(New York) A woman alleging that Sean “Diddy” Combs subjected her to violence and abuse for several years in the 1990s has filed a lawsuit in New York, accusing the rapper of sexual assault, assault and gender-based violence.
April Lampros, who met Combs in 1994 while she was a student, described several “terrifying sexual encounters” with him. She said she was forced to take ecstasy and have sex with Combs’ former girlfriend, Kim Porter.
Lampros’ lawsuit, filed Thursday in state court in Manhattan, follows a series of allegations against the hip-hop mogul. A former model has accused Combs of sexually assaulting her at his New York recording studio in 2003 in another lawsuit filed earlier this week.
Lampros, 51, said she was a student at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York when she met Combs, who showered her with gifts and promised to help her realize her dream of a career in fashion.
The relationship became abusive and coercive, according to the suit.
Lampros said Combs raped her in a Manhattan hotel room in 1995. She passed out and woke up the next morning “naked, sore and confused,” according to the suit.
According to the complainant, on another occasion, Combs forced her to perform oral sex on him in a parking lot, in full view of an employee.
Additionally, Combs allegedly forced Lampros and Porter to have sex in his apartment in 1996 after they were forced to swallow ecstasy pills, the suit alleges.
“Mme Lampros strongly objected to the idea, but Mr. Combs quickly reminded her that she had no control over the situation because he could cause her to lose her job,” the suit states.
Porter died of pneumonia in 2018.
A message seeking comment on Lampros’ accusations was sent to an attorney for Combs.
The Associated Press generally does not identify sexual assault victims by name unless they identify themselves publicly, as Lampros did.
The lawsuits filed by Lampros and the former model come days after CNN released security video showing Combs attacking singer Cassie in the hallway of a Los Angeles hotel in 2016. Combs released a video on Sunday admitting that he had attacked Cassie in the hotel hallway, saying he was “so sorry” and his actions were “inexcusable”.
A complaint Cassie filed in November, alleging battery and abuse, was settled a day after it was filed. This prompted increased scrutiny of Combs, with additional lawsuits filed in the following months, as well as a federal sex trafficking investigation that led to searches of Combs’ mansions in Los Angeles and Miami.