By Steve Gorman
Hip-hop star Sean “Diddy” Combs was accused in federal court on Wednesday of taking part in the gang rape of a 17-year-old girl in his Manhattan recording studio in 2003, marking the fourth lawsuit leveling sexual assault allegations against him in recent weeks.
Combs, 54, founder of the landmark label Bad Boy Records and a hugely successful rap performer, issued a statement on Wednesday categorically professing his innocence and declaring his accusers were “looking for a quick payday.”
The plaintiff in the latest lawsuit was identified as Jane Doe, described as a high school student at the time she met associates of Combs in a Detroit-area lounge 20 years ago.
The complaint says they flew her on a private jet from Michigan to the New York area, then drove her to the New York City studio where Combs and two other men plied her with drugs and alcohol.
According to the lawsuit, the plaintiff was then raped in a bathroom of the studio by Combs and the two other men, one after the other, as she slipped in and out of consciousness. It said Combs also watched one of the other assaults after he was finished.
She was later flown back to Michigan but had little recollection of her return trip to the Detroit suburbs, the lawsuit says.
As evidence to support her allegations, the lawsuit includes several photos allegedly depicting the accuser – her face intentionally blurred – posing inside Combs’ studio, including one in which she appears to be sitting on Combs lap, both of them facing the camera.
The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, said the plaintiff has since suffered “extreme emotional distress that has impacted nearly every aspect of her life and personal relationships.”
The lawsuit was filed under New York City’s Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Law, which was extended to allow accusers to sue over alleged offenses from long ago, even if statutes of limitations have expired. — Reuters
