexual assault lawsuits, is being brought under the Adult Survivors Act, a New York law that allows people who say they were victims of sexual abuse to file civil suits after the statute of limitations has expired. The one-year window to bring cases under this law ends next week. That law is cited in Ms. Ventura’s complaint, and in a statement she addressed its importance.
“With the expiration of New York’s Adult Survivors Act fast approaching,” she said, “it became clear that this was an opportunity to speak up about the trauma I have experienced and that I will be recovering from for the rest of my life.”
As legal proceedings unfold, It’s important to understand that victims of abuse often face numerous barriers when it comes to reporting their experiences. Fear of retaliation, shame, and the trauma associated with reliving the events are just a few reasons why someone might delay or refrain from reporting abuse. Additionally, power dynamics can play a significant role, especially when the alleged abuser is a prominent figure in an industry. It’s also worth noting that legal proceedings can be lengthy and emotionally draining, which might deter individuals from coming forward.
YOU MAY ALSO READ ON PRUDENCE JOURNAL
Peter Obi’s Impact on Nigeria’s 2023 Election: Paving the Way for Multi-Party Democracy
Nigeria’s Knowledge Drain: Exodus of Healthcare Professionals Hurting the Nation
REVIEW: Jagun Jagun – A Nigerian action drama showcasing the Yoruba culture
Uganda’s Ongoing Struggle for Democracy and Human Rights
Meta Ray-Ban Smart Glasses – A Blend of Style and Functionality
How South Africa’s Faith Leaders are Working Together to Solve the Nation’s Crises
Crisis Unfolds as Palestinian Hamas Launches Major Attack on Israel
Nigeria at 63: A Nation on The Edge of a Costly Strike and Independence Celebration