Law&Crime Sidebar - New Diddy Lawsuits Allege Rape, Secret Sex Tapes, Conspiracy: ‘Walls Closing In’

Episode Date: May 28, 2024

Two women have filed new civil actions against disgraced rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs, accusing the music mogul of sexual assault and emotional abuse. Crystal McKinney and April Lampros were working as models in the late 1990s when they separately encountered Combs and started relationships with him that they say soon turned violent. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber breaks down the details in the two latest lawsuits, as the legal filings against Combs continue to pile up.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Go to www.morganufc.com/law or text LAW to 4-THE-PEOPLE (484-373-6742) for your chance to win two tickets to UFC 303 to see McGregor vs. Chandler!HOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael DeiningerScript Writing & Producing - Savannah WilliamsonGuest 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. Agent Nate Russo returns in Oracle 3, Murder at the Grandview, the latest installment of the gripping Audible Original series. When a reunion at an abandoned island hotel turns deadly, Russo must untangle accident from murder. But beware, something sinister lurks in the grand. View Shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in this supernatural thriller

that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Don't let your fears take hold of you as you dive into this addictive series. Love thrillers with a paranormal twist? The entire Oracle trilogy is available on Audible. Listen now on Audible. More companies are dropping rapper Sean Diddy Combs, and he faces two more lawsuits after a video of him seemingly showing him brutally attacking his ex-girlfriend surfaced online, we're going to break down this pattern of allegations that accusers are laying out against the once idolized music mogul. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. I can't say I'm that surprised with what I'm about to talk about. Two more sexual assault lawsuits filed against Sean Diddy Combs, and we're going to get

to those, but why do I say I'm not surprised? I say that. I say that. Because CNN published that bombshell video over a week ago. Surveillance footage from 2016 of the Intercontinental Hotel in L.A. That showed what appears to be Sean Combs running down a hallway in a towel, chasing down Cassandra Ventura, his girlfriend at the time, throwing her to the ground, kicking her by the shirt, and at one point he even appears to throw a vase in her direction. And in the days that followed, the uproar against the rapper grew even,

louder, posted a video on Instagram, which some have said feels kind of weak. It's so difficult to reflect on the darkest times in your life, but sometimes you got to do that. I was fucked up. I mean, I hit rock bottom, but I make no excuses. My behavior on that video is inexcusable. I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I'm disgusted. I was disgusted then when I did it, I'm disgusted now.

I went and I sought out professional help. I had to go into therapy and go 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 he's in every day. I'm not asking for forgiveness. I'm truly sorry. And I said, I said one of the things that could come from this 2016 video and maybe more

importantly, Diddy's seeming confirmation that that was him on tape, this apology video, what could come of it? One of the things that could result is that, more accusers would come forward. Do not be surprised if you hear more allegations. It is not surprising when you have a major accusation levied against a celebrity, specifically a tape like this, that more people would follow suit. And I'm not saying that these additional claims aren't legitimate in any way. No, as I'll explain in all in a minute, there are a number of reasons we don't hear those claims earlier on. But what we do know is sometimes,

in these situations, people feel emboldened to come forward. Now, the other way of looking at it, and this is what Diddy has put forward, there is narrative put forward by him and his legal team in his camp, is that this is just everybody piling on, and that everybody is trying to grab a quick buck, and that one makes an accusation, another one makes an accusation. Okay, now these two lawsuits, again, I'm going to get into them in a minute, but they already come on a wave of blowback against the rapper and music producer,

Multiple lawsuits have been filed against Combs since Ventura launched her lawsuit back in November of 2023 against Combs. She ended up settling. But multiple lawsuits, including hers, alleged claims ranging from sexual assault, sexual harassment, sexual harassment, sex trafficking, illegal firearms and narcotics possession, shootings, acts of violence, and so forth. Combs denied all the allegations, except it seems now he might be confirming the Ventura incident, or at least what happened in that video, right? Isn't that what that apology video was? We also remember the federal agents raided Combs properties in L.A. and Miami a few months back reportedly pursuant to an ongoing sex trafficking investigation. While no arrests have been made, no charges have been filed, and I want to be clear on that,

Experts that we have spoken to here on sidebar say it is possible that could all be on the horizon. Now, aside from the public and public opinion turning on Combs, Combs Business Empire has been severely damaged. America's best eyeglasses, they're a recent one. They just cut ties with Combs. And while they didn't give an exact reason, the company announced it will, quote, no longer carry Sean John. They've pulled the frames from the retail stores and their website. Sean John is a fashion label created by Combs in the late 90s. The tuition-free charter school co-founded by Combs, Capitol Preparatory Harlem,

ended its partnership with Combs. Hulu had reportedly been working on a reality show about Combs and his seven children, but reportedly that was scrapped back in December. Combs also reportedly stepped down as chairman and sold shares of Revolt TV. CNN has reported that Fitness Powerhouse Peloton has removed Combs music from its platform. And back in April, Billboard reported that Air, play of Combs songs were down significantly overall. City of New York, reportedly considering taking back the key to the city that was just

given to Combs in September of last year. And now in just the last week, two more women have come forward, claiming that Combs sexually assaulted them. Let's break down these latest lawsuits now. On May 21st, model Crystal McKinney filed her lawsuit again, Sean Combs, bad boy entertainment holdings, Sean John Clothing, LLC. and Universal Music Entertainment Group. Now, she's suing under the New York City

Victims of Gender Motivated Violence Protection Act. Very important here because this is how this lawsuit is able to potentially move forward. Why is it not time barred under the statute of limitations when you're claiming something from, as you'll hear, 2003? Well, an amendment was passed that gives survivors of violent crimes that were motivated by gender

that occurred in New York City, a two-year look-back window to sue. So the window is from March 1st, 2023 to March 1st, 2025. Sexual assault would fall into that category of a violent gender-motivated crime. And the statute says that it revives any claims against, quote, a party who commits, directs, enables, we'll talk about that, participates in, or conspires in the commission of a crime of violence motivated by gender, has a cause of action against, against such party in any court of competent jurisdiction. And the idea is this. Look, of course, a plaintiff will still have the burden to prove their case at trial,

even though the burden is lower than a criminal case. It's a preponderance of the evidence in a civil case, not beyond a reasonable doubt like you have in a criminal case, but it basically says more likely than not this happened. But yes, you still have to put on a case. You still have to prove this happened at trial. You have to convince a jury or a judge. But at the same time, even though there is that burden,

You don't want to completely close the opportunity for survivors of sexual assault to receive justice for what happened to them. They should not be punished for coming out when they do because we have learned over time that sometimes survivors, they don't come forward with their accounts for years. Number of reasons. Shame, fear, embarrassment. Maybe they don't even realize they're victims. It takes a while to even appreciate that and accept that. So we shouldn't penalize them for wanting to seek justice. Now, again, they'll have to prove their case. Older claims tougher to prove. Older cases tougher to prove, but we'll say.

Now, as I mentioned, interestingly, this is the first time. Sean John has been named in particular one of these civil actions. And you'll see why in just a second. The complaint explains that when she was 17 years old back in 1998, McKinney won MTV's first model mission competition. She was given a modeling contract and her career started to take off with her appearing in all sorts of major magazines. And then in 2003, when she was 22 years old, McKinney says she was invited to attend a men's fashion week event being held in New York.

Now, the person who invited McKinney is only referred to in the filing as the designer. But according to McKinney, quote, the designer told plaintiff that he would be introducing her to Combs, which could advance her modeling career. The designer began to direct plaintiff's appearance as he sought to ensure Combs found her attractive. The designer then handpicked a black leather coat with a fur hood, a translucent chiffon, beige V-cut shirt, fur-line handbag, and jewel-encrusted jeans for plaintiff to wear to the event. Due to the traumatic events to occur later, plaintiff saved the unwashed clothing from that night in her closet where they remain in a plastic wrap. Wow. So the question, of course, is could that clothing be forensically tested and you'll see why in a minute, but I think we need Joseph Scott Morgan to talk a little bit more about that. that one but going back to the event so mckinney goes to this event where combs is having dinner with

several people and the complaint reads quote once seated combs made a very public display of coming on to plaintiff in a sexually suggestive manner then he said he had the power to help her career continued to be very flirtatious he also allegedly kept plying her with alcohol and at the end of the night or the end of the dinner he allegedly told her he wants to get to know her better now this is something that Combs has been accused of time and time again, using his power, money, influence to make things happen good or bad, but also as a way to exert control over his alleged victims. So later that night, McKinney says Combs texted her to invite her to his New York studio. She says when she got there, Combs was sitting with several men who were drinking and smoking

marijuana. McKinney says she accepted her first hit of marijuana, but now believes it was laced with some other narcotic. McKinney claims that Combs then led her to a bathroom where he allegedly forced her to perform oral sex on him, despite her saying no. Quote, upon standing and walking, plaintiff felt more and more woozy and then lost consciousness. Plaintiff awakened in shock to find herself in a taxi cab

heading back to the designer's apartment. The lawsuit says that after the alleged assault, McKinney didn't get as much work in modeling or acting. Eventually, she couldn't get any work at all. Upon information of belief, Combs had plaintiff blackballed in the industry and utilized his significant influence to impede plaintiff's career growth. Plaintiff became severely depressed as she began to blame herself of the assault and for sabotaging her own career. The assault led plaintiff into a tailspin of anxiety and depression. In her

about 2004, plaintiff attempted suicide and was hospitalized. McKinney also states that she was married from 2006 to 2010, but according to her, her relationship fell apart because she had a mental breakdown connected to this traumatic experience. And this all goes, by the way, to the harm element of a lawsuit. What did you suffer? What are you seeking? McKinney's lawyers state in the complaint quote as a direct and proximate result of the aforementioned crime of violence and gender-motivated violence. Plaintiff has sustained and will continue to sustain monetary damages, physical injury, pain and suffering, and serious psychological and emotional distress entitling her to an award of compensatory and punitive damages, injunctive, and

declaratory relief, attorney's fees, and costs, and other remedies, as this court may deem appropriate. By the way, punitive damages are a way to punish the defendant for really extreme conduct. And by the way, when you're adding all this up, this could equate to a lot of money. This could equate to millions of dollars. But we will see. We're not at that point yet. everybody. You know how we talk about Morgan and Morgan all the time? Just an incredible partner of ours here on the show and law and crime. Dan Morgan, actually a friend of mine. No big deal. Well, anyway, did you know that Morgan and Morgan, the largest injury law firm in America, is also the official law firm partner of the UFC? Yes, the UFC. That's pretty awesome

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You sometimes go after companies. They have the deeper pockets. Now, you remember when I said that the New York City gender-motivated violence law can also be used against anyone who enabled or participated in a gender-motivated crime of violence? Well, quote, defendants' bad boy records, Sean John Clothing LLC, and Universal Music Group, Inc. enabled or participated in the sexual abuse of plaintiff because defendants failed to, among other things,

protect plaintiff from a known danger, have sufficient policies and procedures in place to prevent sexual assault, properly implement policies and procedures to prevent sexual assault, take reasonable measures to ensure that policies to prevent sexual assault, working, train their employees on identifying sexual assault and inappropriate workplace behaviors, protect their employees from sexual assault, and adhere to the applicable standard of care. Now, I imagine Combs's team would say this was, this allegation is isolated, that it is

personal, that it is not connected to the businesses, and they should not be on the hook for this, but you can see how they're trying to say that this is, these companies enabled or participated or facilitated this abuse. Well, McKinney is demanding a jury trial or a judgment against the defendants that would award her, as we mentioned, compensatory and punitive damages plus legal fees. So that was one case, and that again was filed, I believe, on the Tuesday following the release of this 2016 Intercontinental Video and Combs Apology. By Friday, our understanding Combs was hit with yet another lawsuit. And here is a name that you will probably recognize if you have been following us here on Sidebar. Tyrone Blackburn, he is the attorney representing not only this alleged victim in this new lawsuit that I'm about to mention, but he is also representing other alleged victims of Combs, such as music producer Little Rod Jones and Yacht Stewart Grace O'Markey, both have filed lawsuits against Combs, as well as some family members, music executives, and even award-winning actor Cuba Gooding Jr.

Now, the Brooklyn attorney, the reason I mention him, has taken a bit of heat. He's a bit controversial. He's gotten some blowback from fellow attorneys and even a judge. There were allegations that his filings are gratuitous. They are overly salacious and they are done for improper reasons. So keep that in mind as we talk about this lawsuit because now Blackburn is representing April Lampros. So in her lawsuit, Lampro says she met Combs in 1994 when she was a student at the fashion Institute of Technology, FIT.

And in fact, the filing includes a photo of Combs with his arms around Lampros and another woman at Bad Boy Recording Studios. And that's actually something we've seen before in these lawsuits filed by Blackburn. A lot of documentary evidence, photos, screenshots from videos. Well, her filing states, quote, when she met Mr. Combs, Ms. Lampro shared with him her dreams of working in the fashion industry. And Mr. Combs promised to mentor her and help her by introducing her. to music and fashion industry executives as well as assisting her with finding work.

Mr. Combs love bombed her. He showered her with gifts and flowers as evidenced by one of the cards that accompanied the flowers that Mr. Combs sent Ms. Lampros for Valentine's Day in 1994. A photo of the card from the New York florist, The Daily Blossom, says, Happy Valentine's Day, love puffy. Mr. Combs went so far as to invite Miss Lamproes to his first Father's Day celebration And a picture of that invitation was included in this complaint as well. Again, that kind of documentation helps to establish the backbone of a case,

especially since sometimes when you're dealing with older cases, we don't have social media messages or those photos or text message histories. So this kind of establishes the context of what they're talking about. Now, from there, the complaint says that what started out as a love-bombing, flirty relationship quickly went south. This is according to Lamprose. Quote, upon information and belief, what Mr. Combs displayed as kind gestures quickly manifested into an aggressive, coercive, and abusive

relationship based on sex. These acts were not isolated to the state of New York as Mr. Combs would fly Ms. Lampros to to Atlanta to see him, where they would spend time together. Ms. Lamproes would also fly to Miami to see Mr. Combs at his home. The filing includes two photos of Lamproes purportedly at Combs home in Florida. According to Ms. Lamproes, Mr. Combs had a terrible temper and often, and threatened to harm her if she failed to do what he said, if he witnessed her talking to other men,

or if she failed to take his phone calls. According to Ms. Lampero, she was also not allowed to talk about her relationship with Mr. Combs to anyone because he didn't want anyone to know he was seeing her because she is a white woman. The lawsuit then goes into graphic retellings of multiple alleged sexual assaults by Combs. We won't go into the details on those, but suffice it to say the accusations are very similar to. what we've heard from other women.

Now, I have to stop and say this. This idea of dangling opportunities and offering things of value in exchange for sex or forced activities flying these people around to different areas, this is not only consistent with other claims and other lawsuits, but this could also potentially support a sex trafficking criminal case. Now, although Combs isn't sued under a sex trafficking statute, as I mentioned, there is an apparent federal investigation happening right now, human trafficking. We don't know who the feds are talking to, who's cooperating, but things like this,

these allegations, this could very well be what they are building a case about. This is what you look for in a sex trafficking investigation, just something to think about. Again, we don't know if the feds are talking to Ms. Lampros, but something that came in my mind. Okay, back to the lawsuit. In 1995, Lampro says that she met Combs and another woman at a bar, and she says she felt uneasy after just a few sips of her drink and remembers that Combs and this woman guiding her into a car that went to a hotel. The filing states, she recalls feeling like the walls were closing in on her.

She was laid on the hotel bed where Mr. Combs forced himself on top of her, and then he proceeded to rape her, as she pleaded with him to stop. She says she passed out, woke up the next morning, was naked, sore, ran out of the hotel. Horrific, horrific, horrific account. The filing continues. Months after the first rape, Mr. Combs pursued Ms. Lampros. He sent her gifts, cards, and flowers, and used his power and access to music industry events to lure Miss Lampros back to him. Ms. Lampros was a hopeful yet naive college student and took Mr. Combs at his word and believed that the first rape was a possible mulligan and decided to give.

give him a second chance. It's an interesting choice of words for Mulligan, but important section nonetheless because it is important to know why she would allow him back into her life after an alleged sexual assault. While that could potentially, you know, hurt her credibility or claims at a trial, we know from the study of these incidents, from past cases, this is not uncommon. It is not uncommon that survivors sometimes do stay in contact with their abusers and even maintain relationships.

The filing goes on, quote, Mr. Combs was respectful, regained her trust. Things seemed to be normal between the two until the second incident of sexual assault. The filing goes on to describe an alleged assault that took place near Combs Manhattan apartment. This was at a parking garage where Lampro says Combs forced her to perform oral sex on him and says a parking attendant saw the whole thing. The filing states, quote, once again, Ms. Lampro's made the decision to distance herself. and once again, Mr. Combs came back with gifts and empty promises. Lampro's claim she tried to stay away from Combs as much as possible,

but he was calling her incessantly, threatening to hurt her or anyone who might be with her. He knew where she lived and worked, so Lampro says she felt she had no choice but to do what he said. By the way, that power and fear element is also present in other lawsuits against Combs, too. I mentioned that before. So from there, the complaint goes on to explain how one night in 1996, Combs ordered Lampros to his Manhattan apartment, where Kim Porter, the mom. mother of three of Combs' children who died in 2018. We talked about her in another sidebar.

Well, she was there. And Lampros claims that after they all went out, they came back, they began drinking, and Combs allegedly forced both her and Kim Porter to take ecstasy pills, even going so far as to check under their tongues to make sure they had swallowed the pills. Lamproos then alleges that Combs ordered her and Porter to have sex while he pleasureed himself. And then, not long after that night, Combs, according to Lampros, invited her to Porter's birthday party. Embedded in the complaint is an apparent photo of the invitation with the attire requirement reading, sexy formal. The filing says that Lamproes tried to end the

relationship with Combs permanently in 1998, but she claims that Kim Porter was resentful of her because she was forced to have sexual contact with her. And Lamproes alleged that Porter called the manager of the bar where Lampros worked and falsely claimed that Lamproes tried to poison Kim Porter. And then she alleged that Porter threatened that her boyfriend, Combs, could have the establishment shut down if this manager didn't fire Lampros, to which Lampros claimed later that night, the manager told her he had to let her go because Mr. Combs called and demanded that he fire her.

Now, the final assault Lampos alleges reportedly happened in 2000. when Combs was filming Making the Band Lampro says they ran into each other near the set begged to see her when she said no he allegedly called her

several times of the next few days eventually convinced her to let him come to her apartment The filing goes on according to Ms. Lampros when she opened the door his security was sitting on the stairwell

knowing that security was there made Ms. Lamproes feel a little better about letting him in they sat on her couch began talking according to Ms. Lamproes began apologizing

for his past behaviors he started telling her that he was a changed man. He then showered her with compliments, telling her how good she looked and kept reminiscing about their prior sex life. He then began dropping hints about them having sex. Ms. Lampros rejected his advances. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Mr. Combs violently grabbed her and forced himself onto her. Lamperos says she was able to get Combs out of the apartment, but according to her, she couldn't escape her connection to the rapper. According to Ms. Lampro's, in her about 2023,

Ms. Lampros was at a function and a gentleman with the name redacted informed the man that Ms. Lampros was dating that he should reconsider dating her because he personally saw a video of her and Sean Combs having sex. According to Ms. Lampro's redacted shared that he saw the tape during the summer of 1997.

According to Ms. Lampro, she was told that Mr. Combs apparently recorded them having sex without her knowing and showed it to multiple people. Wow. Now, I'm not surprised because that actually echoes other claims from other lawsuits, too. So what causes of action is Blackburn bringing on behalf of his client? Battery, assault, sexual assault, negligent infliction of emotional distress,

and violation of the victims of gender-motivated violence protection law, which we talked about in the other lawsuit. So the Lampros lawsuit also demands a jury trial or punitive and compensatory damages from the court in her favor. Howering, harrowing allegations, very, very disturbed. serving. But remember, as a point of law, these are just allegations at this point. Just because Mr. Combs is hit with multiple lawsuits, the fact that he seemingly admitted to beating Ventura on tape, it doesn't necessarily make all the other allegations against him as true. He hasn't been charged with a crime. He hasn't been found liable in a court of law. Now, I do want to end this by

talking about Tyrone Blackbird one more time, the attorney representing Ms. Lamprose. Look, I don't know, Mr. Blackburn. I'm just listening to the accusation. levied against him what that federal judge and new york had to say about him we dedicated a whole sidebar to this but his filings have a different flare than the other ones and i mentioned this in a previous sidebar how he uses very pointed descriptive personal language and attacks again comparing it to other lawyers and other lawsuits i mean just listen to some of the language from the lampros lawsuit miss lampro's dreams and everything she's been working hard for we're in the palm of his hands. He was blinded by his lustful desire to pleasure himself at Ms. Lampros' expense.

He devoted this mobster persona, and Miss Lampros was in fear of him. Now, there's nothing wrong with this language per se. It's just a bit different kind of language to use, but given the complaints levied against Blackburn, that he includes salacious details and writings, the accusations of his motives for filing these lawsuits, could language like this hurt his credibility? I don't know. But nonetheless, something to think about. At the very least, there is a difference between the Lampros filing and the McKinney filing. We will, of course, continue to monitor and break down what happens next in the Sean Diddy Combs saga. That is all we have for you here on Sidebar.

Everybody, thank you so much for joining us. As always, please subscribe on Apple Podcast, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcast. I'm Jesse Weber. I'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.