Seven new lawsuits have been filed in opposition to Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, together with one alleging the rape of a 13-year-old lady. They arrive as his legal professionals tried once more Monday to get him freed on bail, and complained {that a} “fresh wave of publicity” is endangering his proper to a good legal trial.
Within the lawsuits filed Sunday in state and federal courts, 4 males and three girls, all nameless, allege they have been sexually assaulted by Combs at events during the last 20 years.
Combs, 54, has pleaded not responsible to federal intercourse trafficking fees contained in an indictment unsealed the day after his Sept. 16 arrest. Fees embody allegations he coerced and abused girls for years, aided by associates and workers, and silenced victims by blackmail and violence, together with kidnapping, arson and bodily beatings.
He has remained incarcerated pending a Could 5 trial after two judges denied bail in rulings being appealed to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Courtroom of Appeals.
Combs’ legal professionals requested a decide Sunday to order potential witnesses and their legal professionals to cease making statements that would stop a good trial, submitting a gag order.
“As the Court is aware, Mr. Combs has been the target of an unending stream of allegations by prospective witnesses and their counsel in the press,” they wrote. “These prospective witnesses and their lawyers have made numerous inflammatory extrajudicial statements aimed at assassinating Mr. Combs’s character in the press.”
The newest lawsuits are drawn from what legal professionals say are greater than 100 accusers who’re planning authorized motion in opposition to Combs. Plaintiffs’ lawyer Tony Buzbee introduced the deliberate litigation at an Oct. 1 information convention and posted a 1-800 quantity for accusers to name.
As earlier than, Combs’ representatives dismissed the most recent lawsuits as “clear attempts to garner publicity.” They mentioned Combs and his authorized group “have full confidence in the facts, their legal defenses, and the integrity of the judicial process.”
Combs “has never sexually assaulted anyone — adult or minor, man or woman,” they added.
One of many lawsuits filed Sunday alleges {that a} 13-year-old lady who was invited to a celebration by a limousine driver after the Video Music Awards in Manhattan in September 2000 was raped by a “male celebrity” after which by Combs as people recognized solely as “Celebrity A,” a male, and “Celebrity B,” a feminine, watched.
One other lawsuit alleged that Combs sexually assaulted a 17-year-old male at a Manhattan resort penthouse celebration in 2022.
Within the lawsuits, it was alleged that the plaintiffs believed that they had been fed drinks laced with medication earlier than they have been assaulted.
In the meantime, legal professionals for Combs on Monday advised the 2nd Circuit in a submitting that he’ll renew his bail utility earlier than the decrease court docket primarily based on “significant changed circumstances.” They mentioned the problems embody “constitutional concerns stemming from his conditions of confinement and evidence contained in recently produced discovery.”
In a submitting final week, prosecutors advised the appeals court docket that judges denied bail after proof confirmed Combs “used methodical and sophisticated means to silence and intimidate witnesses throughout the racketeering conspiracy and during the Government’s investigation.”
