Cassie accuses Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs of rape and years of abuse in new lawsuit

Content warning: This story contains allegations of rape and abuse.

Music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs is facing a lawsuit filed by singer Cassie Ventura. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, accuses Combs of using his position of power as a music executive and wealth to abuse Ventura for nearly 10 years.

The lawsuit says Combs pursued her as a young 19-year-old who was signed to his label. What followed, she says, was a decade of abuse amid an “ostentatious, fast-paced, and drug-fueled lifestyle.”

“After years in silence and darkness,” Ventura said in a statement received by NBC News, “I am finally ready to tell my story, and to speak up on behalf of myself and for the benefit of other women who face violence and abuse in their relationships.”

Combs response to Ventura’s lawsuit

Combs — who has been active in the music scene for decades and previously gone by the names Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, and Diddy — has denied any wrongdoing.

Combs’ attorney, Ben Brafman, gave NBC News the following statement:

“Mr. Combs vehemently denies these offensive and outrageous allegations. For the past 6 months, Mr. Combs, has been subjected to Ms. Ventura’s persistent demand of $30 million, under the threat of writing a damaging book about their relationship, which was unequivocally rejected as blatant blackmail. Despite withdrawing her initial threat, Ms. Ventura has now resorted to filing a lawsuit riddled with baseless and outrageous lies, aiming to tarnish Mr. Combs’ reputation and seeking a pay day.”

Ventura’s lawyer, Douglas Wigdor, sent the following response to Brafman’s comments:

“Mr. Comb’s offered Ms. Ventura eight figures to silence her and prevent the filing of this lawsuit. She rejected his efforts and decided to give a voice to all woman who suffer in silence. Ms. Ventura should be applauded for her bravery.”

What does the lawsuit against Combs claim?

In the civil suit, Ventura says that she met Combs, then-37, when he signed her to his label, Bad Boy Records.

She accuses to the musician of being controlling even prior to their sexual relationship and says he introduced her to “a lifestyle of excessive alcohol and substance abuse.”

Ventura alleges that on many occasions during their relationship, Combs beat and kicked her, leaving her with injuries she was then forced to hide by staying out of public view.

“Throughout their relationship Mr. Combs was prone to uncontrollable rage, and frequently beat Ms. Ventura savagely,” the suit alleges, citing Combs’ “uncontrollable rage” and vast network as what terrified Ventura into silence.

“These beatings were witnessed by Mr. Combs’ staff and employees of Bad Boy Entertainment and Mr. Combs’s related businesses, but no one dared to speak up against their frightening and ferocious boss.”

In the 35-page claim, Ventura also accused Combs of forcing her to participate “intricately staged and forced sexual encounters” with male sex workers while he masturbated and filmed the encounters. The lawsuit says Combs called these interactions a “Freak Off” or “FO” for short, and eventually required Ventura to “facilitate the location and the hiring of male sex workers,” at times weekly.

Sean “Diddy” Combs and Cassie Ventura attend the GQ Men of the Year Party at Chateau Marmont on Nov. 13, 2012 in Los Angeles.Jeff Vespa / Getty Images

The lawsuit says that Ventura tried to escape Combs on several occasions. She says she tried to leave in March 2016 following one of the “FO” incidents at a hotel in Century City, Los Angeles. She says Combs woke up as she was leaving and followed her into the hallway.

“He grabbed at her, and then took glass vases in the hallway and threw them at her, causing glass to crash around them as she ran to the elevator to escape,” the lawsuit claims, in addition to claiming that Combs later paid the hotel $50,000 for the hallway security footage from that evening.

Ventura also alleges Combs orchestrated blowing up Kid Cudi’s car in his driveway in February 2012 after she had a brief relationship with him. Cudi did not respond to TODAY.com’s request for comment.

Toward the end of their relationship, in September 2018, the suit says, Combs forced his way into her home and raped her. Ventura had met with him “for what she believed would be a discussion about concluding their relationship for good” at a restaurant in Malibu, California, and he followed her back to her home, which he paid for, and allegedly raped her.

“Soon thereafter, Ms. Ventura took steps to completely separate herself from her long-time abuser, including by leaving the home that he paid for and returning the car he purchased for her,” the lawsuit says.

What is the lawsuit asking?

Ventura says that she “required intensive medical and psychological care” following the trauma of her relationship with Combs, though she has since married and welcomed two children.

“She cannot, however, continue to live in silence about what she endured. Mr. Combs remains immensely powerful, and immensely dangerous,” the suit alleges. “Ms. Ventura therefore seeks justice for the decade of her life that Mr. Combs took away from her with threats of violence, excessive use of drugs, physical and psychological abuse, and sexual slavery.”

She’s seeking unspecified damages in the lawsuit.

Why did Ventura file the lawsuit now?

Ventura’s lawsuit says she was “unable to speak up against the years of abuse she endured,” but that she is now able to address the trauma. The lawsuit is being brought through the Adult Survivors Act. The New York law allows people who say they were victims of sexual abuse to file civil suits after the statute of limitations has expired.

The one-year window that allowed people to file cases under the law expires next week.

In her statement, she cited the law:

“With the expiration of New York’s Adult Survivors Act fast approaching, it became clear that this was an opportunity to speak up about the trauma I have experienced and that I will be recovering from for the rest of my life.”