When authorities arrested Sean “Diddy” Combs and unsealed their sex trafficking and racketeering indictment against him last week, it was the culmination of a vast federal investigation. After countless hours spent combing through evidence, interviewing 50 witnesses, and presenting their case to a grand jury, prosecutors finally unveiled the indictment they hope will convict Combs.
In an instant, Combs’ once-opulent world was reduced to the confines of a stark jail cell. If convicted as charged, the onetime billionaire Bad Boy Entertainment founder faces a minimum 15 years in prison. Even with good behavior, the 54-year-old will likely remain behind bars until at least his late 60s.
With all eyes now trained on the high-profile criminal case – and Combs’ attention undoubtedly fixated on regaining his freedom – what will become of the many civil lawsuits filed against him over the last year? Combs still faces at least seven lawsuits from plaintiffs accusing him directly of sexual assault, and at least two involving claims he played a role in alleged abuse carried out by others.
The pending lawsuits against Combs started piling up just a week after his ex-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura filed her graphic sex-trafficking complaint against him last November. Combs settled with Ventura for an undisclosed sum within 24 hours, but her 35-page complaint, now the heart of the music mogul’s criminal prosecution, opened the floodgates.
Like other high-profile men charged with sex crimes while battling parallel lawsuits, Combs will have to make some decisions. One option would be to seek “stays” of all his civil cases that would essentially put them on the back burner and ward off depositions using his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Another would be to press ahead to demand documents and testimony from accusers that he might not be empowered to get in his criminal proceeding.
Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein and Danny Masterson all filed motions to delay civil litigation by their various accusers while they battled criminal charges. Such motions were largely successful, though not always. Some legal experts who spoke to Rolling Stone said they expect Combs will do the same and file motions to pause his civil cases in favor of defending against his criminal indictment.
The plaintiffs suing Combs will need action plans, too. For them, delays come with obvious risk. “Memories can fade, documents can be lost or destroyed, and witnesses can die,” says Joseph Camarata, a lawyer who represented several Cosby accusers in what was an often-delayed but ultimately successful defamation case against the comedian. “Putting a complete stay on a case can be absolutely detrimental to plaintiffs because it’s their burden to prove they’re telling the truth.”
Camarata says that a popular compromise for litigants is to land on some form of a limited, highly tailored stay that allows both sides to collect records and testimony from third party witnesses while waiting for a criminal case to conclude. And if a criminal case ends in conviction, that obviously favors plaintiffs. “You want a convicted felon sitting at the defense table across from you,” Camarata says.
David Ring, a plaintiff’s attorney who represented Evgeniya Chernyshova, the Italian actress whose testimony led to Weinstein’s rape conviction in California, says motions for delays in Combs’ civil cases could start appearing in the next couple months.
Some plaintiffs willingly agree to put their cases on hold for tactical reasons, he says. “A defendant can get a lot of free information from a civil case that he wouldn’t be entitled to get in a criminal case. For instance, he could take the deposition of a victim, with his lawyers asking seven hours worth of questions,” Ring explains. “Now, all of sudden, the defendant has all this information that otherwise wouldn’t exist in just a straight criminal case.”
And waiting can have other advantages for plainttifs. Michelle Simpson Tuegel, who represented more than two dozen former USA gymnasts who were sexually abused by coach Larry Nasser in their case against USA Gymnastics, ays some civil cases can greatly benefit from evidence prosecutors obtain from witnesses who are much more willing to comply with subpoenas from federal investigators. “The criminal case can really identify information that maybe we couldn’t get as quickly,” Tuegel explains. Plus, federal investigators “may have more people cooperating and providing them statements further back in time, and that may fill in [plaintiffs’] cases where memories and cooperation of witnesses, the longer you go, the harder that can be.”
As Combs’ criminal case unfolds under an intense spotlight, here are the still-pending civil cases to watch:
Jane Doe, filed November 21, 2023
A Jane Doe filed a lawsuit against former Bad Boy Entertainment CEO Harve Pierre, alleging that while she worked as Pierre’s assistant, he “used his position of authority as [her] boss to groom, exploit, and sexually assault” her from 2016 to 2017.
The Jane Doe filed the suit under both New York’s Adult Survivors Act and an amendment to New York City’s Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Law, which allows revival of certain otherwise-expired claims until March 1, 2025. While the Jane Doe is not suing Combs directly, she is suing some of his companies, including Bad Boy Entertainment, Bad Boy Records and Combs Enterprises. The “defendants failed to properly supervise Pierre, properly supervise [Jane Doe], and protect [Jane Doe] from a known danger, and thereby enabled Pierre’s sexual assaults,” the woman’s lawsuit claimed.
Pierre and Combs’ legal teams have filed motions to dismiss the case and to compel the woman to use her legal name instead of a Jane Doe pseudonym. A judge has not yet ruled on the matter.
Joi Dickerson-Neal, filed November 23, 2023
Joi Dickerson-Neal was the first to sue Combs for sexual assault in the days following Ventura’s lawsuit. She filed on Thanksgiving, the final deadline to qualify for revival of her otherwise time-barred claim under New York’s Adult Survivors Act. Dickerson-Neal alleges she was on a break from college in 1991 when Combs drugged her, raped her and made a video of the attack that he shared with others. (Combs denies the allegations.)
Dickerson-Neal filed an amended complaint in May that dropped some of her claims, including one for revenge porn. Combs’ lawyers had argued the dismissed claims involved statutes enacted after 1991 and couldn’t be applied retroactively. Dickerson-Neal later dismissed Bad Boy Entertainment and Combs Enterprises as defendants.
A hearing is set for Sept. 25 on Combs’ motion to dismiss Dickerson-Neal’s surviving claims of assault and intentional infliction of emotional distress, leaving only her battery cause of action.
Liza Gardner, filed November 23, 2023
Liza Gardner also sued on Thanksgiving, claiming Combs and singer-songwriter Aaron Hall took turns raping her after they all met at a party thrown by record label MCA in Manhattan in 1990. She alleges Combs also found her the next day and “began assaulting and choking” her until she almost “passed out,” an apparent intimidation tactic. Alongside Combs and Hall, Gardner sued Universal Music Group, MCA and Uptown Records. Combs denies the allegations.
Like Dickerson-Neal, Gardner first stepped forward as a Jane Doe but was later forced to reveal her identity. In subsequent filings, Gardner said she was only 16 years old at the time of the alleged assaults.
UMG Recordings, the parent company of MCA, challenged Gardner’s lawsuit on the grounds that she did not qualify for New York’s Adult Survivors Act because she was under the age of 18 at the time of the alleged rapes. Gardner and her lawyer, Tyrone Blackburn, said subsequent investigation proved the alleged assaults actually took place at Hall’s residence in New Jersey, so they moved her lawsuit to Bergen County in June citing a state law that allows victims of childhood sexual assault to bring claims up until age 53. The lawsuit was later moved to New Jersey federal court.
Jane Doe, filed December 6, 2023
A Jane Doe from Michigan sued Combs with claims he and his longtime lieutenant, Harve Pierre, lured her from the Detroit area to Manhattan on a private jet when she was a 17-year-old high school student in 2003. The unidentified woman alleges the men plied her with drugs and alcohol until she was nearly unconscious and then gang raped her that night at Combs’ Daddy’s House recording studio.
Attorneys Douglas Wigdor and Meredith Firetog, who represented Ventura, included several color photos snapped that night, including one showing the plaintiff sitting on Combs’ lap. The Jane Doe filed under New York City’s Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Law, which Combs and his companies have asked for dismissal for on the grounds that the the law is “pre-empted” by the expiration of other statewide look-back laws, namely the Child Victims Act that expired in August 2021.
A judge had not yet ruled on the dismissal motion. If Doe prevails and proceeds to trial, the court already has ruled she will have to use her real name.
Rodney Jones, filed February 26, 2024
Music producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones was the first man to sue Combs for sexual assault, alleging Combs repeatedly sexually harassed and groped him over the course of working on The Love Album: Off the Grid between September 2022 and November 2023.
Jones is also suing Combs for allegedly involving him in a sex trafficking and racketeering enterprise, claiming that he was forced to procure and transport sex workers for Combs, and observed Combs’ associates travel with illegal substances and supply Combs with drugs.
In late August, Combs’ team filed a motion to dismiss Jones’ complaint, calling it a “a salacious RICO conspiracy,” filled with “legally meaningless allegations and blatant falsehoods.” Jones has until Sept. 30 to respond to Combs’ motion to dismiss before a judge will issue a ruling.
Rodney Jones and Crystal McKinney are both suing Sean Combs for sexual assault.
Courtesy of Tyrone Blackburn; Gregory Pace/FilmMagic
Grace O’Marcaigh, filed April 4, 2024
During a family vacation in St. Martin in late 2022, stewardess Grace O’Marcaigh claimed Combs’ youngest son, Christian “King” Combs, 26, sexually assaulted her on board the yacht the family had chartered. O’Marcaigh claimed she physically had to fight off an “extremely aggressive” Christian, who stripped off his clothes, grabbed her arms while “trying to force [her] to perform oral copulation” on his “erect penis.”
While the primary claim is against Christian, O’Marcaigh is suing Sean Combs for aiding and abetting his son’s behavior and for having liability as the leaseholder on the rented yacht. Neither Combs nor Christian’s legal teams have formally responded to the filing, and the next court hearing is set for Dec. 10.
Crystal McKinney, filed May 21, 2024
Model Crystal McKinney attended a Sean John fashion show on the arm of designer Roberto Cavalli in February 2003 before Combs allegedly drugged and sexually assaulted the 22-year-old. McKinney claimed in the hours before the alleged assault, Combs showered her with compliments and made promises about her career during a private dinner at Cipriani. During an after-party at Combs’ recording studio, McKinney claimed that Combs pressured her to take a hit of a laced joint, before he led her into a bathroom and forced her to perform oral sex.
In the filing, McKinney said the assault made her “physically sick” and that she passed out a short time later, only to wake up in “shock to find herself in a taxicab.” McKinney “saved the unwashed clothing from that night … in a plastic wrap,” due to how traumatic the event was, her lawsuit added.
Like many other accusers, McKinney filed her suit under the Gender Motivated Violence Protection Act. Combs’ team responded to the former model’s complaint last week, seeking a dismissal on the grounds that her claim is time-barred and preempted by state law.
April Lampros, filed May 24, 2024
April Lampros was a college student and intern at Arista Records when she began an on-off relationship with Combs in early 1994. The rising music executive allegedly “love bombed” Lampros before sexually assaulting her on three occasions over the course of their four-year relationship and once more in early 2001.
Lampros said her relationship with Combs came back to haunt her in 2023 when she learned Combs allegedly recorded a sex tape of her and showed it to multiple people in 1997, according to the lawsuit.
Combs’ team have argued that three causes of action in Lampros’ suit — battery, assault and negligent infliction of emotional distress — are time-barred and not included under the Gender Motivated Violence Protection Act. In a September amended complaint, Lampros dropped the three actions, leaving only one cause of action regarding Combs’ alleged violation of the act.
A judge has not yet ruled on Combs’ legal team motion to dismiss Lampros’ case on the basis that her Gender Motivated Violence Protection Act claim is preempted by state law.
Adria English, filed July 3, 2024
Former Hustler Club dancer and adult film star Adria English claimed that Combs sex trafficked her when she was hired to dance at his infamous White Party bashes. From 2004 to 2009, English claimed the mogul and his associates facilitated her travel to the Hamptons and Miami, where she was “forced to consume liquor and illicit narcotics.” Eventually, English claimed, she was expected to “engage in sexual intercourse” with party guests, claiming Combs “demanded” for her to perform such acts and later “congratulated” her for a “job well done at the end of the night,” according to her lawsuit.
English is suing Combs under the Gender Motivated Violence Protection Act. The former dancer’s legal team was granted a motion to issue a summons to Combs and other legal parties electronically in early August. Combs’ legal team has yet to respond to the suit.
Dawn Richard, filed September 10, 2024
The most recent civil suit against Combs came from former Danity Kane and Diddy-Dirty Money member Dawn Richard — the second Bad Boy artist to sue their former label boss. The singer claimed Combs sexually harassed and assaulted her, and through a “pattern of coercive threats and displays of brutal violence” caused her to “engage in commercial sex acts.”
Combs’ legal team has yet to respond to Richard’s suit in court documents, but in media statements and at Combs’ bail hearing, his lawyers dismissed her claims as irrelevant to the sex trafficking and racketeering charges.
And as attorney Tuegel highlighted, evidence from Combs’ criminal trial could bolster Richard’s case. In the days after Richard’s filing, prosecutors alleged Combs had 128 phone contacts with Richard’s former bandmate Kalenna Harper, who later put out a statement that distanced herself from Richard’s experience.
Although Combs’ attorney downplayed the communications, saying it was “hardly obstruction,” Richard’s lawyer Lisa Bloom told Rolling Stone that she’d be “demanding those text and phone messages in our litigation and if they show witness tampering, we will add that claim to our lawsuit and aggressively pursue it.”
