Sean “Diddy” Combs was sued Monday in federal court by a producer on his most recent album, who accuses the music mogul of sexually harassing, drugging and threatening him over more than a year. The producer, Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, says in the lawsuit that he lived and traveled with Combs from September 2022 to November 2023, during which time he recorded hours of video and audio of Combs, his staff and others “engaging in serious illegal activity.”
Among the allegations is that Combs forced Jones to procure sex workers and pressured him to engage in unwelcomed sex acts with them and others and that Combs gave laced alcoholic beverages to people who attended parties at his homes.
The lawsuit includes what it says are screenshots from gatherings hosted at Combs’ homes that included underage girls and sex workers, some of whom he said were provided drinks that had been laced with drugs at Combs’ direction.
The suit, filed in U.S District Court for the Southern District of New York, also names Combs’ adult son, Justin; his chief of staff, Kristina Khorram; Universal Music Group CEO Sir Lucian Grainge; and former Motown Records CEO Ethiopia Habtemariam as defendants. Jones says in the lawsuit that Grainge, Habtemariam, Motown Records, Love Records and Universal Music Group effectively worked together with Combs in a “RICO enterprise” that “failed to adequately monitor, warn, or supervise” the actions of Combs, his son and his chief of staff. A RICO enterprise is any individuals or groups that act together to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.
Jones is seeking $30 million.
Representatives for Justin Combs, Khorram, Grainge, Motown Records and Love Records did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Habtemariam could not immediately be reached for comment.
An attorney for Combs said Jones’ “reckless name-dropping about events that are pure fiction and simply did not happen 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,” the attorney, Shawn Holley, said in a statement. “We will address these outlandish allegations in court and take all appropriate action against those who make them.”
The suit is the latest in a series of damning allegations against Combs.
According to Jones’ lawsuit, in or about August 2022, Combs called Jones and requested that he produce several songs on the R&B album “The Love Album: Off the Grid,” which was released in September 2023 and was nominated for a Grammy.
“Mr. Jones agreed, and his life has been detrimentally impacted ever since,” the lawsuit says.
Jones alleges that Combs sexually harassed and assaulted him while he lived with him at Combs’ homes in Florida, Los Angeles and New York, as well as on a yacht Combs rented in the U.S. Virgin Islands. The harassment and assault included “constant unsolicited and unauthorized groping and touching of his anus,” according to the lawsuit.
Jones says he was forced to work in Combs’ bathroom as Combs showered naked in a glass enclosure, according to the lawsuit.
When he raised concerns about the behavior to Khorram, Combs’ chief of staff, the lawsuit says, she dismissed them as “friendly horseplay, stating that those acts were Mr. Combs way of ‘showing that he likes you.’”
The lawsuit accuses Khoramm of aiding and abetting Combs’ sexual assault of Jones and of working with Combs “to groom him into accepting a homosexual relationship.”
Jones also alleges that he was forced to solicit sex workers and perform sex acts with them to please Combs.
To aid in the alleged recruitment, Jones said, Combs provided him with “an exclusive Bad Boy baseball cap” and required him to wear it to a Miami establishment “as a signal to any sex worker he approached” that Combs was in town and had sent Jones to recruit them, the lawsuit says.
Jones alleges Combs, whom he describes in the suit as “forceful and demanding” and someone who does not take no for an answer, leveraged his power as one of the most influential people in hip-hop and business to intimidate him, including by threatening to inflict bodily harm if Jones did not comply with his demands.
On one occasion, Jones alleges, Combs forced him to watch as he displayed guns and bragged about getting away with shooting people. In a separate incident, Jones alleges, Combs shared that he was responsible for a shooting in a nightclub in New York City in 1999 with the rapper Shyne, born Jamal Barrow. A jury acquitted Combs of gun possession and bribery charges in connection with that incident, while Barrow was sentenced to 10 years in jail. Jones was terrified of Combs and felt he could not tell him no, according to the suit.
“Mr. Combs consistently made it clear that he has immense power in the music industry and with law enforcement,” the lawsuit says.
Jones says in the lawsuit that he has video and audio evidence to support some of the allegations. The lawsuit says that Combs required Jones to “record him constantly” and that on several occasions, Combs took Jones’ cellphone to record himself. As a result, Jones alleges, he has hundreds of hours of video and audio records of Combs, his staff and his guests “engaging in serious illegal activity.”
Jones says in the suit that he believes Combs also drugged him on Feb. 2, 2023. He alleges he woke up naked, dizzy and confused in bed with Combs and two sex workers.
In response to a request for comment, Jones’ attorney, Tyrone Blackburn, used a Latin phrase, “res ipsa loquitur,” which loosely translates as “the thing speaks for itself,” referring to the lawsuit.
Jones says in the suit that he was “under an implied work-for-hire agreement” and was not compensated for the songs he produced on “The Love Album.” As a result, the lawsuit says, Combs, Love Records, Motown Records and Universal Music Group were all unjustly enriched at his expense. The labels did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Combs has been sued by four women who have accused him of sexual assault. Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, said Combs physically abused her and forced her to have sex with male prostitutes while he masturbated and recorded the encounters. The lawsuit was settled the day after it was filed. The settlement was “in no way an admission of wrongdoing,” Combs’ lawyer, Ben Brafman, has said.
Following Cassie’s lawsuit, two other women, Liza Gardner and Joie Dickerson-Neal, have alleged in lawsuits that Combs sexually assaulted them. And a woman identified as Jane Doe in court documents said Combs and two other men gang-raped her when she was 17 and Combs was 34.
Those three cases against Combs are still pending. In a statement in December, he denied the allegations, saying “enough is enough,” and called the claims against him “sickening.”
“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,” he said in the statement.
The mounting allegations stand to harm Combs’ legacy and business empire. A day after Ventura filed her suit, three of Combs’ former artists expressed support for her. The same month, Combs stepped down as the chairman of Revolt TV. In December, Hulu scrapped a reality television show that was to have followed his family. And in January, Combs withdrew his lawsuit against Diageo as part of a settlement with the London-based spirits giant, which he had accused of racism.
— CutC by nbcnews.com
