(New York) Two more women have come forward to file civil charges against Sean “Diddy” Combs of sexual assault, a week after the hip-hop powerhouse settled a separate lawsuit with singer Cassie that contained also allegations of rape and physical assault.
The two new civil suits were filed Thursday on the eve of the expiration of the “Adult Survivors Act,” a New York state law that gave victims of sexual assault a year to file a civil suit, regardless of the statute of limitations.
The new lawsuits allege sexual assault, physical abuse and forcible drug administration – crimes allegedly committed in the early 1990s by Combs, then a producer, party promoter and rising figure in the hip-hop scene. New Yorker.
One of the plaintiffs, Joi Dickerson, said she was a 19-year-old college student when she agreed to meet Combs at a Harlem restaurant in 1991. After their date, Combs allegedly drugged her before take her home and rape her, according to the prosecution’s filing.
Combs allegedly filmed the assault, without the woman’s knowledge, and shared the video with several friends in the music industry, according to the suit. This publication plunged Mme Dickerson in a “downward spiral,” contributing to severe depression that landed her in the hospital and forced her to drop out of school, the suit says.
After the filmed attack, Mme Dickerson said she contacted friends in the industry to ask them to confirm the existence of the video, but people were too “terrified that Combs would retaliate against them.”
In another lawsuit, also filed Thursday, an unidentified woman accuses Combs and an R&B singer, Aaron Hall, of sexually assaulting her in 1990 or 1991. The two men also allegedly raped her friend the same evening, in a another room.
A few days later, a “furious” Combs allegedly showed up at the two women’s homes to try to stop them from talking. He then strangled the plaintiff until she passed out, according to the suit.
A few years after the alleged assaults, Combs, now 54, founded his own label, “Bad Boys Records,” which produced, among others, Mary J. Blige and Biggie Smalls. He became one of the most influential producers in hip-hop history.
The two lawsuits follow a separate series of explosive allegations made last week by Cassie Ventura, who alleged that Combs subjected her to extensive abuse during their years-long affair that began in 2005, when She was 19 and he was 37.
That civil suit was settled a day after it was filed, for an undisclosed amount.