Law&Crime Sidebar - P. Diddy Allegedly Raped 13-Year-Old Girl with Another Celeb After VMAs: Lawsuit

Starting point is 00:00:00 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. views shadows. Joshua Jackson delivers a bone-chilling performance in this supernatural thriller that

Starting point is 00:00:35 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. The wall of silence has now been broken and victims are coming forward. Our team has had at this point more than 3,285 individuals contacted. us with people claiming, people claiming to have been victimized by Sean Combs. Multiple new lawsuits against Sean Diddy Combs are now public, accusing the disgraced rapper of sexual assault. And this new batch of lawsuits includes egregious new allegations, including claims from an Alabama woman who says that Combs drugged and raped her when she

Starting point is 00:01:23 was just 13 years old. We're going to break down this disturbing new lawsuit as the one-time music Mughal sits behind bars awaiting his federal criminal trial. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Hey guys, so this is a law and crime legal alert. So a mother was recently awarded millions of dollars in a lawsuit against baby formula manufacturers after her premature baby was diagnosed with necrotizing enterococytus or neck after receiving bovine-based formula. The lawsuits allege that infamil and similar, Similac, premature formulas are linked to Neck, but manufacturers, they failed to warn the public of the risks and instead targeted them with false advertising. So if your premature baby was diagnosed with Neck after they were fed Enfimil or Similac, you may qualify for compensation.

Starting point is 00:02:14 And one of our legal sponsors is partnering with Wagstaff Law Firm. This is a national firm renowned for their expertise to ensure that eligible claims are thoroughly presented. Visit babyformulidamages.com slash sidebar to answer less than 10 questions and check your your eligibility to file a claim. Well, Texas attorney Tony Busby really wasn't kidding when he announced that he plans to file a wave of lawsuits on behalf of 120 alleged sexual assault victims of Sean Combs. He wasn't bluffing. And as he has said, he's not only going after Combs, but corporate entities too. And we reported to you how last week he filed six lawsuits. And now he has just filed a bunch more. Give you an example, we have one lawsuit now. We're a woman who claims she was drugged and

Starting point is 00:02:59 raped by Combs during a Las Vegas event back in 2014. We have other claims that are more recent, by the way. These allegations are all from 2022. A businessman who claims that Combs sexually assaulted him during a Sorok party back in 2022. A woman who claims she was drugged and raped by Combs at a house party in Manhattan back in 2022. Another man who claims he was drugged and repeatedly sexually assaulted by Combs and others, including an unnamed celebrity, this at an award show after party in L.A. back in 2022. But the one we want to focus on right now is a very, very disturbing claim, as if all of these aren't disturbing. But this one is especially heinous because I think the best way to describe this is the very first paragraph of this new lawsuit. It reads in the complaint,

Starting point is 00:03:51 defendant Combs drugged and raped a 13 year old girl at a house party. Many others were present, but did nothing to stop it. Some participated in it. Combs has been allowed for years to conduct himself in this manner without any consequences. He believes he is above the law. He is not. Yeah. Now again, I've said this before, while Combs is currently facing federal criminal charges of racketeering and sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution, none of those criminal charges are related to minors. However, a number of these lawsuits, including from Tony Busby, they focused on the alleged abuse of underage people. And it makes you wonder if Combs will be hit with a superseding indictment. That means when you go back to the grand jury for additional or

Starting point is 00:04:41 revised charges, will Combs be hit with a superseding indictment that involves minors? Have to ask the question in light of these allegations. You have to wonder if any of the people who have sued Combs, are they cooperating with the government? You have to wonder if the government really has all the evidence they need to charge him with respect to minors, but maybe they're not doing so yet. Maybe they're keeping it in their back pocket for now. Maybe to push Combs to take a plea. Maybe they're only now getting this information and are authenticating it to bring these claims, to bring new charges. We don't know if their case will ever be about minors. I will tell you one thing. If miners come into the mix, it makes Sean Combs defense to the federal criminal charges.

Starting point is 00:05:22 he's facing much more difficult. His defense right now is everything was consensual when you're dealing with minors, that defense doesn't work anymore. And by the way, as we're talking about high profile people, as we're talking about unnamed celebrities in these lawsuits, including the one I'm about to get into, remember what Tony Busby told TMZ. He said that a number of high profile people have even come to him already to settle their claims so they are not named in these lawsuits. It makes you wonder if the people that he mentions in these lawsuits are people who've already settled their claims. So they're not named as defendants. They're not identified. I mean, if you think about it, that would be a PR and legal nightmare if they're named in these lawsuits. Even though these

Starting point is 00:06:02 are just allegations, the fact that they would be tied to Sean Combs right now, who's toxic, they might be avoiding that. So that might be one reason why we see unnamed celebrity one, unnamed celebrity two. Anyway, we don't know exactly what's happening. But what we do know is that these allegations are a disturbing pattern, a disturbing pattern regarding children. And I want to break down this lawsuit now. So this lawsuit is filed by Jane Doe. She's unnamed. And this was filed in federal court in the Southern District of New York. That is the same jurisdiction where Combs is being federally prosecuted. And in many ways, the lawsuit mirrors the allegations in the indictment. For example, the complaint reads, quote, for decades, Sean Combs, aka P. Diddy, P. Diff, Daddy.

Starting point is 00:06:47 love, abused, molested, raped, assaulted, threatened, and coerced women, minors, and others for sexual gratification to assert dominance and to conceal his abhorrent conduct. He accomplished these acts by and through a criminal enterprise built on his success as a rapper, record producer, and record executive. Again, very similar to the language that was used in the indictment to describe the racketeering conspiracy charge that he faces, that he allegedly operated and controlled this criminal enterprise to carry out various crimes like sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping. Those terms are actually both in this complaint and in the indictment. And I'm going to get into the other defendants

Starting point is 00:07:30 who are being sued in this lawsuit besides Combs in a second, but I do want to call out a unique aspect to this lawsuit. And in fact, it's a unique aspect, not just to this suit, but the other Tony Busby lawsuits. They almost use the same beginning language, the same preface, talking about Sean Combs' illegal empire, talking about the, quote, pervasive history of sexual assault and violence. So it's not even directly addressing the individual plaintiff's claims yet. It's kind of setting the stage to understand who the defendant is, the power that he wielded, the alleged danger and threat that he is, maybe as a way to explain why these defendants, did not come forward initially with their claims?

Starting point is 00:08:15 For example, this lawsuit reads, Combs recurrent and pervasive physical abuse took place for multiple decades. His tendencies of violence and sexual assault were well known amongst his colleagues, employees, agents, and businesses. On numerous occasions from at least in or about 1996 and continuing for years,

Starting point is 00:08:32 Combs assaulted women and men by striking, punching, dragging, throwing objects at, and kicking them. Combs also assaulted children both physically and sexually. In 1996, Combs was found guilty of criminal mischief for threatening a photographer from the New York Post with a gun. In 1999, he was arrested in charge with second-degree assault and criminal mischief in connection with assaulting a record executive. By the way, I just have to call something out, even besides those last legal cases that I just mentioned in this quote, the sexual assault allegations, the sex trafficking allegations, all of this are just allegations. He hasn't been found guilty of anything yet.

Starting point is 00:09:09 He hasn't been found liable with respect to any of this yet. So it is interesting that Tony Busby is using this language to kind of build up his case, even though, again, to be clear, Sean Combs hasn't been found guilty and hasn't been found liable with respect to any of this, and he's been denying this. Anyway, and to couple that, the lawsuit also lays out all of the civil suits from the past year, from Cassandra Ventura, to Joy Dickerson Neal, to Lisa Gardner, to then Combs' arrest, to his indictment against setting the stage. But it is also done for another reason. In the complaint, it reads, Combs' long history of violence against women unequivocally establishes that his actions

Starting point is 00:09:50 are motivated by gender, both men and women. Combs has a profound contempt for women and a desire to dominate both minors and other men. His conduct shows a longstanding practice of denigrating, defeating, and attempting to humiliate men, women, and children. practices and desires are different for men, women, and children, but his actions are unequivocally motivated by the victim's particular gender and age. Now that is key. Why? Because Jane Doe, like the other people who are suing and being represented by Tony Busby, they are suing under something called the New York City Victims of Gender Motivated Violence Protection Act. This is something we've talked about before. This is a law that gives alleged victims a window to file

Starting point is 00:10:35 claims that would otherwise be time-barred, that would otherwise be too old to bring, until February 2025. That's why you're seeing a lot of these lawsuits now. And this law is for people who say that they are victims of crimes of violence that were perpetrated because of their gender. It doesn't have to just be sexual assault either. It can be any form of violence motivated by gender. So there has to be some sort of animus based on someone's gender. That's the key. That's why you're seeing this language. So with that in mind, here are the claims in this lawsuit. The complaint alleges that on September 7, 2000, Jane Doe, a woman from Alabama, who was then 13 years old, had a friend drop her off at Radio City Music Hall in New York City to attend the VMAs, the video music awards.

Starting point is 00:11:21 Now, Jane Doe claims that she didn't have a ticket to get into the VMA, so instead she says she approached the limo drivers that were outside as a way to get inside. Quote, one of the limousine drivers she spoke to claimed to work for defendant. Combs. He told her that Combs liked younger girls and said she fit what Diddy was looking for, not allowing her into the awards, but inviting her to an after party. So the driver allegedly told her, here, come back later that night at 9.30, 10 o'clock, and then he would take her to the after party. She says that's what happened. She comes back. The driver apparently drives her to a large White House about 20 minutes away. And once inside, she claims she was asked to sign an NDA,

Starting point is 00:12:04 prevent her from talking about what happened at this after party. She claimed she signed it, but she wasn't given a copy. So then she says she goes inside and she describes the scene inside the house as being filled with many celebrities. There were drinks. There was loud music. There was drug use like marijuana and cocaine. And then this is where she says things took a very dark turn. Quote, plaintiff accepted a drink, a reddish yellow mixture that tasted like orange juice, cranberry juice, and something bitter. After drinking just one drink, plaintiff began to feel woozy and lightheaded, making her need to lie down.

Starting point is 00:12:44 And embedded in this complaint is what Jane Doe claims is a photograph of an actual, quote, exemplary container that she says Combs or his associates used to inject GHB into these drinks. The complaint continues, looking for a place to rest. Plaintiff entered what she believed to be an empty bedroom so she could lie down for a moment. She did not lock the door. Soon after Combs, along with a male and female celebrity, entered the room. Combs aggressively approached plaintiff with a crazed look in his eyes, grabbed her and said, you are ready to party.

Starting point is 00:13:22 Combs then threw plaintiff toward another male celebrity, Celebrity A, again unnamed, who removed plaintiff's clothes as she grew more and more disoriented. Plaintiff was held down by Celebrity A, who raped her while Combs and Celebrity B a female watched. After the male celebrity finished, Combs then raped Plaintiff while the Celebrity A and Celebrity B watched. Combs attempted to force Plaintiff to perform oral sex on him, but she resisted by hitting Combs in the neck. He stopped. Plaintiff grabbed her clothes and shoes and left the bedroom, roaming naked through the house looking for the exit as the party continued. That means there were witnesses to see what happened here. Once outside, plaintiff put her clothes back on and left the scene in the dark.

Starting point is 00:14:09 Eventually, plaintiff reached a gas station. A female clerk noticed her distressed and allowed her to use the phone. Plaintiff called her father and admitted that she had lied about her whereabouts and asked him to pick her up. After the assault, plaintiff fell into a deep depression, which continues to affect every facet of her life. Okay, so clearly, a very, very disturbing account. It's on par with the other allegations that we've heard about Combs, parties, alleged drugging, followed by sexual assault. Now, of course, as I said, these are allegations.

Starting point is 00:14:42 Of course, Combs will have an opportunity to defend himself. And you know, from a legal point of view, I wonder if his attorneys could argue well. She claimed she was drugged and disoriented. How exactly does she remember all these details? How does she remember all of this? Is she able to remember all of this 24 years later? And of course, there are obviously a lot of counter responses to that put forward by Jane Doe.

Starting point is 00:15:06 But the point is, Combs will probably assert a defense that this did not happen. Now, in the lawsuit, Jane Doe not only sues Sean Combs, but also several Combs businesses, their entities like Daddy's House Recording Studio Inc and Bad Boy Entertainment. The lawsuit reads, Combs business enterprise is central to the pervasive acts of sexual assault and abuse committed by him during the law. last decades. On the surface, each of these businesses served a legitimate purpose related to entertainment, music, and other subjects, but in reality, Combs, by and through himself and his agents, employees, and contractors used these businesses to sexually assault, abuse, threaten,

Starting point is 00:15:45 and coerce hundreds of individuals through sexual quid pro quo schemes, as well as to take advantage of individuals with impunity thinking the victims would never have any recourse. By the way, that really goes to the racketeering charge that he is facing. And more specifically, and now tied to the allegations facing Jane Doe, who claims that she was assaulted at age 13, the lawsuit reads, the Combs business enabled and conspired with Combs to commit the crime of violence motivated by gender because Combs sexually assaulted plaintiff at a party related to or referencing Combs' business. On information and belief, Combs' businesses routinely committed sexual assault and gender-motivated violence as detailed in other civil lawsuits

Starting point is 00:16:28 to further the business purpose of Combs' enterprise. Interesting. So that is a way that they're trying to hold these businesses liable. We've seen that before, that Combs was an employee or that he had control over these businesses to commit these acts. Now, she's suing for a number of things. She is suing for compensatory damages, physical injuries, psychological harm, emotional distress.

Starting point is 00:16:51 These are damages to make you whole, to restore you to where you were before this happened. She is also suing for punitive damages, and that can be a lot. Those are damages to punish a defendant for really egregious conduct. She's suing for attorney's fees and costs, which actually is something you can recover for using the gender violence statute. And Jane Doe, to close us up, makes this point, too. Plaintiff joins many other victims by filing this complaint in hopes their common voice makes it impossible for Combs to assault another person ever again. So there you go. That's kind of what this lawsuit is about. And I should tell you

Starting point is 00:17:34 in terms of a response. After Sean Combs was indicted in September, his lead counsel, Mark Agnefilo, released this statement. Sean Diddy Combs is a music icon, self-made entrepreneur, loving family man, and proven philanthropist who has spent the last 30 years building an empire, adoring his children, and working to uplift the black community. He is an imperfect person, but he is not a criminal. To his credit, Mr. Combs has been nothing but cooperative with this investigation, and he voluntarily relocated to New York last week in anticipation of these charges. Please reserve your judgment until you have all the facts.

Starting point is 00:18:12 These are the acts of an innocent man with nothing to hide, and he looks forward to clearing his name in court. And in another recent filing about putting a gag order in place for this trial, Agnifilo said. several of these lawyers have made shockingly prejudicial and false allegations of sexual assault and abuse of minors, the details of which need not be repeated. So again, we have another lawsuit for Sean Combs to contend with on top of the many others that he faces and seemingly will continue to face as we expect more to be filed by Tony Busby. And this is of course on top of the criminal charges that he faces, which when you think about it, may be his most pressing

Starting point is 00:18:52 concern because he's currently sitting locked away in the Metropolitan Detention Center after being denied bail. You have to ask me, I think it's the criminal charges he's thinking about more than the civil claims. But we will see if these civil claims play a role in his upcoming federal criminal trial. That's all we have for you right now here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so much for joining us. And 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.

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Law&Crime Sidebar - P. Diddy Allegedly Raped 13-Year-Old Girl with Another Celeb After VMAs: Lawsuit

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