Sean 'Diddy' Combs is facing seven new sexual abuse lawsuits as his lawyers asked the judge overseeing the music mogul's criminal sex trafficking case for a gag order against Combs's accusers and their lawyers.
The civil lawsuits were made public on Sunday and Monday by four men and three women over alleged misconduct in New York, Los Angeles, and Las Vegas dating to 2000 but mainly in 2022, the accusers' lawyer, Tony Buzbee, said on Facebook.
Some lawsuits alleged that unidentified celebrities also assaulted Combs's accusers.
Combs, 54, faces at least two dozen civil lawsuits accusing him of sexual misconduct, including 13 from Buzbee's firm.
Combs has denied wrongdoing. He has also pleaded not guilty in the criminal case and is appealing his more than month-long detention in a Brooklyn jail after being denied bail twice.
Prosecutors allege that Combs coerced victims into participating in sex acts against their will, bribing and intimidating them into keeping quiet, and employing his staff to hide the alleged crimes.
In one new lawsuit, the plaintiff Jane Doe said that she was 13 when Combs and an unnamed male celebrity allegedly drugged and raped her while an unnamed female celebrity looked on at an afterparty for the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards in New York.
Another accuser, John Doe, said that he was a 17-year-old aspiring artist making small talk with Combs at a 2022 party in a Manhattan hotel penthouse, with Combs assuring him that "he could make him a star".
Mr Doe alleged that Combs drugged him with a drink and later assaulted him, including by grabbing his genitals, in a room where others engaged in group sex.
In response to the lawsuits, Combs's lawyers referred to a statement addressing Buzbee's earlier lawsuits.
"Mr Combs and his legal team have full confidence in the facts, their legal defences, and the integrity of the judicial process," the lawyers said. "In court, the truth will prevail: that Mr Combs has never sexually assaulted anyone - adult or minor, man or woman."
Buzbee's firm said that it represents more than 150 of Combs's accusers.
Combs faces a 5 May 2025 criminal trial on three felony counts of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution.
The gag order request from Marc Agnifilo, Combs's primary lawyer, seeks to block potential government witnesses and their lawyers from making statements that substantially interfere with Combs's right to a fair trial.
Agnifilo objected to numerous statements "aimed at assassinating Mr Combs's character in the press", including, he said, false allegations of sexual abuse of children, and asked that prosecutors reveal whether they authorised such statements.
A spokesperson for US Attorney Damian Williams in Manhattan, whose office is prosecuting Combs, declined to comment.
Five of the new lawsuits were filed in federal court, and two were filed in a New York state court, all in Manhattan.
Source: Reuters
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