NEW YORK — Three people sued Sean “Diddy” Combs in New York on Thursday, claiming the hip-hop mogul drugged and raped them.
The lawsuits, which were filed anonymously in a state court, add to a wave of sexual assault lawsuits against the rapper, producer and record executive as he also faces federal sex trafficking charges in New York.
Thomas Giuffra, a New York lawyer who filed the suit Thursday on behalf of the men, said Combs used his power and money to take advantage of his accusers and then ensured their silence through threats and intimidation.
“This is a long-awaited opportunity for victims to take power back after silently bearing the burden of attacks for many years,” he said in a statement. “Although a trial will not right the wrongs done to them, it will enable survivors to reclaim the power and dignity that Sean Combs took from them.”
A lawyer for Combs, the 55-year-old founder of Bad Boy Records, said the claims are baseless.
“These complaints are full of lies,” the lawyers wrote in a statement, declining to elaborate. “We will prove them liars and seek sanctions against every unethical lawyer who files imaginary claims against them.”
The lawsuits cover events occurring from 2019 to 2022. The men, all identified as John Doe, say they were unknowingly served a drugged drink and then sexually assaulted by Combs and others.
They each demand a jury trial and seek to receive unspecified damages from Combs.
One of the men claims Combs drugged and raped her in 2020 when the two met in Combs’ suite at the InterContinental Hotel in Times Square to discuss a payment the man would make for the entrepreneur’s long-time relationship. Had to pay as employee on time.
Another claims he met Combs at a Manhattan nightclub in 2019 and was invited to an after-party in Combs’ suite at the Park Hyatt Hotel, where she was drugged and raped.
The man said he tried to resist before the intoxicating drink rendered him unconscious. He also said that after the attack he was given $2,500 by a man who was recording the attack in the bedroom.
A third person claims she was drugged and raped by Combs and his record label associates during a summer party at Combs’ mansion in East Hampton, New York in 2020.
Combs has pleaded not guilty to federal charges that he coerced and abused women for years, using a network of associates and employees known as the “Freak Offs” to perform drug-assisted sexual acts. , which includes male sex workers.
Prosecutors say he then silenced his victims through blackmail and violence, including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings.
Combs is seeking to be released until his trial in May, but last month he was denied bail for the third time and remains in federal prison in Brooklyn.
Follow Philip Marcelo at twitter.com/philmarcelo.
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