Law&Crime Sidebar - P. Diddy: 10 Celebs Named in Sex Assault Lawsuits Speak Out

Episode Date: April 14, 2024

As the Southern District of New York investigates an alleged sex trafficking operation connected to music mogul Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, celebrities and others in Combs’ inner circle are responding to their inclusion in lawsuits against the rapper. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber has the latest reactions from defendants and other alleged associates. PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Blueland has a special offer for Sidebar’s audience! Right now, get 15% off your first order by going to www.Blueland.com/SIDEBARHOST: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. Rumors surrounding the raids at two homes of rapper Sean Diddy Combs are drawing more and more attention to the civil lawsuits that Combs is facing and speculation that any potential charges could be connected to the horrendous allegations they contain. We're taking a closer look at how people who are named in those lawsuits have responded. so far. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. It's been now over two weeks since Homeland Security agents rated Sean Diddy Combs' two properties in Los Angeles and Miami, reportedly pursuant to an ongoing sex trafficking

investigation from the Southern District of New York. And there are these existing civil lawsuits that have been filed against Combs and people in his inner circle. There's amended complaints of existing lawsuits that add new defendants. And that's what we want to talk about. We have Rodne Jones, music producer, known as Little Rod Jones, filed a sworn declaration with the court just this week, going into more detail about what he saw and heard. Combs allegedly do during the year or so they were working together on the Love album. We actually went more in depth on that new document in another episode of Sidebar.

But what we want to talk about right now is that some of the people mentioned in these filings, they have responded with statements of their own, or representatives of them, have released statements on their behalf, while there's others who have been silent. So, for example, there's actor Cuba Gooding Jr., who settled his own sexual abuse lawsuit last year before he could go to trial. He also pled guilty to a lesser charge of harassment for forcibly kissing a nightclub worker, voiding jail time. But according to Jones' complaint, the actor allegedly touched and groped him inappropriately aboard Combs' yacht, even accuses Combs of facilitating. this alleged abuse to happen, but the actor seems to be keeping a low profile has not responded to the allegations as far as we can see. Others, however, are speaking out and they are defending their innocence. Let's start it off with, you know who best, Combs. So Combs himself, he's

spoken out multiple times through his lawyers in reaction to both the lawsuits and the raids on his homes. We start in late 2023 when Combs' ex-girlfriend and bandboy entertainment artist Cassie filed a reported $30 million lawsuit accusing Combs of assault, abuse, trafficking, and a lot more. But the very next day, Combs settled the lawsuit. But I should tell you that settling does not mean that Combs admitted anything. His attorney at the time, Ben Brathman, released a statement saying, quote, Mr. Combs' decision to settle the lawsuit does not in any way undermine his flat-out denial of the claims. He is happy they got to a mutual settlement and wishes Ms. Ventura the best.

Combs himself released his own short statement, saying, quote, We have decided to resolve this matter amicably. I wish Cassie and her family all the best love. But we know that Combs was then hit with more lawsuits after Ventura, a woman named Joy Dickerson Neal, claimed that Combs drugged and sexually assaulted her when she was in college back in 1991. She alleged that Combs filmed the rape, shared the video with others as a form of revenge porn. Did he deny the allegations?

In fact, in a statement from his spokesperson, spokesperson that was released to people at the time. It said, quote, this last minute lawsuit is an example of how a well-intentioned law can be turned on its head. By the way, that was referring to a law in New York at the time that gave people a one-year look-back window to sue for older claims of sexual abuse. But those statement goes on to say, quote, Ms. Dickerson's 32-year-old story is made up and not credible. Mr. Combs never assaulted her, and she implicates companies that did not exist. This is purely a money grab and nothing more. Then, there was another lawsuit filed from an unidentified woman who claimed that Combs and singer-songwriter Aaron Hall raped her 30 years ago. Did he once again in a statement through his spokesperson to people said, quote, These are fabricated claims falsely alleging misconduct from over 30 years ago and filed at the last minute. This is nothing but a money grab. Because of Mr. Combs' fame and success, he is an easy target for anonymous accusers who lie without conscience or consequence for financial. benefit. It goes on to state. The New York legislature surely did not intend or expect the

Adult Survivor's Act to be exploited by scammers. The public should be skeptical and not rush to accept these bogus allegations. Then Combs again issued a statement on Instagram. This one's saying, enough is enough. For the last couple of weeks, I have sat silently and watch people try to assassinate my character, destroy my reputation, and my legacy. Sickening allegations have been made against me by individuals looking for a quick payday. Let me be absolutely clear. I did not do any of the awful things being alleged. I will fight for my name, my family, and for the truth.

And by the way, I've spoken about this before in a previous sidebar that, and this was before the raids, that when you see all of these lawsuits coming out one after the other, you could say, well, people finally felt free and comfortable to go after Sean Combs. That's, we've seen it before. Maybe it has nothing to do with the credibility of what they're. saying. But then again, the other way of looking at it is, is something to say that you have one lawsuit after the other, after the other after he settled with Cassie Ventura. Some would look at that as suspicious. I'm sure that's something that will be honed in upon by his defense

team. And if this does go to trial, of course, it will be up for a jury or judge to decide who's telling the truth. But let me actually talk to you now about the response to the Rodney Jones lawsuit, which I mentioned earlier. So Combs' attorney, Sean Holly, called the claims lies and said, quote, his reckless name dropping about events that are pure fiction and simply did not happen is nothing more than a transparent attempt to garner headlines. We have overwhelming, indisputable proof that his claims are complete lies. Now, in the days after the federal raids on Combs' homes on March 25th, his other attorney, Aaron Dyer, released a very lengthy statement on his behalf.

It said, quote, there was a gross overuse of military. level force as search warrants were executed at Mr. Combs' residences. There is no excuse for the excessive show of force and hostility exhibited by authorities or the way his children and employees were treated. Mr. Combs was never detained but spoke to and cooperated with authorities. Despite media speculation, neither Mr. Combs nor any of his family members have been arrested, nor has their ability to travel been restricted in any way. This unprecedented ambush, paired with an advanced, coordinated media presence, leads to a premature rush to judgment of Mr. Combs. There's nothing more

than a witch hunt based on meritless accusations made in civil lawsuits. There has been no finding of criminal or civil liability with any of these allegations. Mr. Combs is innocent and will continue to fight every single day to clear his name. And we do want to point out what Dyer says in this statement is absolutely true. Neither Combs nor anyone from his family has been arrested, has been charged, and neither a court nor a jury has found him liable in the civil sense with respect to any of these lawsuits yet. However, we did cover a number of sidebars with experts, and I said this as well, that that military-level use of force could be understandable because there were allegations of unregistered firearms, shootings. These are big properties.

You don't know what you're entering into. So as much as they are criticizing the raids, there could be an understanding of why that level of force was used. And talking about statements from Diddy or maybe non-statements, since the raids, there are pictures and videos of Diddy around Miami that have surfaced. out and about, smiling, riding his bike, sitting in the sun. Not sure if that's a response or not, but what was curious is that he recently posted on Instagram, the music video for his 1997 song, Victory, where he's running from police with the caption, Bad Boy for Life, referencing his hit song from 2001. Now, moving on, there is at least one person in Combs' inner circle who is locked up, his

alleged drug mule Brendan Paul. Paul was arrested on the same day as the raids at an airport in Miami for drug possession. He bonded out and has another hearing scheduled for April 24th. But you'll remember that Paul was mentioned by name several times in Jones' civil lawsuit. He says that Paul was in charge of procuring drugs for Combs and would often pack his carry-on luggage full of marijuana, cocaine, ecstasy, and more allegedly so that Combs would have access to it at all times no matter where he was. Paul, though, did not speak to police on the body cam video, and we reviewed that from his arrest, and he's made no public statement since then. We haven't seen it. All right, I want to take a quick sidebar from sidebar to talk to you about something. So I am one of those people who

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Blueland.com slash law for 15% off. That's Blueland.com slash law to get 15% off. Hope you check it out. But as diddy seems to continue to live his life as normally as possible, his sons seem to be doing the same. Christian King Combs and Justin Dior Combs. They were both mentioned in Rodney Jones lawsuit with Justin actually being named as a defendant.

Both men, by the way, were detained outside of Combs' house, Well, agents got a handle on who might be at the property. They weren't arrested. They were just detained. But after the mention of Christian Combs in the lawsuit and the raids on the L.A. and Miami Holmes, Christian continued to post on Instagram seemingly regularly, including a post on his Instagram story that just said, quote, stop with the, and it's the blue cap emoji. Cap is slang for lying.

Since that post, however, Jones lawyers have filed a separate lawsuit on behalf of the woman allegedly assaulted. by Christian Combs on a yacht in 2022, which was mentioned in the music producer's complaint. Grasso Markey's lawsuit goes into much more detail about what she says happened to her while she was working as a steward. She claims that Christian forced her to take shots of liquor, which she believes were laced with drugs, and says that he touched her all over her body without permission, that she also claims that he tried to force her to perform oral sex on him, that she had to fight him back.

And since those allegations came out, Christian has not yet addressed them publicly, however, but his lawyer has Aaron Dyer. Again, he's representing Sean Combs, too. So there was this statement that was released that called out Jones and O'Markey's lawyer Tyrone Blackburn. It said, quote, this is just another lewd and meritless claim from Tyrone Blackburn, just like what he filed in the Rodney Jones lawsuit, which he still has not served. The complaint is filled with the same kind of manufactured lies and irrelevant facts we've come to expect from Blackburn. This is exactly why the federal judge in New York slapped him two days ago for a pattern of behavior in improperly filing cases of federal court to garner media

attention, embarrassed defendants with salacious allegations, and pressure defendants to settle quickly, and why he was referred to the disciplinary committee in the Southern District of New York. We will be filing a motion to dismiss this outrageous claim. And of course, we talked about that in a previous sidebar, all these issues surrounding Blackburn. He was referred to the grievance committee. But one of the people that is publicly defending Sean Combs, and I will tell you, we don't really see it, is Stevie Jay. This is an award-winning producer, music producer, who has been friends with Combs for decades.

And he was actually recently seen in Miami riding on a golf cart with Combs. In fact, Stevie-J says that he was inside the Miami House when Homeland Security agents raided it back in March. In an interview with Fox 5, New York, Stevie-J said, quote, my man would never break the law. We're law-abiding citizens. that's what we do. You know this is another crucifixion of a black man. But Stevie J. was mentioned in Rodney Jones lawsuit in connection with allegations of grooming. Yes, Jones says that he is a

heterosexual male, but claims that Combs kept trying to coerce him into having sex with the men. Combs allegedly showed Jones a video of two men having sex and claimed that one of the men was Stevie J, a person that fellow music producer Jones looked up to and admired. claims that Combs was using this video to try to groom Jones, and it was never confirmed that the video actually showed Stevie J, who dismissed the allegations by saying that Jones and his attorneys are just trying to make money. But Stevie J. also shared a video on Instagram with the caption, This is what a real ditty party looks like.

The pre-produced video features several celebrities, including Dr. Dre, Jay-Z, Kobe Bryant, the Kardashians, like they're arriving on a red carpet event. But now let's talk about somebody else. Lucy and Grange, the CEO of Universal Music Group, so he and UMG are named as defendants in the Rodney Jones lawsuit. They are accused of aiding and abetting Sean Combs purported sex trafficking and abuse. But attorneys for UMG and Grange have called the claims, quote, offensively false, and they say that Tyrone Blackburn knowingly filed false allegations without the slightest factual or legal basis. In fact, one of the lawyers, Donald Zakarin, wrote, a licensed

to practice law is a privilege. Mr. Blackburn, plaintiff's lawyer, has misused that license to self-promote gratuitously, falsely, and recklessly accusing the UMG defendants of criminal behavior. Now, Justin Combs is also named as a defendant in Jones lawsuit, accuses him of sex trafficking and possibly participating in a shooting at a recording studio. So a representative for Justin Combs responded, told CNN in a statement, quote, Justin Combs categorically denies these absurd allegations. They are all lies. This is a clear example of a desperate person taking desperate measures in hopes of a payday.

There will be legal consequences for all defamatory statements made about the Combs family. As far as we could tell, though, nothing from Justin Combs directly publicly responding to these allegations. There is someone who did, though, because some of the people referenced in these lawsuits are not actually identified. Instead, the name is redacted, and it's almost as if the filing is giving clues to who these people may be. So, for example, Jones lawsuit says Combs had a sexual relationship with a rapper from Philadelphia who dated Nikki Minaj, and that this rapper consorted with underage girls and sex workers. Well, turns out that online slews have narrowed that down to Meek Mill, who promptly went on a rant on X, formerly known as Twitter, about how he is not a

homosexual. Most of those tweets have been deleted now, but a post from April 8th before Jones filed his amended complaint. Meek says that he wants all the evidence to come out and swears he's not a part of the freak or coke part of the industry. He says he's not a heathen and wants to know how his name even got brought up in the first place. And keeping with that idea of people who are mentioned in the suit but not named as defendants, let's talk about Daphne Joy. She is the ex of rapper 50 who's been quite vocal and critical of Diddy after these raids. They've had an ongoing feud for years, but Joy was named in the Jones lawsuit as someone who was one of the participants in Diddy's sex trafficking and freak off sex sessions and that she would receive

money for sex. Well, Joy responded to the allegations in an Instagram post, writing, quote, I am deeply hurt by the lies in Rodney Jones lawsuit. The claim that I am a sex worker is 100% false and character assassination. I am retaining an attorney to explore all legal remedies against both Rodney and his attorney. So another person threatening legal action. But she's not the only one. No, Combs' ex-girlfriend Young Miami, who Jones listed as one of the people that Combs claimed was also a sex worker, deny the allegations too. Writing on Instagram, I'm not a prostitute. I never sold. There's an emoji to subscribe or reference a female's private area.

I never sold that a day in my life, and I hate how this is getting spun. Then you have Instagram model Jade Ramey, who Jones claimed in his lawsuit was also one of the people that Diddy allegedly bragged about paying to be a sex worker. She's fired back through her publicist. Ramey told Entertainment Tonight in a statement, quote, dating someone doesn't directly correlate to any of the false allegations made.

Yes, I dated someone. How unfortunate we've entered a time. We're caring for someone or falling in love is worthy of scrutiny in the court of public opinion. What may be amusing for you is real life for others, and my feelings have never been for entertainment, nor are they up for discussion. We need to be more conscious as a society

when ridiculing people's lives and relationships merely for enjoyment. I appreciate everyone's kind messages and support during this time. So that is a collection of some of these responses. And look, as these civil cases move forward, I would be very interested to see if any of these people are called as witnesses, what they would say on the stand, whether or not it would be favorable to Jones's claims or not, and whether they are going to take legal action in response to this.

But as these cases and as the investigation progress, I am sure we will see a lot more reactions. That's all we have for you here on Sidebar, everybody. Thank you so much for joining us. As always, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, 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 long crime series ad free right now on Wondery Plus. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.