Sean "Diddy" Combs faces four new sexual assault lawsuits, including allegations from Kendra Haffoney, a former contestant on his VH1 reality show I Want to Work for Diddy, marking the latest legal action against the embattled music mogul. The lawsuits were filed under New York's Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Act (GMVPA) before the statute's deadline on March 1.
Haffoney alleges that Diddy drugged and raped her in 2007 after inviting her to a party during the filming of I Want to Work for Diddy. According to her lawsuit, she was given a drink that left her feeling lightheaded before Diddy allegedly led her into a private backroom, where he forced her to perform oral sex. She then lost consciousness and later woke up at the cast house in New York, where Diddy was allegedly sitting at the foot of her bed.
"She knew that she had been drugged with something, she felt weak, and her vagina area felt sore," the lawsuit states.
Haffoney also claims that she suffered additional sexual assaults at Diddy's mansion in Los Angeles during the show's production. The lawsuit does not elaborate on these additional allegations. The case also names VH1, arguing the network enabled the environment in which the abuse allegedly took place.
Diddy's legal team has denied the allegations. "This lawsuit is nothing more than a collection of media headlines, stitched together with fragments from other lawsuits and baseless rumors," a spokesperson said in a statement. "With the deadline for New York's Gender-Motivated Violence Act expiring, opportunists are scrambling to file last-minute, meritless claims."
The other lawsuits filed ahead of the deadline include allegations from Justin Gooch, Aristalia Benitez, and Leslie Cockrell, all of whom claim they were drugged and sexually assaulted by Diddy.
Gooch, who was 16 at the time of the alleged 1999 assault, says Diddy gave him ecstasy, alcohol, and ketamine before sexually assaulting him in a Manhattan nightclub bathroom stall. According to the lawsuit, after the attack, Diddy allegedly said, "That wasn't so bad, was it?"
Benitez alleges that Diddy drugged and assaulted her in 1995 when she was a 20-year-old NYU student working at a Tommy Hilfiger subsidiary. She claims she was invited to a party by Andy Hilfiger, where she consumed a non-alcoholic drink that she now believes was laced with GHB, a known date-rape drug. Benitez recalls waking up in a cab wearing different clothes, with soreness in her groin area, leading her to believe she had been sexually assaulted.
Cockrell, a 24-year-old talent scout at the time of her alleged 1999 assault, claims Diddy drugged her at a party at his Hamptons mansion. She alleges that she saw partygoers engaging in sex acts before feeling dizzy and passing out. According to her lawsuit, she woke up to find Diddy sexually assaulting her and later regained consciousness inside a car outside the house. A security guard allegedly told her she should be "grateful" Diddy had chosen her.
These lawsuits come as Diddy remains incarcerated at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center while awaiting trial on federal charges of racketeering, sex trafficking, and transportation for purposes of prostitution. His May 5 trial follows a series of federal raids on his Miami and Los Angeles properties in March, conducted as part of a Homeland Security and federal criminal investigation.
Diddy has pleaded not guilty to all criminal charges and maintains that he has never engaged in sexual assault or human trafficking.
