Sean “Diddy” Combs, was accused in a lawsuit Thursday of subjecting R&B singer Cassie to a yearslong relationship that included beatings and rape.
Cassie, whose authorized title is Casandra Ventura, alleged within the go well with filed in opposition to the producer and music mogul in New York federal court docket that Combs introduced her into his “ostentatious, fast-paced, and drug-fueled way of life” not lengthy after she met him and signed to his label when she was 19 and he was 37 in 2005.
Lawyer Ben Brafman stated Combs “vehemently denies” the allegations.
Ventura, now 37 herself, stated Combs, now 54, started the sample of abuse started as quickly as their relationship did.
The go well with alleges that, “vulnerable to uncontrollable rage,” he subjected her to “savage” beatings during which he punched, kicked and stomped her. It alleges he plied her with medicine, and compelled her to have intercourse with different males whereas he masturbated and filmed them.
The go well with says that as she was attempting to finish the connection in 2018, Combs pressured her into her Los Angeles residence and raped her.
“After years in silence and darkness, I’m lastly prepared to inform my story, and to talk up on behalf of myself and for the advantage of different ladies who face violence and abuse of their relationships,” Ventura stated in a press release.
The Related Press doesn’t usually title individuals who say they’ve been sexually abused except they arrive ahead publicly as Ventura has.
Brafman referred to as the allegations “lies.”
“For the previous six months, Mr. Combs has been subjected to Ms. Ventura’s persistent demand of $30 million, underneath the specter of writing a harmful e book about their relationship, which was unequivocally rejected as blatant blackmail,” he stated in a press release. “Regardless of withdrawing her preliminary risk, Ms. Ventura has now resorted to submitting a lawsuit riddled with baseless and outrageous lies, aiming to tarnish Mr. Combs’s fame and looking for a payday.”
Ventura’s lawyer Douglas Wigdor responded in a press release that Combs supplied her “eight figures to silence her and stop her the submitting of this lawsuit. She rejected his efforts and determined to provide a voice to all lady that suffer in silence.”
Combs is among the many most influential hip-hop producers and executives of the previous three a long time.
He and Ventura started relationship in 2007 and had an on-and-off relationship for greater than a decade.
She grew to become identified for the Ryan Leslie-produced hit single “Me & U,” which secured the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Scorching R&B/Hip-Hop songs chart in 2006. The music was the lead single of her solely studio album, which was self-titled.
As an actor, she has appeared in a number of tv and movies tasks together with Fox’s “Empire,” “Step Up 2:The Streets” and “Spenser Confidential.”
Combs constructed one in all hip-hop’s largest empires, blazing a path with a number of entities connected to his well-known title. He’s the founding father of Dangerous Boy Data and a three-time Grammy winner who has labored with a slew of top-tier artists together with Infamous B.I.G., Mary J. Blige, Usher, Lil Kim, Religion Evans and 112.
The mogul created the style clothes line Sean John, launched the Revolt TV channel with a deal with music, and produced the fact present “Making the Band” for MTV.
This yr, he launched his fifth studio album “The Love Album: Off the Grid,” which earned two Grammy nominations this month.
The lawsuit cites a speech Combs gave whereas receiving a lifetime achievement honor on the BET Awards in 2022, during which he thanked Ventura for “holding me down at midnight occasions, love.”
The go well with says, “The reality, nonetheless, is that Cassie — Ms. Casandra Ventura — was held down by Mr. Combs and endured over a decade of his violent conduct and disturbed calls for.”
