Note: This article contains descriptions of alleged sexual assault.
Sean “Diddy” Combs has been sued for the fourth time this autumn by a woman who accuses him of sexual assault. In the new complaint, the woman, identified as Jane Doe, claims that Diddy, former Bad Boy Entertainment president Harve Pierre, and an unnamed third person “sex trafficked and gang raped” her in 2003 when she was a 17-year-old high school student.
Doe claims in her lawsuit that she met Pierre and the third person “in a lounge in the Detroit, Michigan area,” and that “Pierre insisted that he was ‘best friends’ with Mr. Combs, and even called Mr. Combs with Ms. Doe.”
Doe says in the complaint that Diddy, who was 34 years old at the time of the alleged incident, convinced her to join him, Pierre, and the third man on his private jet to go to the musician’s recording studio in New York. Before departing, Doe claims, Pierre “sexually assaulted [her] by forcing her to give him oral sex.”
At the studio, Doe alleges in the lawsuit, Diddy “and his associates, including Mr. Pierre, plied Ms. Doe with drugs and alcohol,” causing her to become “more and more inebriated, eventually to the point that she could not possibly have consented to having sex with anyone, much less someone twice her age.” The men proceeded to gang-rape Doe at the studio, according to the complaint.
Doe says in her lawsuit that, “after a period of time,” she “was taken back to an airport and flown back to Michigan,” and that “she has very limited recollection of her transport home, and only remembers being in her car sometime early in the morning.”
“As a result of being raped by Mr. Combs, Mr. Pierre and the Third Assailant, Ms. Doe suffered significant emotional distress and feels of shame that have plagued her life and personal relationships for 20 years,” the complaint reads.
Along with Diddy, Harve Pierre, and the third alleged assailant, Daddy’s House Recordings Inc. and Bad Boy Entertainment Holdings Inc. are named as defendants in the lawsuit.
Jane Doe is being represented by the same law firm behind Casandra Elizabeth “Cassie” Ventura’s since-settled sexual assault lawsuit against Diddy. In her complaint, it’s stated that “[s]eeing two other women bravely speak out against Mr. Combs and Mr. Pierre, respectively, gave Ms. Doe the confidence to tell her story as well.” (Pierre was recently accused in a lawsuit of grooming and sexually assaulting a former Bad Boy assistant.)
Douglas H. Wigdor, one of the lawyers representing Jane Doe, said in a statement: “As alleged in the complaint, Defendants preyed on a vulnerable high school teenager as part of a sex trafficking scheme that involved plying her with drugs and alcohol and transporting her by private jet to New York City where she was gang raped by the three individual defendants at Mr. Combs’ studio. The depravity of these abhorrent acts has, not surprisingly, scarred our client for life.”
In a statement shared with Pitchfork, Sean “Diddy” Combs said:
Since Cassie filed and settled her lawsuit against Diddy, two other women have filed lawsuits against the hip-hop musician and mogul. In one lawsuit, Joi Dickerson-Neal claims that Diddy drugged and sexually assaulted her in 1991; she also says that Diddy filmed the alleged assault without her consent. In the other recent lawsuit, a woman identified as Liza Gardner says that Diddy and the R&B singer Aaron Hall sexually assaulted her and a friend in the early 1990s. A spokesperson for Diddy has said that the women’s active lawsuits contain “fabricated claims falsely alleging misconduct from over 30 years ago.”
Last week, Revolt announced that Diddy was temporarily stepping down as the chairman of the media company that he co-founded.
If you or someone you know has been affected by sexual assault, we encourage you to reach out for support:
RAINN National Sexual Assault Hotline
http://rainn.org
1 800 656 HOPE (4673)
Crisis Text Line
SMS: Text “HELLO” or “HOLA” to 741-741