In less than four months, Sean "Diddy" Combs has been sued for sexual assault and harassment five times. But the accusations in the most recent lawsuit don't stop there.
In this lawsuit, filed in federal court Monday, a music producer who worked on Diddy's most recent record claims the hip-hop mogul subjected him to "constant unsolicited and unauthorized groping and touching" of his anus and tried to groom him into engaging in sexual acts with others, including producer Steven Aaron Jordan or "Stevie J" and actor Cuba Gooding Jr.
But in addition to those claims, the plaintiff, Rodney "Lil Rod" Jones, also alleges Diddy conspired with a slew of other defendants in a RICO enterprise, allegedly set up to acquire and transport drugs, firearms and sex workers — some being minors.
Jones claims the defendants executed the enterprise and kept him under their control — forcing him to "solicit sex workers" and "perform acts to the pleasure of Mr. Combs" — by way of intimidation. This includes threats of isolation from the music industry and nonpayment for Jones' work on the album, for which he says he still hasn't been paid despite producing nine songs, according to the lawsuit.
Jones claims Diddy's alleged intimidation approach would often switch, one day promising him "the world" — like vowing he'd get the Grammy Award for Producer of the Year and offering him $250,000 to purchase instruments — then promising violence the next.
In one instance, Jones claims Diddy threatened to eat the producer's face and said that he'd kill his own mother, so harming Jones wouldn't make him think twice, the lawsuit states. In others, Jones said he was forced to watch as Diddy displayed his guns and bragged about getting away with shooting people, including in the 1999 New York City nightclub shooting for which a jury acquitted Diddy of gun possession and bribery charges.
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The lawsuits were filed hours before the expiration of the Adult Survivors Act, which lets adult victims sue over attacks that occurred decades ago.
The lawsuit states Diddy's alleged admission to the nightclub shooting along with another gun-involved incident in September 2022 "reinforced" Jones' fear of Diddy and strengthened the executive's "dominion and control" of the producer.
That 2022 incident occurred at Chalice Recording Studio in Hollywood while Diddy was hosting a writers and producers camp. Jones alleges Diddy, his son Justin and Justin's friend G were in a heated conversation in the studio's bathroom when shots rang out. Jones claims the rapper and his son left the bathroom, but G was lying on the floor, "holding his stomach and bleeding out of his leg/hip area."
Jones says he ran to help the man and sat him on the toilet while calling for others to get an ambulance. Photos in the lawsuit allegedly show G's blood on the studio's restroom floor and toilet stemming from this incident, but when authorities later arrived, Jones says Diddy gave "strict instructions" to lie to them and say G was shot outside of the studio by a drive-by assailant.
According to LAPD's investigation, the victim was shot outside the studio during a robbery and then ran into the studio bleeding. However, Jones says he witnessed LAPD spend hours in the studio after the shooting, including in the bathroom, and make no arrests. The plaintiff claims this is a result of the close relationship Diddy's head of security, Faheem Muhammad, has with law enforcement.
Jones' lawsuit states corroborating witnesses have anonymously confirmed his retelling of the studio shooting and that they have agreed to speak publicly when subpoenaed.
In regard to the other claims, Jones says he has "hundreds" of hours of footage and audio recordings capturing Diddy, his staff and his guests engaging in "serious illegal activity."
These recordings, Jones claims, stem from when he lived with Diddy for months at a time from September 2022 to November 2023, during which Diddy "required" Jones to "record him constantly," the lawsuit states. Some of this alleged proof is shown in the lawsuit, including photos allegedly showing Diddy with underage girls — some of whom were given drug-laced drinks and forced to engage in sexual acts with the mogul — and an image from when Jones woke up "naked, dizzy and confused" next to two sex workers and Diddy. He says he believes Diddy drugged him the night before.
Jones is seeking at least $30 million in the lawsuit, which alleges negligent infliction of emotional distress, premises liability and sex trafficking in addition to the sexual assault and RICO claims. It also names Diddy's chief of staff — whom Jones calls the "Ghislaine Maxwell to Sean Combs' Jeffrey Epstein" — Universal Music Group's CEO, Chalice Recording Studios, Motown Records and more as defendants.
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It’s not clear when he will return to his media company — which said Combs previously had “no operational or day-to-day role” at the network.
In a statement to Billboard, Diddy's attorney Shawn Holley said, "Lil Rod is nothing more than a liar who filed a $30 billion lawsuit shamelessly looking for an undeserved payday. His reckless name-dropping about events that are pure fiction and simply did not happen and is nothing more than a transparent attempt to garner headlines. We have overwhelming, indisputable proof that his claims are complete lies. Our attempts to share this proof with Mr. Jones' attorney, Tyrone Blackburn, have been ignored, as Mr. Blackburn refuses to return our calls. We will address these outlandish allegations in court and take all appropriate action against those who make them."
Jones' suit follows that of four women who have accused Diddy of sexual assault.
R&B singer and Diddy's longtime girlfriend Cassie first sued the rapper in November for rape and physical abuse, though the case was settled shortly after. Later that month, two women filed similar suits on the same day, both claiming Diddy sexually assaulted them. Then in December, a Jane Doe sued claiming Diddy and two others gang-raped her when she was 17.
A spokesperson for Diddy said the claims of the two women who sued after Cassie were "fabricated" and an exploitation of the Adult Survivors Act, which allowed sexual assault survivors to file claims outside of the regular statute of limitations until November of last year.
Then in an Instagram post in December, Diddy again denied the allegations, writing: "Let me be absolutely clear: I did not do any of the awful things being alleged. I will fight or my name, my family and for the truth."
