Cassie, Sean Combs’ longtime lover, has filed a lawsuit against the hip-hop tycoon known as “Diddy,” alleging that he sexually assaulted her and physically mistreated her on several occasions over almost ten years.
Using several instances in which he allegedly “punched, beat, kicked, and stomped” her, Cassie—real name Casandra Ventura, former Diddy label employee—argues in a lawsuit filed in federal court in New York on Thursday that she was “trapped by Mr. Combs in a cycle of abuse, violence, and sex trafficking.” Also mentioned in the case were Sony’s Epic Records and Diddy’s Bad Boy Records.
Under the New York Adult Survivors Act, which reinstated the ability to file claims for sexual misconduct for a year regardless of the statute of limitations, the suit is the most recent in a string of legal actions brought against well-known men in the music industry, such as former Epic Records CEO Antonio “L.A.” Reid and former Grammy Awards CEO Neil Portnow.
Benjamin Brafman, Combs’ attorney, refuted the accusations in a statement, claiming his client is being blackmailed. “Ms. Ventura has been pressuring Mr. Combs to pay $30 million for the past six months, threatening to write a damaging book about their relationship if he doesn’t comply. This has been categorically rejected as blatant blackmail,” he claimed. “Ms. Ventura withdrew her initial threat, but now she’s filed a lawsuit full of ludicrous and baseless allegations in an attempt to damage Mr. Combs’ reputation and get paid today.”
In retaliation, Cassie’s attorney Douglas Wigdor released a statement in which he claimed that Mr. Comb had promised Ms. Ventura eight figures to be quiet and stop her from launching this complaint. Rejecting his efforts, she made the decision to give voice to all women who endure silent suffering.
The accusation describes a skewed power relationship between the well-known producer and Cassie, who first encountered Combs in 2005 when she was 19 and he was 37.
“From the very start of their relationship, Mr. Combs exerted his power and influence over Ms. Ventura,” states the complaint. “This dynamic was fueled by their nearly twenty-year age difference as well as their relative positions in the entertainment industry — with Mr. Combs considered a music ‘mogul’ and Ms. Ventura at the very start of her career as an entertainer.”
According to the lawsuit, Combs frequently beat her severely over the course of the following 10 years. He then allegedly used “his money and power to orchestrate extensive efforts to hide the evidence of his abuse,” which included keeping her in hotels for days at a time while her wounds healed.
“In one such instance, following a party with Jay-Z, Mr. Combs repeatedly beat Ms. Ventura in an Escalade, including by kicking and hitting her,” the lawsuit claims.
Cassie also accuses Combs of forcing her to engage in sexual actions with other men, a type of alleged sex slavery. In the complaint, Wigdor states that “on occasion, Mr. Combs would pay to fly male sex workers to his location, including to multiple cities in the United States as well as abroad.” “To assist him in making these arrangements, he needed Ms. Ventura and his staff.”
According to the lawsuit, when she attempted to leave, Combs tracked her down and enticed her back using his “vast network of corporations and affiliated entities.” The complaint claims that during one confrontation in 2011, he lunged at her with a corkscrew and then struck her multiple times when Combs’ “network of enforcers” tracked her to Kid Cudi’s residence, where she was staying while attempting to escape. She also allegedly received a call from Combs, telling her that if she didn’t answer, her song wouldn’t be released by Bad Boy management. According to the lawsuit, she received a similar ultimatum regarding her album from a Sony Music official.
After Combs sexually assaulted her, Cassie claims she ended the relationship in 2018. She claims she still has “immense emotional distress,” which is supposedly brought on by Combs’ drug and alcohol addictions.
A number of other allegations are made in the complaint, including sex trafficking, sexual battery, sexual harassment, and gender discrimination.
