Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Diddy's Sexual Assault Accuser Joi Dickerson-Neal: A Closer Look

Episode Date: May 1, 2024

Sean "Diddy" Combs has faced a number of civil suits accusing him of sexual assault since last fall. The oldest allegation made against Combs comes from Joi Dickerson-Neal, who claimed Combs drugged and sexually assaulted her in 1991. Combs has denied the allegation in a recent motion and has questioned the laws Dickerson-Neal has cited in her suit. Law&Crime's Angenette Levy takes a closer look at the claims made by Dickerson-Neal, who she is and how she knew Combs in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest:Robin Nunn CRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoAudio Editing - Brad MaybeGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@LawandCrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this Law & Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Sean Diddy Combs denying in court documents that he drugged and sexually assaulted a woman on video decades ago. I take a closer look at Joy Dickerson-Neal, one of the women accusing Sean Combs of assault. Who is she and how did she come to meet the music mogul? Thanks for joining me for Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Sean Combs recently fired back at a lawsuit filed by Joy Dickerson Neal. She claimed Combs sexually assaulted her in 1991 while she was on winter break from college. In her lawsuit, first filed

in November of 2023, Dickerson-Neal's lawyers wrote, quote, Combs had intentionally drugged Ms. Dickerson, resulting in her being in a physical state where she could not independently stand or walk. Driving first to a music studio where she could not get out of the car, Combs proceeded to a place he was staying to sexually assault her. As was his practice, but unbeknownst to Ms. Dickerson, Combs' video recorded the sexual assault. Days later, a male friend revealed to her that he had viewed the, quote, sex tape along with other men. Horrified, Ms. Dickerson asked how many others saw it, to which he responded, quote, everyone. The date Dickerson Neal filed this lawsuit, November 23rd,

2023, is important for two reasons. First, it came a week after Cassie Ventura, who spent years in a relationship with Sean Combs, sued the rapper, claiming he subjected her to years of sexual and physical abuse and intimidation. Combs settled the suit the next day after denying the allegations and wished Cassie and her family love. At the time, Combs' attorney, Ben Brafman, said in a statement, just so we're clear, a decision to settle a lawsuit, especially in 2023, is in no way an admission of wrongdoing. The second reason that the date that Dickerson Neal filed her lawsuit is important is because it came as New York's Adult Survivor Act was expiring. That act opened a one-year window in which sexual assault survivors

could sue over sexual assaults that had occurred years earlier. In 1991, she said she reluctantly went on a date with Sean Combs. This was a year before he created Bad Boy Records. Dickerson's suit detailed how she grew up in Harlem and went to Syracuse University. She said she became acquainted with Combs after appearing in a music video called Straight From the Soul by Finesse and Sinkus. You can actually see her in screen grabs from the music video sitting in a car with Combs. Dickerson Neal said in her complaint that rapper Sister Soulja had actually asked her why she appeared in a music video with Combs. She said she took it as a warning from Sister Soulja. Now, Dickerson Neal claims she knew Combs had a history of treating women poorly, but she said she went out to eat at a restaurant in Harlem

with Combs anyway, and then he asked her to go with him as he ran some errands. Dickerson-Neal said she had left her drink unattended at the restaurant when she went to the restroom. Then when they got into Combs' car, she said he rolled a blunt and she reluctantly took a hit off of it. She said after that, her memory is incomplete. She remembers her legs feeling rubbery after being taken to a recording studio and then a home where Combs appeared to be living. It was in this home that Dickerson-Neal claimed Combs assaulted her. She said she couldn't escape the assault and felt embarrassed and ashamed and didn't report it to law enforcement right away. However, the next day, she said she told her best friend. Dickerson-Neal wrote that shortly thereafter, Devante Swing,

a member of the group Jodeci, told her that Combs had videotaped the assault and had showed it to people. Everyone is what she quoted him as saying. Dickerson-Neal said Swing wanted to speak up against Combs, but feared Jodeci, that was his R&B group at the time, would lose its record deal if he did. Dickerson-Neal returned to Syracuse University, she said, but memories of the sexual assault became so intense that she became suicidal and entered a psych ward at a local hospital. She claimed to have filed police reports in New York and New Jersey, but was told others would have to corroborate her claims. She also wrote, some potential witnesses were afraid of Combs' wrath as he was known to be violent,

while others declined because they feared they would not be invited to his future parties and events. Dickerson-Neal also recalled an incident where she said Combs confronted her in public at an event sometime after the alleged sexual assault. Her lawyers wrote, Combs dramatically got down on his knees before insisting that he wanted her to believe him

when he said he did not do what she was saying. Dickerson-Neal claims her boss at Stress Management, a DJ management company, witnessed this, but she only told her that Combs had wronged her. This is Nora Tuu, and it's French designer. And I'm wearing Rick Owens and some Louboutin shoes. her that Combs had wronged her. Now Dickerson Neal claims that Cassie Ventura filing her bombshell lawsuit last November actually dredged up all of these memories of her sexual assault and prompted her to face those memories. She claims she wasn't able to complete her college degree at Syracuse because she associated it with the assault. Dickerson-Neal's social media

accounts show that she is still now living in California after moving there to try her hand at screenwriting, and it doesn't appear that she's had much success with that. Now, another interesting little nugget in Dickerson-Neal's complaint is the fact that she said she was digitizing diaries from the early 90s during COVID, but she abandoned that project because it dredged up too many painful memories. It kind of makes you wonder, what's in those diaries? Does it mention anything about this? She also claims to have undergone years of therapy for PTSD. But Combs is now firing back at Dickerson-Neal. He's vehemently denying her claims that he sexually assaulted her. He filed a partial motion to dismiss her lawsuit, writing, quote,

without addressing the complaint's numerous false, offensive, and salacious accusations, which the Combs defendants vehemently deny, substantially all of the claims purportedly alleged by Joy Dickerson Neal cannot survive this motion to dismiss because they were brought under statutes that did not exist at the time the alleged misconduct occurred, and against corporate entities that were not formed or in existence. While Combs denies the sexual assault ever happened, Combs' lawyer also says Joy Dickerson Neal is trying to file a lawsuit citing laws that didn't even exist back in 1991. While the Adult Survivors Act, or the ASA, revived certain claims for which the statute of limitations has run, the ASA does not permit a plaintiff to revive claims under statutes that did not exist when the purported misconduct allegedly occurred. were enacted years after the 1991 conduct alleged in the complaint, and they cannot be retroactively applied to that alleged conduct absent clear legislative intent. Now, those statutes include laws governing revenge porn, and that's a relatively new term for when someone uses a sexual encounter or nude pictures of somebody or videos to harass and embarrass a person. Dickerson Neal also cited the New York Services

for Victims of Human Trafficking Law and the New York City Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Law. Those were all enacted years after this alleged sexual assault occurred in 1991. And Bad Boy Records is also named in the lawsuit. That's Combs' record company. But his lawyers say there's a problem with that too. They say Bad Boy Records was actually formed after the alleged assault occurred, which Combs, of course, denies ever happened. And he said Dickerson Neal's suit doesn't make any claims against Bad Boy Records. I want to bring in Robin Nunn. She's a litigator. And I want to talk with you, Robin, about this case. How difficult is it to bring a civil case when the allegation is this old? This happened in 1991, according to

Joy Dickerson-Neal. That is more than 30 years ago. Yeah, thanks for having me. I think that this is an extremely difficult case, besides the fact that it's so personal and involves such a sensitive act and crime. But just the sheer duration and time that has gone on since this happened makes it really hard to bring in evidence and witnesses and materials that would corroborate this story, just based on that it's been over 30 years since this act took place. Joy Dickerson-Neal claims that there were people who saw the sex tape that Sean Combs made or this recording, this video that he recorded of the sexual assault back in 1991. I think back and I think that had to have been like a VHS, a camcorder, if that indeed

happened. Sean Combs is saying it didn't happen. And she's claiming there is somebody who told her that he saw it. Would that make her case any easier or is it difficult because it's just so old? I think that any corroborating evidence helps her case. You don't want these cases to rely exclusively on he said, she said information, which is often the case in the sexual assault and rape crimes. If there is someone else who saw this or can testify to having a conversation and hearing about it, it's always better for the case if there is some corroboration of her memory and her recollections of what exactly transpired.

Sean Combs is firing back at this, of course. He's denying that this sexual assault happened. I mean, we know they actually obviously knew each other. There's a music video that they are featured in together from 1991, I mean, decades and decades ago. So they did cross paths at some point in time. We know that from this music video, but he is saying, look, this should be tossed out not

only because it's not true, but she's citing laws that didn't even exist back then. And this is not about the Adult Survivors Act that opened up the year-long window to file civil claims. He's talking about she's citing the revenge porn law. She's also citing the New York Services for Victims of Human Trafficking Law citing the New York services for victims of human trafficking law and the New York city victims of gender motivated violence protection law. These are all laws or acts or what have you that were implemented years and years and years after this alleged assault occurred. So they're saying the Adult Survivors Act doesn't make those laws, doesn't backdate them to 1991. Would you agree with Sean Combs' argument on that front,

or do you think she has a point there? I understand Sean Combs' argument in that it wasn't perhaps even thought of as a crime at that time. I'm not sure that I'm convinced by that, however. Obviously, we all know, especially as women, that, you know, laws have evolved. You and I probably couldn't vote at one point in time. You know, I could have been a slave at another point in time. You know, I could have been a slave at another point in time. I think that we are very happy that things are where they are right now. And that is 2024. And if this is something that is indeed a crime now,

if the statute has been written such that it applies retroactively back to 1991, then I think that it does apply to Mr. Combs in this situation. Now, if he is indeed correct in that, you know, it's one of those that becomes effective in, you know, 2030 or 2025, then he has, you know, managed to escape on, you know, sort of a technicality. However, I don't think that a criminal law such as this would have an effective date that is not all the way back to when this would have happened. I find that I doubt that.

But I do understand his argument that the law didn't exist at the time that the crime supposedly occurred. Things have been awfully quiet since the raid. Does that say anything to you or do you think they're just the feds are working on this? It might take time to evaluate anything that was seized. What's your opinion on that? Yeah, I mean, I might be in the minority about this, but I think that it speaks volumes. I think that if the feds indeed found incriminating information on his phone, in his homes, through other witnesses, through the cameras, through documents, that they would have been compelled to seek an indictment and have him arrested. And the fact that nothing has occurred as far as we can tell,

despite obviously having this search warrant and having, I believe, four anonymous witnesses that had come forward to speak with the feds, that there's been no arrest or indictment. I think that says a lot. Either there are some theories that they're still building a case, that there's a lot of information to go through, but I'm not sure that I buy that exactly. I think that if there was something incriminating, they would have moved quickly. I don't think that they would have sat on information that clearly showed that there was, you know, sex trafficking, human trafficking going on through these various residences and by this individual. Robin Nunn, thank you so much for your time and your expertise. I appreciate it. We'll have to wait and see as the months move on whether or not anything will happen.

Yes, I agree. Thanks. It's great being here. While Combs is under criminal investigation by the Department of Homeland Security, he hasn't been charged with any crimes. It's important to note that. And he has denied the allegations of sex trafficking and assault that so many people have made against him.

I want to also point out that I've reached out to the people Joy Dickerson-Neal has named as witnesses in this case. At the time of this recording, those people had not returned my messages or calls, and neither had Joy Dickerson-Neal or her attorneys. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time. Until then, have a great day.