Law&Crime Sidebar - 8 Shocking P. Diddy Rape Claims in New Lawsuits

Episode Date: December 14, 2024

Three new men have come forward anonymously to accuse rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs of drugging and sexually assaulting them. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber goes through the filings and speaks with the attorney for the alleged victims, Thomas Giuffra, about the sordid allegations.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Download the FREE Upside App at https://upside.app.link/sidebar to get an extra 25 cents back for every gallon on your first tank of gas.HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger and Christina FalconeScript Writing & Producing - Savannah Williamson & Juliana BattagliaGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinSTAY 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 and Crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondry Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. Three men are accusing Sean Diddy Combs of sexually assaulting them at various locations, and they are going after the music executive and his companies. We've got our hands on the filings to examine the latest allegations, and we are speaking directly with their attorney. Welcome to Sideball, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber.

The onslaught of civil lawsuits against Sean Diddy Combs is continuing. And this time we go to New York State Court. So an attorney has filed three new complaints with the New York Supreme Court this week on behalf of three John Does, these unidentified men. And you might remember, actually, that Joy Dickerson Neal, one of the women who alleged that Combs and his associates had assaulted her back in the 90s. She filed her lawsuit in that same courtroom back in 2023. Now, the three lawsuits here, they lay out different.

attacks at different locations, two at hotels and one at Combs' home. Now, of course, allegations have been piling up against Sean Combs, this disgraced rapper over the past year. And despite him settling what was reportedly a multi-million dollar lawsuit with his ex-girlfriend Cassandra Ventura, other than him admitting or seemingly admitting it was him in that 2016 videotape that was released by CNN of him purportedly beating Ventura in a hotel hallway, he really hasn't admitted to anything. He has said that he is innocent of all of this.

And by the way, A, he is innocent until proven guilty. He hasn't been found guilty of any crime related to this sex crimes investigations. And he also hasn't been found liable in any of the complaints that have been filed against him in the past year. And as I said, he's facing these federal criminal charges right now out of the Southern District of New York, where prosecutors accuse him of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion, transportation to engage in prostitution. and the government claims that Combs used his money and influence to force women to participate in freakoffs, these prolonged sex performances that involved commercial sex workers and many times drug abuse. Well, right now, Combs is locked up at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York,

as he's facing lawsuit after lawsuit. He was arrested in September. He's tried for bail three times in front of multiple judges. He's been denied every time. But the big picture here is that Sean Combs' parties, his events, are infamous. And it seems to have been almost an open secret in the entertainment world that his parties would get wild. But most A-listers, they have been willing to comment on the specifics of what was going on over the years. But as these civil actions have been filed, we are learning about alleged assaults against non-celebrity guests at these events.

Because in these three new lawsuits, we are talking about three people. who are alleging very similar conduct, and they are filing under the same causes of action. Violation of New York City's victims of gender-motivated violence protection law, sexual assault, sexual battery, intentional infliction of emotional distress, negligence, and negligent hiring, retention, supervision, and or direction. We're going to get to those causes of action a little bit more. And by the way, I have been so nonstop with so much breaking news in this Diddy case that my life has been a little bit hectic.

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and make sure to use our promo code sidebar, and you'll get an extra 25 cents back on every gallon on your first tank of gas. First, I just want to dig into the specifics of these lawsuits. So the first one involves John Doe, who was living in Florida at the time. He says he was attacked. Now, the verified complaint names the defendants as Sean Combs and several of his companies. Bad Boy Entertainment, Bad Boy Entertainment Holdings, Bad Boy Productions Holdings,

daddy's house recordings, and Sony music holdings. Go after the companies. They've got the deep pockets. Now, it reads, this complaint is based on the negligent, willful, or intentional failure of the defendants to protect plaintiff John Doe from being sexually abused and exploited by defendant Sean Combs when John Doe was attending a party at Sean Combs' residence. Now, according to John Doe in the summer of 2020, one of Combs' associates from Bad Boy Records had invited him to Sean Combs' home in the Hamptons for a party. So he ends up flying from Florida to New York. And the day of the party, one of the bad boy associates reportedly picked him up and took him to the home where he, along with other people, were drinking. And John Doe says that he started feeling sick and losing consciousness almost immediately.

This is an allegation that we have seen time and time again in these lawsuits, claims that Combs allegedly added drugs to people's drinks to make them not only unable to consent, but also maybe. be potentially unable to escape. So John Doe says that he faded in and out of consciousness for the rest of the night, but then he awakes. And he wakes at one point to allegedly find Combs and his associates essentially taking turns assaulting him. And when he wakes up fully the next day, he says that he was surrounded by people from bad boy, but Combs wasn't there. And he left. The complaint says out of fear and humiliation, plaintiff never told anybody about the aforementioned incident until now. So that kind of gives you an understanding of why it wasn't reported until now.

Although, I'll get to that in a little bit. The second lawsuit that was filed this week is from a New York man who said he met Combs at the Marking Nightclub in New York. So John Doher says that he was friends with a club promoter who has these connections to the music industry, and that's how he was able to meet such a high-profile celebrity like Sean Combs. The complaint reads around midnight, defending Sean Combe's security guards, recruited plaintiff to join Sean Combs and the rest of his entourage at the Park Hyatt Hotel

for an exclusive after party. Plaintiff then joined defendant Sean Combs and about 10 other people from Bad Boy Records at Sean Combs Hotel Suite within the Park Hyatt, New York. Now, that is an interesting thing to note here because the Park Hyatt, New York, is actually where Combs was staying when he was arrested in September. Do we remember that? His lawyer said that he had traveled to New York to turn himself into the police, but according to them, they jumped the gun and arrested him the night before at his hotel. There was even surveillance footage of that. Well, John Doe says that when he gets to this hotel, Combs goes into another room and he comes back with a cocktail and he gives that cocktail to John Doe. Soon after, Defending Combs started ushering his guests,

including plaintiff into the bedroom within the hotel suite. During this time, plaintiff had consumed about half the drink that Defending Combs made for him. Once plaintiff, entered the bedroom, the room started spinning, and his mouth became very dry. Plaintiff voiced to defendant Sean Combs that he wasn't feeling well, so defendant Sean Combs offered to take plaintiff's jacket and instructed plaintiff to sit down on the end of the bed, which plaintiff did. While plaintiff was sitting on the bed, feeling disoriented, defendant Sean Combs looked at him and the other people in the room and said, he is ready to party. Now, that is especially chilling, because that is almost the exact same

thing that Combs allegedly said to a 13-year-old girl in 2000 that he is accused now in a separate lawsuit of raping that this happened at a video music awards after party. By the way, that same lawsuit also now accuses fellow rapper and media icon Jay-Z of participating in this rape, this sexual assault of a 13-year-old girl. And by the way, there's an allegation that there was this unidentified female celebrity who watched the whole thing. Going back to the lawsuit here, The John Doe in this lawsuit also reports going in and out of consciousness, but awakening to find himself naked with Combs on top of him. And he says he tried to resist, but he couldn't. The complaint reads, during this brief moment of consciousness, plaintiff noticed that while he was being sexually assaulted by defendant Sean Combs on the sectional sofa,

there was a man and a woman sitting on the bed recording the rape on a camera. It continues when plaintiff awoke the next morning, the two people, with the camera were laying on the bed, but defended Sean Combs was no longer there. Plaintiff then began putting his clothes on when the man who was laying on the bed got up and handed plaintiff about $2,500 in cash,

which the man explained was being given to plaintiff on behalf of Sean Combs. Disoriented and confused, plaintiff accepted the money, got dressed, and vacated the hotel suite. The third lawsuit was also filed by another New York man who says that he was assaulted

at the Intercontinental Hotel in 2020 after working for Sean Combs for years. According to the complaint, plaintiff met defendant Sean Combs in about 2006 when Sean Combs hired plaintiff to run errands for him in his capacity as CEO of Bad Boy Records. In or about February 2020, plaintiff set up a meeting with defendant Sean Combs through Combs assistant to discuss missing job payments. And that meeting was at the Intercontinental New York, which, by the way, has been mentioned before in another Sean Combs lawsuit, because according to Cassandra Ventura, That was actually the site of a freak off in 2013 that ended with Combs being charged tens of thousands of dollars and damages by the hotel.

So going back to this lawsuit, during this meeting with Sean Combs, John Doe alleges that he was alone with the bad boy CEO, and this was after security had left the room. Combs, according to him, reportedly made the two drinks. John Doe started to get really tired, claims Combs suggested lie down, take a nap, and he says when he woke up, Sean Combs was assaulting him. Again, very consistent pattern in these allegations between all three men. According to the complaint, after this rape, defendant Sean Combs told plaintiff that going to the police will make plaintiff, quote, look like an idiot, and that because Combs is ditty, plaintiff would never be able to substantiate his claims against Combs. He also claims that men from defendant Sean Combs' entourage also called plaintiff on his cell phone to

threaten and intimidate plaintiff into silence after the sexual assault. So again, these lawsuits have been filed against not only Combs, but also his companies, which the John Doe's argued, they were responsible for knowing what the rabber was up to and failing to do anything to stop it, that they helped provide the means for Combs to keep up this alleged misconduct. All right. So I am joined right now by the attorney who is representing these three men suing Sean Combs. Thomas Jiffra joins us right now. Thank you so much for coming here on Sidebar. Really appreciate it. Thank you for having me. So the first question I had when I saw

this, and it's a question I have a lot when you're seeing a number of these Sean Combs lawsuits coming out is why file now? Why come forward now with these claims? Well, it's in a lot of when you have serial sex abuse like this or any kind of a sexual assault, it's very difficult for the victims to come forward. There's a lot of shame. There's a lot of embarrassment. And in Sean Combs's case is a lot different in that all three of my victims after the assault were all threatened. So there was a very real threat and fear that something bad could happen to them if they came forward. And I think once everything became public, there's strength in numbers. And when they saw that they would be safe, they felt comfortable coming from.

forward and seeking to hold him accountable for what he did to them. Did they ever, either now or at some point in the past, did they ever report this to police? No, did not. Have they, do they want to report it to police now? I think the problem with going to law enforcement is that the amount of time that's gone past is significant. And the criminal world, as you know, works different than the civil world. I suspect there's concerns about involvement with the police, and they just would prefer to go the civil route.

Now, look, obviously, this is going to be decided in a court of law if it should go to trial. But obviously, this is making the news. And there are people who could look at this and say, this is now just three new lawsuits on top of the pile of other lawsuits that he's facing. How does someone in the public know whether one claim is more valid than another? So for those who out there who might be skeptical and say, oh, you know, these are three more people that are jumping on the Sean Combs bandwagon. How would they separate these cases from the other ones that have been finding? What about this? You would say, listen, take a beat with this one. This is one that you should really pay attention to.

Well, I think with any serious sex abuser, there's a pattern. And I was involved in the Harvey Weinstein case. And Harvey Weinstein followed a very clear pattern of how we abused people. And in Sean Combs's case, with each of these men, he followed the exact same pattern. And they wouldn't know the pattern to have it so consistent. And as I've said before, I've talked to a lot of people with potential Sean Combs cases, and they didn't know the pattern. The stories didn't make sense.

Oh, you get a pretty good nose for what makes sense when you're in my businesses for 30 years of whether somebody is making something up. And if you get that sense and it tingles just a bit, you don't want to proceed with it because it's your reputation on the line. Because on these kinds of cases, there's, you know, there's probably a videotape somewhere of one of these assaults, but I'm sure as heck not going to get it. And there isn't going to be that kind of evidence. And it really never is, I don't want to say never, because I recently had one case, and I've been doing this for at this point, 25 years, where I had a letter of apology that went to one of my clients. So that was a first for me, and I almost fell off my chair when I saw it because usually you have the denial or you have it was consensual. It's one of those two.

It's never I did it with the exception of this one case of it shocked me. And by the way, I saw you in your interview with Chris Cuomo last night on News Nation where you said, you know, these are three independent cases. These are people who didn't know each other. Their accounts were so similar. And I will tell you, after reading the three complaints, I got confused as to who was who. because they were so consistent in their stories. That's the thing. Yeah.

Now, here's the question. You mentioned something, the evidence. What additional evidence do you have or you hope to get during the course of this case to prove their claims other than their own accounts of what happened? You mentioned, I believe there was a video, a potential videotape of one of these alleged assault. So talk to me about what evidence you're hoping to have or have. Well, I think realistically that videotape is now sleeping with the fishes, as they say. I'll never see that videotape. It will never see the light of day.

And a lot of this comes to the credibility of the people who are giving the testimony. And I found all three of these men to be extremely credible, very consistent. As you can see, they're all from different parts of the country. So they didn't know each other. They didn't run into the same circles. And there was a certain randomness to how the stories became so consistent. And I thought that was pretty striking. And then you have to look at the evidence that you have outside of this.

And certainly it doesn't come into this individual case. case, but you get a pretty good sense of how Sean Combs operates based on just the video you saw with Cassie's ex-girlfriend. I mean, that's not a normal person. That's not somebody who treats somebody with respect. It's not shocking for me that somebody like that could do what happened in this case. By the way, why did you file these in New York State Court? A lot of the cases that we have seen so far again, Sean Combs, have been filed in federal court. Now, I will say that a lot of those alleged victims were not from New York, so they're from a different state. There's that and because they're from different states and they're suing for obviously more than $75,000.

That's how, you know, subject matter jurisdiction gets triggered, how they can file in federal court. But I believe at least one of your clients is from Florida. So was there a strategic advantage to go to a state route as opposed to a federal court? Well, jurisdiction is proper in state court in every single case because the assaults all took place in New York. At the time of the assaults, all the defendants were New York residents. Federal court is really designed to protect out-of-state residents from getting a disadvantage for being a defendant in a foreign venue. So that's one reason. It's a personal preference for me.

I prefer state court. I think I prefer the system in state court to federal court. It's just a personal preference, really. Two questions I had about the counts, the causes of action that you're filing under. Some of them are very straightforward, you know, with respect to what Combs allegedly did. But one of the things that you are filing under, and we've seen this before in other Combs cases, is the Gender Motivated Violence Protection Act against Sean Combs and also the causes of action against the companies. Can you explain the theory behind the Gender Motivated Violence Protection Act count and also going after the companies,

how you plan to hold them liable well i think let me let me gender motivated violence i and the cases are timely under the new york state statute of limitations so so we're okay with that but we always allege the state the city causes of action which is a gender motivated violence which basically is the same claim as a state claim but it's just unique to the city of new york and we just as a pattern and practice of what we do is we always plead it um as far as holding the companies in in. One of my clients work for his companies. I think there's the role of the distinguished between Sean Combs and his various entities is very difficult because it's not the typical corporation where there's a real hierarchy, a

corporate type of setup. It's more of his companies under him and he's calling all the shots. And a lot of these events were mixed. into the dealings of his companies let me ask you this i mean from a practical point of view he's facing multiple lawsuits he's facing criminal charges the legal bills are racking up he has a lot of these civil suits do you go after the companies too because if you're actually successful in this case is a better chance of recovering from if you go after the companies probably i think i think i think shan combs is is different than say harvey Weinstein who maybe didn't have the independent financial wherewithal. And I suspect

Sean Combs probably has done a lot of things through the years to protect his money from the consequences. One of the things I was thinking about with this case was potential defenses. And I imagine there's a consistent line you talked about the alleged drugging and the alleged sexual assault. Would an argument be for the defense, while if these judges, John Doe's claim that they were drug to the point where they can't quite, you know, they were in and out of consciousness, how can they properly know what happened to them? How can we trust their accounting of events? What would be the response to that? My response would be that most people who are coming out of being roofied and are being raped

would know. There you go. Okay. So let me ask you this then. You mentioned, I know you've said that over 60 people have reached out to you to represent them. And you chose these three individuals. And as you mentioned, it's because their stories were very consistent and, you know, they were backed up and you have faith in these stories. My question to you is, do you know if these three individuals that you're representing, did they reach out to any other lawyers? Is this the first time that they wanted to take legal action and went to you? It was the first time they wanted to take legal action. Yeah. And I have to imagine.

imagine this is not easy, even though they are currently John Doe's. They're not being identified. But as you know, with a lot of the other Combs cases, he has been fighting, and Jay Z's doing the same thing now, fighting to have these Jane and John Doe's their names exposed, and they can no longer proceed anonymously. Now, Sean Combs has actually been successful with some of those cases. He's made arguments that, look, I'm being sued, they made a voluntary decision to sue me. I have a right to challenge them. I have a right to know who they are. What would be your response back if there is that legal challenge in this case? Well, he knows who he'll know who they are as they proceed anonymously.

It's nonsense. The argument they're raising that it's some mystery person they won't know. But my argument primarily would be these guys have all been threatened. Threatened with credible threats. It's different than in a lot of cases where you have the usual exposure to being a victim of sexual violence. Here you have like a triple whammy. You have exposure to as a victim of sexual violence. You're a man who's been raped. And then you have a man who's a victim of sexual violence who's received credible threats of harm. Those are good reasons to keep your name out of the

paper and out of the public eye, I think. If they had to reveal their identities, if the court ordered them to reveal their identities, do you think your clients would want to continue on with the case with their names being public? I mean, the whole reason they want their names public is to intimidate them so they won't proceed. And I think that's the tactic that's being followed in this case and others. I can tell you in the cases, for example, you may have heard about Dr. Padouk, those cases, as a matter of course, the defendants in those cases have a stipulation will they'll permit

the victims to proceed anonymously because they're not trying, they're trying to do the right thing. In this case, when they try to expose people, it's to intimidate them. It's to scare them. It's like, hey, wait a second. Now the world's going to know I got raped by Sean Combs. I got threatened by Sean Combs, and it's a way to silence them. And you see it in their tactics. I mean, I saw yesterday when this became public, there was some statement about unethical lawyers and all this stuff. And I'll read you. I'll read you. I'll read you it. I read you it. So this was a statement put out by Combs attorneys. It says these complaints are full of lies. will prove them false and seek sanctions against every unethical lawyer who filed fictional claims

against him. So your reaction to that? Well, my reaction to that is what are they going to do? So they're trying to silence the victims. Then there's trying to silence the lawyers. For me, I've been a lawyer for 30 years in the city of New York. I've handled case against Harvey Weinstein. I've handled cases against Dr. Hayden. I currently have 30 cases against Dr. Paduke. My reputation is unimpeachable. I just had 60 people call me up with cases. I took three cases because I take my reputation very seriously and I don't go randomly accusing other lawyers of being unethical. The one thing I can tell you is I believe these gentlemen, what they're telling me is true.

I didn't have that same confidence in the 57 cases that I declined to represent somebody because my reputation matters. That's very fair. Completely understand that. And look, you know, there was another lawyer who's representing several accusers. Tony Busby, he said that his firm got 3,000 calls and he only selected, you know, 100, I say only, but it selected a lot of them. And look, I totally get that. Just to go back to that question, though, you know, Anna Kane is one of the Sean Combs accusers who had to

reveal her identity. She didn't want to, but she said, I'm going to proceed forward with this case, even though now I've been identified. Again, would your clients, would they, I mean, maybe it's too early, but if you had a conversation with them, do you know if they would continue to proceed with this case if their identities have to be revealed. I haven't had that conversation. So, you know, one of the reasons I prefer state court is I think the state court is a little more advanced as far as the anonymity of victims of sexual abuse. I think the federal courts are not as advanced as we are in New York State. So, no, I haven't had that conversation. This might be a little sensitive. I know you might not be a

but answer it, but I have to ask it nonetheless. Can you say any which way whether or not your clients have been working with the feds on the criminal case against Sean Combs? Have they been contacted? I can tell you no. I can tell you no, none of them more. Well, the reason I ask is when I read these complaints, they're very consistent with the allegations put forward by federal prosecutors. And that's why I was curious about it. No, no, no. I can tell you that with None of them are involved in the criminal case. So where does the case go from now, if you could tell us? So you filed these complaints.

What happens next? Well, I suspect what will happen is what happens in all these cases. He's currently under indictment. He's currently, you know, he can't be forced to testify in the civil process he was required to testify. I suspect there'll be an answer. There'll be a motion for a stay until the outcome of his criminal case and everything will sit in a holding pattern, which is what happened with the Darius Padouk cases. And then once he's either, I suspect, it'll be convicted, then the cases will proceed.

But that's really what I would see in the next six months. But I think it's going to be a whole hurry up and wait while the criminal case works its way through the system. Thomas Jiffer, thanks so much for taking the time. Really appreciate it. You know, I wanted to speak to you about this right as it's fresh as it's happening. I'm sure your phone is ringing constantly after the filing of these three complaints. Yeah, more than normal. Yeah, yeah, I wonder why.

I wonder why. But no, seriously, taking the time. I appreciate it. All right, nice meeting you. Take care. Have a good holiday. All right, everybody. That's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar.

Thank you so much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. We'll speak to you next time. You can binge all episodes of this law and crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.