- Sean Combs, whose homes were raided by federal officials in March, has been hit by a series of lawsuits.
- The complaints against Diddy allege sexual assault and sex trafficking, and some include allegations against other known figures — though not all of the celebrities are listed as defendants.
- Here are the famous people mentioned in the sexual assault lawsuits against Combs.
There are still few details known about why federal officials raided the Los Angeles and Miami homes of musician Sean Combs in March.
The Associated Press and Los Angeles Times reported that the move is part of an ongoing sex trafficking investigation by Homeland Security. The department has not confirmed the target of the investigation nor the crimes it is investigating.
The raids come after Combs, more commonly known as Diddy, has been hit by a series of lawsuits alleging sexual assault, sexual misconduct, and sex trafficking.
Seven separate lawsuits, one of which was filed by his former girlfriend Casandra Ventura, provide detailed allegations of rape, abuse, and drugging.
Combs has denied all the allegations against him. In response to requests for comment from Business Insider after the raids, his attorney Aaron Dyer said in a statement:
"Mr. Combs was never detained but spoke to and cooperated with authorities. Despite media speculation, neither Mr. Combs nor any of his family members have been arrested nor has their ability to travel been restricted in any way. This unprecedented ambush — paired with an advanced, coordinated media presence — leads to a premature rush to judgment of Mr. Combs and is nothing more than a witch hunt based on meritless accusations made in civil lawsuits. There has been no finding of criminal or civil liability with any of these allegations. Mr. Combs is innocent."
Some of the powerful and wealthy people in Combs' orbit are outright accused by plaintiffs of wrongdoing — whether that be witnessing the abuse and not stopping it or providing drugs to Combs. Others — like Prince Harry or Nicki Minaj — are simply mentioned in passing and not accused of any wrongdoing.
For decades, the hip-hop mogul has been surrounded by accusations of violence — sometimes involving other very famous names.
Here are the well-known people linked to the accusations against Combs.
R&B singer Aaron Hall
Aaron Hall, an R&B singer who was part of the group Guy, was named as a defendant in a complaint filed against Combs last November in the New York Supreme Court ahead of the expiration date for New York's Adult Survivors Act, which provided a one-year window in which people could bring cases of sexual assault outside the typical statute of limitations.
The plaintiff, who is named Liza Gardner, accuses Combs and Hall of sexually assaulting her and a friend in Hall's apartment after a music industry event hosted by MCA Records in 1990 when she was 16 years old. She says Combs "coerced" her into having sex with him and that afterward, "Hall barged into the room, pinned her down, and forced" her to have sex with him too.
The plaintiff also alleges that Combs found her at her home and choked her until she passed out; he was worried his girlfriend would find out about the incident, the complaint says.
In one YouTube video cited in the complaint, Hall says in an interview that "Puffy" — what Combs was known as in the 1990s — had seen him have sex.
Hall could not be reached for comment. His lawyer was not yet identified in court documents as of April 8.
Music producer Harve Pierre
Music producer Harve Pierre was named as a defendant in two lawsuits filed against Combs ahead of the Adult Survivors Act's expiration date. Both lawsuits were filed anonymously, one in the New York Supreme Court and the other filed in the US District Court in the Southern District of New York, with the plaintiff listed as Jane Doe on both documents.
Pierre was Combs' first employee at Bad Boy Records, the former president of his Bad Boy Entertainment, and worked with artists like The Notorious B.I.G. and Faith Evans.
In the first complaint, filed in November 2023, a former employee of Bad Boy who worked as Pierre's assistant accuses Pierre of using his position of power "to groom, exploit, and sexually assault her." Combs and his companies enabled the abuse, the complaint says.
In a second lawsuit filed in December 2023, the plaintiff alleges that when she was 17 in 2003, Combs, Pierre, and an unnamed third defendant gang raped and sex trafficked her. Specifically, she alleges that Pierre smoked crack cocaine and then forced her to give him oral sex before bringing her from Detroit to New York City on a private jet.
In New York, at a studio owned by Combs, the defendants provided the plaintiff with drugs and alcohol before raping her, the complaint alleges.
Pierre's lawyer did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. He has denied the accusations made in the second complaint.
"This is a tale of fiction. I have never participated in, witnessed, nor heard of anything like this, ever. These disgusting allegations are false and a desperate attempt for financial gain," he said in a statement obtained by TMZ.
Actor Cuba Gooding Jr.
An amended complaint filed in March in the US District Court in the Southern District of New York by Rodney Jones Jr. — a music producer who goes by Lil Rod — lists Cuba Gooding Jr. as a defendant. Jones accuses Gooding of sexual harassment and sexual assault.
Specifically, Jones accuses Combs of grooming him to "pass him off" to Gooding. The two were left alone in a makeshift studio on a yacht rented by Combs, according to the complaint.
There, Gooding began "touching, groping, and fondling Mr. Jones' legs, his upper inner thighs near his groin, the small of his back near his buttocks, and his shoulders," the complaint alleges.
The actor previously pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of forcible touching.
Gooding's attorney did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
Universal Music Group CEO Lucian Grainge
The CEO of Universal Music Group and father-in-law to Sofia Richie, Lucian Grainge is also listed as a defendant in Jones' amended complaint filed in the US District Court in the Southern District of New York.
He is accused of aiding and abetting Combs, specifically in racketeering and sex trafficking. Universal's Motown Records had a licensing agreement with Combs' Love Records.
The complaint says that as CEO, Grainge "had a duty to ensure that the financial support they provided to Sean Combs and Love Records was not being used for sex workers, drugs, and laced alcohol."
Attorneys for Grainge have filed a motion to dismiss, in which they called the accusations "offensively false." In a sworn statement to the court, Grainge called the accusations "completely untrue and absurd" and said he plans to "pursue both plaintiffs and his counsel for having made such false accusations."
Grainge also points to the fact that he is the CEO of a "multi-national public company" — and is not involved in the "day-to-day operations" of the company's "thousands of agreements."
In a statement to Business Insider, Grainge's attorney, Donald S. Zakarin, called the complaint "offensively reckless."
"The plaintiff has now attempted to amend his claims against Sir Lucian, removing the original set of outrageous falsehoods related to Sir Lucian, replacing them with wholly contradictory new falsehoods that are equally absurd," he said. "Not only will we demonstrate the offensive falsity of these claims, but we will seek recovery of every penny of cost and damage caused by their assertion."
Justin Dior Combs
While not necessarily a celebrity in his own right, Justin Dior Combs — Diddy's 30-year-old son — is a defendant in Jones' amended complaint in the US District Court in the Southern District of New York.
In a wide-ranging list of allegations, Jones accuses Justin Combes of soliciting sex workers and underaged girls, as well as engaging in "freak offs."
He also says the younger and older Combs were the only other two people present in the room when "G," a friend of his, was shot at a recording studio — implying one of them shot G.
Justin Combs was at Combs' Los Angeles home when it was raided by feds and was seen handcuffed on the lawn outside, though he was not arrested.
Justin Combs' lawyer, Jeffrey Lichtman, said that the complaint was "utterly bonkers" on his radio show "Beyond the Legal Limit."
"It's clearly written in an effort to get as much publicity as possible, not only for the case but for the lawyer whose name I don't even remember, literally some maniac," he said.
Lichtman did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
Rapper Yung Miami.
Yung Miami, a member of City Girls, is mentioned in Jones' amended complaint, filed in the US District Court in the Southern District of New York. She is not a defendant, nor is she accused of sexual misconduct.
She is listed as being a part of Combs' sex trafficking operation and accused of bringing Combs tuci, a drug sometimes called "pink cocaine," on a private jet.
The complaint says she was retained on a monthly stipend as one of Combs' sex workers. It also alleges that her cousin, named as Jane Doe 1, assaulted Jones, forcibly giving him oral sex without consent.
A representative for Yung Miami did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.
DJ and producer Stevie J.
Jones alleges that Grammy winner Stevie J, Combs' longtime collaborator, recruited sex workers and participated in Combs' "freak offs" in his amended complaint filed in the US District Court in the Southern District of New York, though he does not name Stevie J as a defendant.
Jones accuses Combs of instructing Stevie J to teach him "the type of sex workers to solicit, and way to solicit them."
Jones also accuses Stevie J of sending threatening messages when Jones publicly asked Combs to pay him for his work on Combs' "The Love Album."
The complaint also says that Combs used his connection to Stevie J — Jones' "idol" — to pressure Jones into sex.
"I've never seen my man do anything foul like they talking about… I've never seen it, I've known him for 29 years," Stevie J told TMZ earlier this month.
His attorney did not reply to a request for comment from Business Insider.
If you are a survivor of sexual assault, you can call the National Sexual Assault Hotline (1-800-656-4673) or visit its website to receive confidential support.
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