Law&Crime Sidebar - The Latest on P. Diddy Lawsuits

Episode Date: October 8, 2024

Sean “Diddy” Combs is dealing with multiple federal and state civil lawsuits, on top of the criminal charges a grand jury recommended last month. Law&Crime’s Jesse Weber checked for updates on the cases and has the latest.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW:If you’re ever injured in an accident, you can check out Morgan & Morgan. You can submit a claim in 8 clicks or less without having to leave your couch. To start your claim, visit: https://www.forthepeople.com/LCSidebarHOST:Jesse Weber: https://twitter.com/jessecordweberLAW&CRIME SIDEBAR PRODUCTION:YouTube Management - Bobby SzokeVideo Editing - Michael Deininger and Christina FalconeScript 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. There have been a ton of sexual assault lawsuits filed against Sean Combs and those accusers and those accusations may play a role in his future criminal case. we are going to do a full breakdown of every case and where it currently stands. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber. Now, when it comes to Sean Combs, I always say, and I always mention all the lawsuits that he's facing.

Obviously, it's important for his legal liability, but we do wonder, of course, if any of those accusers are cooperating with federal prosecutors in their criminal cases. against Sean Combs. Was it because of these lawsuits that this federal investigation began? What is the interplay between them? I will tell you what is clear is that the lawsuits play a major role in the legal saga and downfall of this music mogul. The man who currently faces federal charges of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking by forced fraud or coercion, transportation to engage in prostitution. Essentially, what the feds are saying is that Combs led a criminal enterprise, that he used his power, influence, wealth, and even violence to force people around him to engage in and facilitate coerced, drug-fueled freak-offs, elaborate and lengthy

sexual performances, usually with male sex workers involved, that he basically engaged in a campaign of repeated abuse of women since 2008, that he and his criminal enterprise would engage in illegal activity like kidnapping, arson, bribery to further their goals. Now, why do I say all this? I say all this because I want you to keep in mind these criminal allegations as we talk about all of these civil lawsuits because there are overlapping themes, overlapping allegations of sexual assault, violence, coercion, dangling opportunities in front of people to get them to do what he wanted.

And most of these lawsuits, they predate. when the government alleges his criminal conduct began, but it's not clear if these lawsuits could in fact play a role in the case. Could these accusers take the stand against him? We shall see. But as we anticipate what evidence will be presented against Combs in his future criminal trial, it is important to understand all of these lawsuits, all of these allegations. So with that in mind, this is a full breakdown of all of the civil lawsuits. and the latest developments. Okay, now, before we even get into the current lawsuits,

I would be remiss if I didn't quickly mention the lawsuit that started at all. We've talked about this extensively, but Cassandra Ventura, Cassie, filed a lawsuit against Combs back on November 16th, 2023. She claimed that Combs physically, sexually, and psychologically abused her and even forced her into sexual slavery. Among the many claims in her suit were that Combs raped her, beat her in a hotel hallway back in 2016, which, as we know, was seemingly documented in a viral surveillance video that was published by CNN several months ago.

She claimed that Combs even blew up Kid Cutty's car because Cassie had begun a romantic relationship with him. And in an accusation that was echoed almost verbatim in the criminal indictment, she alleges that she was forced to participate in and set up the freak-offs with male sex workers. as Combs just watched and pleasureed himself. Now, this lawsuit was settled one day after it was filed in New York federal court. It was actually filed, by the way, in the Southern District of New York. That's the same jurisdiction as the federal criminal case.

And when they settled, Combs released a statement. We have decided to resolve this matter amicably. I wish Cassie and her family all the best love. Ventura also released a statement. I have decided to resolve this matter amicably on terms that I have some level of control. I want to thank my family, fans, and lawyers for their unwavering support. Now, while details of that settlement were not released, what we do know is that set off a chain reaction. The influx of lawsuits came in, and there is a very strong argument, as we have said before in previous sidebars,

that Cassandra Ventura is cooperating with federal authorities because a lot of her allegations seem to be within that criminal indictment or are mirrored in that criminal indictment. And I think there's an argument to be said that she is victim number one in the sex trafficking charge. But her lawsuit set up everything else. Her lawsuit set up a chain reaction where we saw all these other lawsuits. Because what else happened in November of 2023? Actually, November 23, 2023, to be exact, Lisa Gardner filed her lawsuit against Sean Combs in New York State court. She claims that back in 1990 when she was 16 years old, she and her friend met Combs and singer-songwriter Aaron Hall in an event at MCA Records. Later that night, she says

that they were invited to Hall's apartment for an after party. Well, there, she claims she was offered drinks and was coerced into having sex with Combs, only then to be sexually assaulted by Hall right after that. Gardner even claims that her friend, too, was raped and that the men went back and forth sexually assaulting them. She then alleges that a few days later, Combs came to her home and he was irate, began assaulting her, choking her to the point that she passed out. So now she sued him for battery, assault, sexual assault, negligent infliction of emotional distress. And on a procedural note, she sued him under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, which allows victims of sex trafficking, to sue their alleged traffickers. So she is suing Combs,

Hall, MCA, Geffen Records, but she also sued pursuant to the New York Adult Survivors Act. And this is important because that's the same law that Cassandra Ventura used to file her lawsuit. This act, or the ASA, created a one-year look-back window from November 24th, 2022 to November 24th, 2023 for survivors of sexual assault that occurred when they were over the age of 18 to sue their abusers regardless of when the abuse occurred. So she sued right before that window closed. And the reasons this law was passed was because we have learned over the years the complexities of sexual assault that due to a variety of reasons, many times victims will not report their crimes immediately or even realize that they're victims. And so while an assault may be too old to bring criminal charges

providing justice in a civil context is now an alternative. Okay. By the way, in response to these lawsuits, and I'm going to get into another one in a minute, Combs representative released the statement, and it 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. And then it went on to say that the New York legislature surely did not intend or expect the Adult Survivors Act to be exploited by scammer.

the public should be skeptical and not rush to accept these bogus allegations. Now, what happened with this lawsuit? Well, it was actually dismissed in New York, and then it was refiled in New Jersey, in New Jersey court. Gardner's lawyer wrote, quote, plaintiff and this writer have received information from several witnesses, a former employee of UMG subsidiary, uptown records, and a bad boy records executive. This new information adds context to the plaintiff's claims and clarifies the timeline. So it seems that there may have been some confusion as to where this assault took place because in her new complaint, Gardner claims that she was taken by car service from

New York City to an apartment in New Jersey where she was sexually assaulted. And last month, in an order from Judge Leo Gordon from the United States District of New Jersey, federal court, The court indicates that Gardner intends to amend the complaint and may move the case to New Jersey State Court. By the way, as I was going through all of these lawsuits, it just made me think, how skilled you have to be in this area of law? Litigation. I used to practice litigation, and particularly when you think about personal injury law, those cases can be very, very complicated and also very emotional. But that is why we are proud to partner with our sponsor, Morgan and Morgan, America's large. injury law firm. Look, if you should get injured this firm with over a thousand attorneys, a team of investigators, paralegal specialists, they may be who you want in your corner.

And talking track record for a second. Give you an example, they recently secured verdicts of $12 million in Florida, $26 million in Philadelphia, and $6.8 million in New York. And mind you, these are all considerably higher than the highest insurance offers in these cases. With Morgan and Morgan, there's no upfront fee. They only get paid. If you get paid, The whole process can be done straight from your smartphone. So if you're injured, you can easily start a claim at for the people.com slash LC sidebar, or you can click the link in the description and pinned in the comments. Okay, now sticking with November 2023 lawsuits, let's talk about Joy Dickerson Neal.

Again, she filed her lawsuit in November of 2023, actually amended it in June of 2024. She claims that when she was a college student back in 1991 while on break from school, She went to dinner with Sean Combs. Apparently, they had mutual friends, and she even appeared in a music video with him. That's what she claims. Now, she also claims that that night, Combs drugged and raped her, but also that he videotaped the sexual assault, something she claims she didn't even realize at the time. Her complaint reads, quote, days later, a male friend revealed to her that he had viewed the sex tape along with other men.

Horrified, Ms. Dickerson asked how many others saw it, to which, he responded, everyone. She claims that this had a detrimental effect on her life, including her having to be admitted to the hospital for severe depression. Now, she also claims that she filed police reports, that she tried to press charges against Sean Combs, but she was told that she would need to corroborate her account with witnesses and other people who experienced sexual assaults, but she says people were too afraid to come forward against Sean Combs. Dickerson Neal even says that at one point in time, she ran into Combs at a party and he allegedly got on his knees and insisted he didn't do what she claimed he did to her. She ended up suing for assault, battery, as well as intentional infliction of emotional distress.

She also sued under the Adult Survivors Act. And in one of the latest developments back in August, Combs filed a legal brief in support of his motion to dismiss her lawsuit. he argues that her assault claim fails because she did not properly allege imminent apprehension of harmful contact, and that the intentional infliction of emotional distress claim fails, first, because it's duplicative of the assault and battery claim. Second, basing intentional distress on sharing the sex tape, revenge porn, would make the claim time-barred under the Adult Survivor's Act, and third, you can't say that Combs shared drugs with Dickerson Neal, that that's intentional infliction of emotional distress because it's

not outrageous enough to qualify for that. So we will see where that case ultimately goes. All right. So next up, we have a lawsuit that was filed on December 6, 2023 by an unidentified woman known as Jane Doe. It was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York as well. She sued under New York City's gender-motivated violence protection law and sued Combs and Harvey Pierre, the president of Bad Boy Entertainment, and a third person claiming that the trio sex trafficked and gang raped her back in 2003 when she was only 17 years old and in the 11th grade. She claims that she met Pierre in this third assailant in a lounge in Detroit, Michigan,

that Pierre sexually assaulted her, and then flew her on a private jet to New York City where Combs and his associates just plied her with drugs and alcohol and then proceeded to rape her. In fact, she claims that Combs complained that she needed to pinch his nipples as hard as she could. Within her complaint, she also supplied photos, allegedly of her and Combs, her faces blurred out. And interestingly, she credits her coming out with these allegations because of Ventura and the other plaintiffs who sued Combs. Her complaint reads, quote, Ms. Doe has lived with her memories of this face. night for 20 years, during which time she has suffered extreme emotional distress that has impacted nearly every aspect of her life and personal relationships. Given the brave women who have come

forward against Ms. Combs and Mr. Pierre in recent weeks, Ms. Doe is doing the same. Now, Combs and Pierre, they denied the accusations. They filed a motion to dismiss. It's our understanding that at the time of this recording, Jane Doe has not yet filed her response to that motion to dismiss. In fact, by the way, it was this lawsuit that prompted Combs to post quite the statement. The statement was, enough is enough for the last couple of weeks. I have sat silently and watched 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, which, by the way, was interesting. considering, as I mentioned, that video of him allegedly beating Cassandra Ventura was released by CNN, and he released a statement on Instagram, seemingly conceding it was him. And by the way, we just did a sidebar the other day where his mom came out and said, yeah, he was lying. He was lying about denying all these allegations. Anyway, Mr. Pierre also released a statement adamantly denying the accusation,

saying this is a tale of fiction, I have never participated in, witnessed nor heard of anything like this ever. disgusting allegations are false and a desperate attempt for financial gain. I will vigorously protect my reputation and defend my name. Those who know me recognize that these claims are not true. All right, this next one's a big one. It's gotten a lot of publicity. You probably heard about it. Rodney Lil Rod Jones. He first filed his lawsuit in February of 2024, then amended it the next month. And it was also filed in New York federal court, the Southern District. So let's talk a little bit more about Mr. Jones lawsuit. So he's a former. producer, he worked with Sean Combs on the Love album, and then sued him and a variety of

individuals and entities for a number of different claims, including sexual assault, harassment, sex trafficking, racketeering. And in terms of the corporate entities and individuals that he sued, he says they facilitated or contributed to the abuse that he endured at the hands of Sean Combs, that they're liable to. So the main idea is that all of the defendants are part of this illegal criminal enterprise in violation of RICO or racketeering laws, that they were making money by forcing and threatening people like Jones to transport guns and drugs, to solicit minors and sex workers, to make music without properly paying them, that he was present for multiple episodes of abuse and violence that Combs inflicted on others. Now, Jones alleged numerous events

in these papers. For example, Jones claims that Combs repeatedly and intentionally groped his private parts without his consent. This happened in Los Angeles, New York, Florida, the Virgin Islands, that Combs continually forced Jones to be in his presence while he was naked and showered. And Jones also claims that Combs attempted to groom him into homosexual sex. And one of the ways he allegedly says Combs tried to do that was by using producer Stephen Aaron Jordan, who Jones apparently looked up to. Combs allegedly showed Jones a video of Jordan engaging in a sex act with another man as a way to, quote, ease his anxiety concerning homosexuality. Quite the allegation.

By the way, in tying kind of back to the criminal allegations, Jones alleges that Combs had hidden cameras in every room of his homes. And there were secret recordings of celebrities and associates that he has, quote, compromising footage of every person that has attended his parties. He also claims, by the way, that he was sexually abused by actor Cuba Gooding Jr. That he was also abused by an associate of rapper Young Miami, that this happened on separate occasions. In fact, he claims also he was present for a shooting that happened at a recording studio in

Los Angeles that he says Combs tried to cover up. And Jones, within his complaint, provided screenshots of what he says of the bloodstained bathroom where he claims a man was shot by either Combs or his son and claims that he still has the clothing to prove it. Jones also alleges more recently than on July 2nd, 2023 out in California, Combs had a party at his home with underage girls, sex workers, his son, and an unidentified R&B artist. And embedded in this lawsuit were screenshots of a video that was allegedly taken of this party and it purportedly shows Combs either kissing or dancing almost face-to-face with an alleged underage girl.

Now, quite the, quite the lawsuit, but in an update, and we actually just did a whole sidebar on this, Jones had just filed an opposition to the Combs defendant's motion to dismiss the case. Jones is saying that this case can't be thrown out. First, he says, just look at the newly filed criminal indictment against Combs. The allegations in there mirror his allegations. He argues that a grand jury indictment creates a presumption of probable cause that a crime was committed and argues, quote, it goes without saying that after the indictment of Sean Combs, the bombastic blowviations and the defendant's motion to dismiss did not age well. He also argues, through his attorney, that to the claim that he wasn't maybe specific enough in his complaint, that he can provide more details. He can name names.

He writes, quote, We will also provide the identity of the travel agent who booked all of the flights and rented all of the chartered planes that Mr. Combs and the members of the Combs RICO Enterprise used to traffic prostitutes, victims of sexual trafficking, drugs, and unmarked guns both nationally and internationally.

We will also provide the name of the charter company that knowingly had Mr. Combs' name on multiple flight manifest traveling to and from national and international destinations all on the same day and often at the same time while Mr. Combs was sitting in his house in Miami. Maybe Mr. Combs will provide a sworn declaration under penalty of perjury, attesting to what and or who was on those planes.

He writes further, we will also provide detailed information, dates, times, places when Mr. Combs and the members of his RICO Enterprise use TSA to transport cocaine, to see ketamine, and other illegal drugs, both nationally and internationally. And to put a bow on this just a few days ago on October 1st, Combs lawyer wrote the court that they are requesting an 11-day extension to properly respond to what Jones just alleged in this opposition filing. So we'll keep an eye on what happens next there. All right, now the next suit that we're going to talk about, yes, it's against Sean Combs, but really the focus and the main defendant is his son, Christian Combs. It concerns a woman named Grace O'Markey because she filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior. court on April 4th, 2024. She claims that while she was working as a steward on Combs chartered

yacht back in December of 2022 out in St. Martin, she was assaulted by Christian. She writes how she believed the trip would be a wholesome family excursion, but says it turned into a hedonistic environment. She even described rampant drug use among sex workers and celebrities who came on board the yacht. She even says that she believes the alcohol on that yacht had been laced with drugs because she says women would have one drink and then almost immediately pass out or start falling over. Now, she alleges that one night, Christian came on board and started groping her legs, her breasts, her private areas. Now, Markey says that she tried to go back to her work at one point, but Christian allegedly found her, wanted her to find him a place to sleep for the

night. So she says she took him to the cinema room on the yacht, and she claims that is when Christian blocked her in, groped her, took off his clothes, and tried to force her to perform oral sex on him. She says that she was able to fight him off until someone came in. The lawsuit goes on to say that on Markey told the yacht captain what had happened the next day, but not only did he not believe her, he didn't do any sort of investigation. And she says the captain retaliated against her for months after the alleged assault before firing her in May of 23. The civil suit accuses Christian of assault, battery, sexual assault, intentional infliction of emotional distress. As for Sean Combs, he is also named as a defendant, and he is

accused of aiding and abetting Christian's behavior, as well as having something called premises liability because he was the leaseholder of the yacht. Premises liability means that you have a duty to keep people on your property safe from injuries. So in other words, it was his responsibility to keep O'Markey safe from being abused. Now, as for the latest in this case, there is a case management conference scheduled for December 10th, 2024, and that's where the parties will usually set out a timetable of when certain things will happen in this case, discovery, when the trial might happen, maybe they will move this to arbitration or something like that.

So we'll see where that progresses. Now let's move on to Crystal McKinney's lawsuit, also filed in New York federal court. this one happened in May of 2024. So this is after the raids on Sean Combs' properties in L.A. and Miami back in March of 2024. So in her lawsuit, she begins by talking about her modeling career, how she began modeling in 1998, how she appeared in multiple campaigns. But then you fast forward to 2003, when she was 22 years old, she says she was invited to attend a fashion event in downtown Manhattan, where a designer said that he planned to introduce her to Sean Combs to, quote,

advance her modeling career. Now, she says that she would end up meeting Sean Combs and this fashion designer at a dinner. And at the dinner, the rapper was flirting with her quite aggressively. And even at one point, later in the night, he allegedly told her that he

was going to help her with her career, that he had the power in the industry to do so. And during the dinner, she claims he continued to ply her with alcohol. Well, later that night, Combs allegedly asked her to meet him at his studio. where she was given, what she says, was laced marijuana, and it was at that point she claims

Combs forced her to perform oral sex on him in a bathroom. She claims that this sexual assault caused her lifelong harm, her modeling opportunities dwindled. She says that Combs blackballed her in the industry. She says that she has suffered anxiety, depression, addiction. Now, here's an interesting twist. She claims, in an effort to prove that this happens, she is a She has the unwashed clothes of this event and they remain in a plastic bag that this is evidence of what happened to her. Now she sued Combs under New York City's Gender Motivated Violence Protection Act. And by the way, I mentioned this before in a previous lawsuit.

What this does is this revives old claims of crimes of violence that are perpetrated because of someone's gender. And she explains that a New York court has held sexual assault is an example. example of gender motivated violence. So what's happening with this one? What's the latest development? Well, apparently Combs raised a number of problems and issues in this complaint. So now, in an order just from a few days ago, United States District Court judge for the Southern District, Judge Naomi Rice Buckwold, is allowing McKinney to file an amended complaint to fix any of the discrepancies that were raised by Sean Combs. The next lawsuit we're going to talk

about is April Lampros. She filed her lawsuit against Sean Combs in New York State Court on May 23rd, 24. She claims she met Sean Combs back in 1994. She was a college student studying fashion design, marketing, and she says that Combs tried to impress her by inviting her to Bad Boy Recording Studios in New York City. The filing, in fact, even includes a photo of Combs with his arms around Lampos and another woman. This was purportedly at Bad Boy Recording Studios. 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 loved 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. And by the way, included there in the complaint is a photo of the card from the New York Florist, The Daily Blossom, and it says, Valentine's Day, Love Puffy. Anyway, according to Lampros, what started with love bombing or flirty relationships or undertones, it quickly went south. The complaint says, quote, upon information and belief, what Mr. Combs displayed as kind

gestures quickly manifested into an aggressive, coercive, and abusive relationship based on sex. She claims that he flew her to different locations, too. The filing even includes photos of Lamproast reportedly at Combs' home in Florida. She claims that she was sexually assaulted by Sean Combs multiple times, including one time in 1995, when she says that she was doozy from a few sips of a drink and that Combs then proceeded to rape her. She claims during one forced sexual encounter at a parking garage, the parking attendant saw the whole thing. Now Lampro says that she tried to distance herself from Combs, but he kept calling, threatening her, knew where she lived and worked.

And then I'm going to highlight one more point for you in this lawsuit. It says, according to Ms. Lampros, in or about 2023, Ms. Lampros was at a function, and a gentleman 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. Lamproes, this person 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. So, again, a kind of recurring allegation. And that echoes other claims that we have seen in other lawsuits, too. So she sued for battery assault, sexual assault, negligent infliction of emotional distress, violation of the victims of gender-motivated violence protection law, which we talked about earlier. And in one of the latest legal moves in this lawsuit, this was from last month, actually,

Combs and the other defendants that are listed in the lawsuit like Bad Boy Records and Arista Records, They filed a brief in support of a motion to dismiss Lampros' case. They argue that multiple claims are time-barred, that they're past the statute of limitations and when you can file a lawsuit on those claims. They argue also that multiple alleged incidents occurred before the passage of the gender violence law, that the law doesn't apply retroactively. More specifically, when it comes to Bad Boy, they argue that Lampos hasn't sufficiently established that the company enabled Combs alleged misconduct and that what he allegedly

did even didn't even fall within his scope as an employee to hold the company responsible. Okay, next lawsuit we want to talk about. This is an interesting one, too. So it concerns a man known as Derek Lee Cardello Smith. He is an inmate at the Ernst C. Brooks Correctional Facility out in Michigan. He's currently serving a 75-year prison sentence for criminal sexual conduct and kidnapping charges. Now, while he's in prison, he filed a lawsuit against Sean Combs on June 1st of this year. And Cardella Smith claims that Combs drugged and sexually assaulted him at a party in Detroit back in 1997.

His complaint, and by the way, representing himself, so he wrote it all himself, states, quote, I then went to get another drink and Sean asked me if I needed something else. I said no. And he said, here, drink this one. And I thought it was another glass of Jim Beam, so I took it because I had sat one down in the other room, and then I drank some more. And I stayed sitting there and began getting drowsy and started to pass out. And then Sean Combs said to me, I added a little something to it for you. I will get that from you anyway. One way or another, I then passed out. Now, Cardella Smith claims that when he woke up, Combs told him he had assaulted him. He alleges that he filed a police report, but really couldn't talk about what happened to him. In fact, he says it was therapy in prison that helped him to realize he was, in fact, a victim of rape. He goes on to claim that Combs even paid off the police to keep the whole thing quiet. And he also alleges that after he filed this massive $100 million lawsuit against Combs, Combs and or his associates came to the Michigan prison in person to offer him money to dismiss the lawsuit, 2.3

million dollars. He claimed Combs said, you know how we get down, to which Cardello Smith allegedly responded. Well, I disagree with how you get down. Now, this is where it took an interesting turn. A Michigan judge granted Cardello Smith's petition for a temporary restraining order to prevent Combs from selling property for a period of 90 days. This was after Combs had tried to sell his Los Angeles home. And this was during a hearing in August. This was a big win. for Cadello Smith, who, by the way, was representing himself, especially for a guy with a history of being very litigious. He's filed numerous criminal appeals and civil complaints. I mean, honestly, I was looking at his filings and the terms that he uses for a guy without the resources

of a law firm, for a guy who's not an attorney, no proper legal education, he did a pretty good job. He won. And from there, speaking about that, he asked the court to enter a default judgment against Sean Combs because he said he's never responded. And we actually, looked at the court papers and included is a signed, sworn declaration from Cardella Smith that he did serve Combs with the summons and the complaint. And by the way, when we talk about a default judgment, a default judgment is when there is an order that says you automatically lose this case because you fail to take some action. And that is exactly what happened. Combs apparently never responded and the court entered a $100 million default judgment

against him with him having to pay $10 million a month starting in October. Now, Sean Combs' legal team fought back, and they issued some filings, and they basically said, we didn't respond to this lawsuit because we didn't even know about it, that Sean Combs was never served with the summons of the complaint, and that they only found out about this, about what was going on when the media reported that Sean Combs would have to owe $100 million. Combs' defense team also called this case frivolous. The allegations unbelievable actually calls them made up.

And even in an affidavit from Sean Combs himself, he says, quote, I do not know the plaintiff, Derek Lee Cardello Smith, I never assaulted the plaintiff, I never visited the plaintiff in prison. Here's an interesting development. We went on the court docket, and there appeared to be a number of filings that were made yesterday, seemingly from Cardello Smith. They include references to Michigan's rules on processing and manner of. service, the very issue that Combs raised, and then something called emergency motion to reinstate the default judgment. So it appears, perhaps, the default judgment was set aside by the court and Derek Lee, Cardella Smith, wants it reinstated. We'll keep an eye on this one. Now let's talk about one of the latest lawsuits, Dawn Richard. So she filed a lawsuit against Combs on September 10th,

2024 in New York federal court. This was right before he was arrested in charge. Now, She actually sued multiple people in entities, Combs, Harvey Pierre, Daddy's House Recording Studio, Interscope, Geffen, AM records. Now, Richard, for those of you don't know, is a singer, songwriter, performer, musician. She was a member of the girl group Danity Kane that was formed by Sean Combs, and she also performed later in the group Diddy Dirty Money. Now, Don Richard claims she witnessed Combs brutally beat Cassandra Ventura. In fact, she recounts one example when she witnessed him, push her against a wall, choke her, and throw scalding hot eggs at her. So it makes you wonder if she will be a corroborating witness in the federal case, assuming Ventura is the main accuser that makes up the allegations in the indictment. And she says that when she tried to step into help, Combs allegedly threatened her life by allegedly saying, you want to die today?

I make ends go missing, and I end people. Now, on a financial point of view, she also accuses Combs of exploiting her musical talent as a singer and songwriter by withholding her rightful earnings, stealing her copyright works, and subjecting her to years of inhumane working conditions, which included groping, assault, and false imprisonment. For instance, she claims that Combs denied her food and sleep, kept forcing her to work, that he would hold meetings only in his underwear, so she sued for, among other claims, sexual assault, battery, false imprisonment. imprisonment, forced labor, human trafficking, sex trafficking. Talking about a recent development in this case, Richard's attorney sent a letter to the court that she and Sony Music Publishing, another defendant in this case, they have agreed to allow Sony more time to respond to this complaint. Next, we have Talia Graves who sued Shawd Combs on September 24th, 24. So this was after he was arrested and indicted. She sues him in New York federal court,

again, Southern District of New York, same jurisdiction as the criminal case. Now, she is suing, again, under the New York City Gender Motivated Violence Protection Act. She is suing under a New York civil rights law claim and a New York administrative code claim. She alleges that back in 2001, at 25 years old, she was lured to the bad boy record studio in New York City. And there, she claimed she was possibly drugged, and then Combs and his bodyguard, Joseph Sherman, viciously and savagely raped her. She claims that she has never psychologically recovered from this alleged attack. And in her complaint, it states, quote,

any progress plaintiff has made in healing from the attack over the years was dramatically reversed on or around November 27, 2023, when she learned for the first time that Combs and Sherman had video recorded the horrific rape 22 years before and had shown the video to multiple men seeking to publicly degrade and humiliate both plaintiff and her boyfriend. And finally, to close this out, we have one more Jane Doe who has filed a lawsuit against Sean Combs. This is on September 27th. She claims she was drugged and sexually assaulted by Combs and even that he secretly recorded their sexual encounter.

But here's where it's a little different. She claims all of this happened after meeting him abroad in 2020. So this is recent. She actually claims that she was abused by Sean Combs for four years until his houses were raided by the feds. In allegations that are similar to the criminal indictment, she says that Combs and his associates would arrange for her travel to Combs' properties in L.A., New York, Miami, that this would happen regularly.

She even claims that Combs may have impregnated her, but she also alleges that she was pressured by rapper Young Miami to have an abortion, and she claims that she ultimately suffered a miscarriage. Now, if you didn't think everything I just described was enough, as we reported on a previous sidebar, Texas attorney Tony Busby says he plans to file multiple lawsuits on behalf of 120 people who claim they were sexually abused by Sean Combs. And according to him, this includes minors, such as a nine-year-old. He is indicated that he will first file the suits against corporate entities who are responsible or enabled this.

And then later on, he will file lawsuits against major celebrities who either participated in or facilitated this alleged abuse. In fact, he indicated to TMZ that he was, already sent letters to these celebrities to get them to settle before the lawsuits are filed, and according to him, some have already settled. Now, I don't know if we're going to do a breakdown of 120 lawsuits. Look how long this one took. But what we will do is we will definitely keep following the very latest in this ongoing saga of Sean Diddy Combs. That is all we have for you right now here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so much for joining us on this very

long episode of Sidebar. As always, please subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, wherever you get your podcasts. I'm Jesse Weber. Speak to you next time.