Sean Combs arrives at the Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute (Met Gala) gala to celebrate the opening of “Heavenly Bodies: Fashion and the Catholic Imagination” in the New York City borough of Manhattan, USA, on May 7, 2018. Portal/Eduardo Munoz /File Photo Purchase license rights
LOS ANGELES, Nov 16 (Portal) – R&B singer Cassandra Ventura sued Sean “Diddy” Combs in federal court on Thursday, accusing the rapper and hip-hop mogul she once dated and whose music label she signed with , repeatedly physically abusing her, sexual slavery and rape.
One of the central allegations against Ventura’s Combs, who performs under the stage name Cassie, was that he forced her to have sex with a series of male prostitutes he had hired while observing and filming the encounters for his own pleasure .
The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, also accuses Combs of regularly beating Ventura over the course of a 10-year professional and romantic relationship in which he controlled her through intimidation and the use of drugs and alcohol.
Ventura, 37, claims Combs raped her toward the end of their relationship in 2018 when she broached the idea of leaving him.
Combs’ attorney, Ben Brafman, issued a statement saying his client “vehemently denies these offensive and outrageous allegations.”
Brafman said Ventura filed a lawsuit “filled with baseless and outrageous lies” after a failed attempt to blackmail Combs into paying her $30 million by threatening to write a damaging book about their relationship.
Combs, 54, founder of the groundbreaking label Bad Boy Records, is one of hip-hop’s most influential producers and managers and a hugely successful artist in his own right as well as impresario of his own Sean John clothing line.
Forbes magazine ranked him the highest-paid musician in the world in 2017, earning an estimated $130 million per year at the time.
The lawsuit filed Thursday portrayed Combs, formerly known by nicknames such as P. Diddy, Puff Daddy and Diddy, as an unpredictable, controlling individual with violent tendencies toward Ventura and others.
The lawsuit says he forced Ventura to carry his pistol for him in her purse, once dangled a friend of hers over the balcony of a high-rise hotel suite and blew up a car driven by rapper Kid Cudi after he found out he was interested in Ventura.
According to the lawsuit, Ventura met Combs in late 2005 when she was 19 and he was 37, signed a 10-album record deal with Bad Boy Records within months and began a romantic relationship with him several years later.
The lawsuit does not seek a specific amount of financial damages. Instead, it says Ventura is seeking “justice for the decade of her life that Mr. Combs took from her through threats of violence, excessive drug use, physical and psychological abuse and sexual slavery.”
The lawsuit alleges violations of sex trafficking and human trafficking laws under federal, New York and California law.
Combs is the latest high-profile recording industry figure to be accused of sexual misconduct in recent lawsuits, including Aerosmith singer-songwriter Steven Tyler, record producer L.A. Reid and music executive Neil Portnow, former chairman and CEO of the Recording Academy where the Grammys are held .
Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles, editing by Deepa Babington
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