Cassie Ventura has been dismissed from a $35 million civil lawsuit against Sean "Diddy" Combs, leaving the music executive as the sole remaining defendant in a case brought by former male escort Clayton Howard.
U.S. District Judge Anne Hwang granted Ventura's motion during an October 21 hearing in Los Angeles, according to Hip Hop Wired. The dismissal was with prejudice, preventing Howard from bringing the same claims against her again.
The decision removes Ventura from the litigation but does not resolve Howard's allegations against Combs. The $35 million represents damages Howard requested, not an award made by the court.
"Defendant Ventura's motion to dismiss is hereby granted; this will be the order as stated on the record," the court filing said.
Howard filed the lawsuit last year against Ventura, Combs, Bad Boy Entertainment LLC and CeOpco LLC. He alleged that Ventura arranged paid sexual encounters under Combs' direction and that he experienced coercion and drug-related abuse during encounters in New York City, Miami and Los Angeles.
Those assertions remain allegations in civil litigation. The reported ruling does not establish their truth or determine Combs' liability.
Ventura's lawyers challenged the basis of Howard's claims, arguing that he had been paid for the encounters and had agreed to return. Those arguments were part of her defence, rather than separate findings that resolve the allegations against Combs.
Her attorneys also maintained that further amendments would not remedy the problems they identified in Howard's complaint.
"These defects are not curable by better drafting or any reframing of the facts," Ventura's lawyers wrote.
That language came from the defence's argument for dismissal, not a quotation attributed to Hwang. The judge subsequently granted the motion with prejudice, closing off another attempt to pursue the same claims against Ventura.
The outcome followed an earlier stage in which Howard was required to amend his complaint after Ventura sought dismissal. He also attempted to submit a revised account of an allegation that Combs detained him for 12 hours during an encounter in Miami in December 2016.
The court rejected that attempt before the October 21 hearing, according to the reporting. The account does not establish that the alleged detention occurred or provide a finding on the merits of that allegation.
Although Howard initially named two corporate defendants alongside Combs and Ventura, the reports identify Combs as the only defendant remaining after Ventura's dismissal. They do not detail how the claims against those companies were resolved.
Separate court filings described Ventura as an American citizen living abroad who does not intend to return to the United States. She and her husband, Alex Fine, reportedly relocated before Combs' racketeering and sex-trafficking trial, although their country of residence and departure date were not identified.
Combs received a 50-month prison sentence in a separate criminal proceeding, according to the reports. That sentence does not determine the outcome of Howard's civil claims. No date for the next hearing in the remaining lawsuit was provided.
