Here’s everyone caught in the web of the Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs allegations so far
Sean "Diddy" Combs remains in a Brooklyn jail while awaiting a May 5 trial on federal charges of sex trafficking and racketeering. The hip-hop mogul has pleaded not guilty on all charges and has been denied bail twice thus far.
Before and after his arrest, Combs has also been served 12 civil lawsuits for physical assault, rape and more. The indictment and many of the lawsuits name Combs’ numerous business ventures and claim they are complicit in financing and enabling the rapper’s abuse inside and outside of the recording studio. They also detail how Combs allegedly used his position of power in the entertainment industry to lure, coerce and silence those around him.
Here’s an ongoing list of notable people named in lawsuits and criminal investigations against Combs so far, excluding the accusers who have chosen not to reveal their names.
The Accusers
Casandra Ventura, aka Cassie
The R&B singer was in a personal and professional relationship with Combs for over a decade. In November 2023, Ventura filed a federal lawsuit against Combs alleging years of physical, sexual and emotional abuse. The lawsuit also named Bad Boy Entertainment, Bad Boy Records, Epic Records and Combs Enterprises. A day after the filing, the two parties settled the trafficking, rape and physical assault case out of court — but Ventura’s willingness to come forward opened the floodgates for nearly a dozen other lawsuits against Combs.
The pair reportedly met in 2005, when Ventura was 19 and Combs was 37. The following year, Ventura signed a deal with Bad Boy Entertainment and released her self-titled debut album. Ventura's lawsuit alleged this was the beginning of Combs’ coercion and abuse, which she said completely took over her life and included forcing her to take illicit substances, forcing her to participate in sex with male sex workers while Combs filmed her — encounters Combs referred to as “freakoffs” — and frequent beatings. The lawsuit stated that the beatings were often witnessed by Combs’ staff, employees of Bad Boy Entertainment and Combs’ affiliated businesses.
Earlier this year, CNN published footage dated to 2016 that showed Combs repeatedly hitting and kicking Ventura in the hallway of a Los Angeles hotel. Shortly after, Ventura took to Instagram to address the video and subsequent public response. “The outpouring of love has created a place for my younger self to settle and feel safe now, but this is only the beginning,” she wrote. “Domestic Violence is THE issue. It broke me down to someone I never thought I would become. With a lot of hard work, I am better today, but I will always be recovering from my past.”
Joi Dickerson-Neal
Days after Ventura’s lawsuit, a woman named Joi Dickerson filed a lawsuit accusing Combs of drugging, sexually harassing and abusing her and distributing “revenge porn.” The suit states that Dickerson was a psychology student at Syracuse University when she agreed to go on a date with Combs in 1991. She had appeared in one of the rapper’s music videos. After the pair had dinner, the suit alleges that Combs pressured Dickerson to keep the night going and drove them to a recording studio. There, Dickerson says she realized she had been drugged and was unable to get out of the car, since she could no longer stand or walk on her own. This is when the suit alleges that Combs took her to another location and proceeded to sexually assault her.
Days later, Dickerson was told by a male friend that Combs had recorded the assault and had shown it to him and several others. The lawsuit states that the ensuing feelings of violation and humiliation derailed Dickerson’s studies and have had prolonged effects on her mental health, career and economic opportunities. Like Ventura, Dickerson filed the lawsuit under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which provided a one-year window for victims of sexual abuse who were age 18 or older at the time of the crime to file civil action regardless of the statute of limitations of the crimes themselves.
Liza Gardner
Last November, Liza Gardner filed a lawsuit alleging that in 1990, she was raped by Combs and R&B singer Aaron Hall. The lawsuit says that days later, Combs assaulted and choked Gardner until she lost consciousness.
In an amended complaint filed Oct. 8, Gardner adds that she was 16 years old when she was invited to New Jersey from her home in North Carolina by her friends DeVante Swing and Dalvin DeGrate of the R&B group Jodeci. The lawsuit states that Jodeci’s housing, where Gardner was staying, was “subsidized” by their label, Uptown Records, a subsidiary of MCA and UMG. It goes on to allege that Gardner and her 15-year-old friend, Monica Case, met Combs and Hall at an MCA Records event in New York, where they were reportedly supplied with alcohol. Combs and Hall allegedly provided the minors with more drinks and with marijuana later that night.
The lawsuit states that Gardner and her friends were later taken back to Hall’s apartment in New Jersey, where Combs raped Gardner. The suit states that unbeknownst to Gardner at the time, Devante Swing was in the room at the time and did nothing to stop Combs. Swing was added as a co-defendant in the new complaint for “aiding and abetting” the sexual assault.
The lawsuit also names UMG Recordings, Universal Music Group and more.
Rodney "Lil Rod" Jones
Producer Rodney "Lil Rod" Jones worked with Combs on his 2023 release, The Love Album: Off the Grid. In February, Jones filed a lawsuit alleging that during the making of the album — from 2022 to 2023 — he lived with Combs, who he says repeatedly groped him, forced him to solicit sex workers, take illegal drugs, and more. The suit states that Combs would often walk around naked in front of Jones, and that the music mogul attempted to groom the producer into engaging in sex with other men in the music industry, allegedly promising Jones a Grammy if he complied. Jones also alleges that a cousin of rapper Yung Miami, who was dating Combs at the time, sexually assaulted him in Combs’ home in 2022 in front of Combs and his staff.
Jones’ lawsuit also names Combs’ son, Justin Dior Combs, Love Records, Combs Global Enterprises and Combs’ chief of staff, Kristina Khorram, as co-defendants. In addition to the allegations of abuse, the suit describes a shooting at a recording studio involving Combs, his son Justin Dior Combs and an unnamed victim. The suit also claims that Combs did not properly compensate Jones for his work on The Love Album.
The lawsuit originally included Universal Music Group, Motown Records, former Motown CEO Ethiopia Habtemariam and UMG chairman and CEO Lucian Grainge as co-defendants. Lawyers for Grainge and UMG denied their involvement in the allegations, eventually leading Jones’ lawyer to drop Grainge and the labels from the charges.
Crystal McKinney
In May, Crystal McKinney filed a lawsuit against Combs, Bad Boy Entertainment, Universal Music Group (UMG) and Combs’ clothing company, Sean John Clothing. The charges against UMG Recordings were later dismissed, and Daddy’s House Recordings was added as a co-defendant.
The suit states that in 2003, McKinney was 22 years old and working as a model when an unnamed designer introduced her to Combs at a Sean John fashion show in New York City. Combs allegedly expressed interest in getting to know McKinney better and helping her modeling career grow.
Later that night, he invited her to a recording studio, where McKinney says Combs and several other men were smoking marijuana and drinking. She took a hit of a joint, which according to the lawsuit, she believes was laced with another substance. The lawsuit states that Combs pressured McKinney to continue drinking and smoking, and as she became more intoxicated, she was led to a bathroom by Combs, who forced her to perform oral sex on him. Afterward, McKinney lost consciousness and awoke in a taxi en route to the designer’s apartment. The lawsuit states that following the assault, McKinney became severely depressed. According to the lawsuit, she believes Combs “blackballed” her in the industry, which led to the downfall of her modeling career, and has had long-lasting effects on her mental health.
April Lampros
In May, April Lampros filed a lawsuit naming Combs, Bad Boy Entertainment and Arista Records, a subsidiary of Sony Music. Lampros met Combs in 1994 while studying at the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York City. She says Combs often invited her to the Bad Boy studio, promised to mentor and help her advance her career and began “love-bombing” her. They started dating and Lampros would often travel to see Combs, though he asked that their relationship be kept private.
In the suit, Lampros accuses Combs of sexually assaulting her on four separate occasions and repeatedly threatening to harm her, both physically and professionally. In one such instance, Combs allegedly forced Lampros and his then-girlfriend Kim Porter to take ecstasy, forced them to engage in sex while he watched and then raped Lampros. Though she tried to distance herself from Combs as the relationship turned abusive, Lampros says Combs continually contacted her, and she feared the repercussions of rebuffing his advances. The lawsuit states that after Lampros’ relationship with Combs had ended, she was told by someone she knew that he had seen a video of her and Combs having sex, recorded without her knowledge.
Derrick Lee Cardello-Smith
In June, a man incarcerated in Michigan filed a lawsuit against Combs alleging that the rapper drugged and sexually assaulted him in Detroit in 1997. During a hearing in September, a default judgment was granted to Cardello-Smith for $100 million after Combs and his lawyers failed to appear in court. Shortly after, the judgment was set aside on grounds that Cardello-Smith’s lawsuit, mailed to a Combs residence in Los Angeles, was not properly served. Cardello-Smith is currently serving sentences for kidnapping and criminal sexual conduct.
Adria English
In July, a woman named Adria English filed a lawsuit against Combs, Bad Boy Entertainment, Sean John Clothing, Combs Global Enterprises, Tamiko Thomas, Jacob Arabov aka “Jacob The Jeweler,” VIBE magazine, Penske Media Corporation and several unnamed defendants. The suit alleges that in 2004, English was working as a dancer at a club in New York City when she and her then-boyfriend, aspiring model Anthony Gallo, were hired to work at one of Combs’ famous “White Parties” in the Hamptons.
English alleges that while working at the party, she was forced to drink alcohol, which she believes was laced with ecstasy, and forced to consume narcotics. The suit alleges that Combs and a Bad Boy Entertainment employee continued to hire her to work at “White Parties” in New York and in Miami. According to the lawsuit, around the third event, English alleges that she was asked to swap the usual white attire for a black mini-dress and forced to begin having intercourse with guests. She believes the black dress was meant to signal to guests that she was a “sex trafficked sex worker.”
The lawsuit names Jacob Arabov aka “Jacob The Jeweler” as one such guest she was coerced into having intercourse with, along with other unnamed defendants. English believes there are secret recordings of those defendants sexually assaulting her in Combs’ homes while she was unconscious.
Dawn Richard
In September, singer Dawn Richard filed a lawsuit against Combs for sexual assault and battery. The complaint also states that Richard witnessed Combs beat and abuse Ventura on many occasions.
Richard first met Combs when she auditioned for the MTV show Making the Band in 2004 and was selected to be a member of the group Danity Kane under Combs’ mentorship. The lawsuit alleges that Richard and her bandmates were subjected to inhumane working conditions during their time on the show and in the musical group, sometimes being forced to rehearse for up to 48 hours without food or breaks and often being berated by Combs. The complaint states that the abusive behavior continued throughout Richard’s professional relationship with Combs, and that he instilled a culture of fear in the women he worked with.
After Danity Kane disbanded in 2009, Richard continued to work with Combs in the trio Diddy — Dirty Money, along with singer Kalenna Harper — who allegedly also witnessed much of Combs’ abusive behavior and was subject to his numerous threats. The lawsuit alleges Combs would force Richard to take meetings while he was in his underwear, and he would barge into her dressing room unannounced and would grope her breasts and buttocks during stylist fittings.
In one instance in 2010, the lawsuit states that Combs berated Richard and Harper in the lobby of SIR Studios and attempted to punch Richard when she asked him to stop calling them “bitches” in front of people. Richard alleges the women were then ushered into a company car and that Combs and Harve Pierre falsely imprisoned them in the vehicle for over two hours.
In addition to the allegations of abuse, Richard’s lawsuit demands unpaid salaries, royalties and wages for Richard’s work as part of Danity Kane and Diddy — Dirty Money. The complaint also names Harve Pierre, Remote Productions, Bad Boy Entertainment, Daddy’s House Recording Studio and a number of other music, publishing and finance corporations associated with Combs for enabling his violence.
Thalia Graves
In September, a woman named Thalia Graves filed a lawsuit accusing Combs and his bodyguard Joseph Sherman of raping her, recording the assault without her knowledge and distributing the video as pornography.
Graves alleges that the assault took place in 2001, when she was 25 years old and dating an unnamed record producer who worked with Combs. She says Combs and Sherman took advantage of her relationship with their colleague to lure her to a recording studio alone, where they gave her a drink she believes was laced with some kind of drug. The lawsuit says Graves lost consciousness and awoke to find herself bound and restrained; Combs and Sherman then proceeded to take turns raping her.
Graves says she did not report the alleged crime out of fear of Combs’ retaliation, and that her boyfriend at the time discouraged her from doing so because it might hurt his career. In November 2023, Graves alleges she learned the rape had been recorded by Sherman and Combs, who showed it to others with the purpose of humiliating Graves and her then-boyfriend. The lawsuit details how the crime and the knowledge of its recording has had dire, long-lasting consequences on Graves’ mental health.
The Accused
Aaron Hall
The R&B singer is named in Gardner’s lawsuit, alleging that he and Combs raped her and an unnamed friend in 1990. Hall could not be reached for comment.
Harve Pierre
In December 2023, an unnamed woman filed a lawsuit accusing Combs, former Bad Boy Entertainment president Harve Pierre and a third man of trafficking and gang raping her when she was 17 years old. The suit states that the victim met Pierre at a lounge in Michigan in 2003 while she was still in high school, and that the record executive sexually assaulted her by forcing her to perform oral sex on him. Pierre allegedly called Combs, who convinced the underaged woman to board a private jet to New Jersey.
After the plane ride, the suit states that the unnamed victim, Pierre and two other men were driven to Combs’ recording studio in New York, where they “plied Ms. Doe with drugs and alcohol.” The lawsuit says that Combs, Pierre and another man proceeded to “gang-rape” the teenager, and that she has limited recollection of the trip back to Michigan the following day. The lawsuit also names recording studio Daddy’s House Recordings and Bad Boy Entertainment as co-defendants. Pierre denied the allegations in a statement to TMZ.
Kristina Khorram
Khorram is named as Combs’ chief of staff and a co-defendant in Jones’ lawsuit. Jones alleges that Khorram frequently solicited illicit drugs and sex workers for Combs and his guests, forced Jones to carry substances for Combs and ordered Jones to hire sex workers for Combs. He also accuses Khorram of “aiding and abetting” Combs’ sexual assault and helping Combs groom Jones. Though she is not listed as a co-defendant, Khorram is also named in a September 2024 sexual abuse lawsuit filed by an unnamed woman who says the Combs employee often paid for her to travel and “perform” for Combs — the complaint alleges Combs’ staffers would “send drivers to [the victim’s] home to pick her up before she agreed to travel, to the point where she did not believe she had a choice.”
NPR reached out to Khorram’s attorneys Thursday morning for comment and is awaiting a reply.
Cuba Gooding Jr.
The actor, who pled guilty in 2022 to forcibly touching a woman and settled a civil sexual abuse case in 2023, was named in an amendment to Rodney "Lil Rod" Jones’ original lawsuit against Combs. The producer alleges that Gooding Jr. fondled and groped him on Combs’ yacht. The actor has denied the allegations. “It’s the most ridiculous thing ever,” he said in an interview with Extra TV. “Welcome to being a celebrity. Welcome to my world.”
Justin Dior Combs and Christian Combs
Sean Combs’ son, Justin Dior Combs, is also named in Jones’ lawsuit against the rapper, which alleges that the producer witnessed the father and son solicit sex workers and admit underaged girls to a listening party where they laced the women’s drinks. The lawsuit also alleges that Jones witnessed Christian Combs, another son of Combs, drug and assault a woman. Tyrone Blackburn, an attorney representing Jones, is also part of a separate lawsuit filed in April against Christian Combs on behalf of a plaintiff named Grace O’Marcaigh, alleging the younger Combs assaulted her on a yacht owned by Combs, who is named as co-defendant. Both Justin Dior Combs and Christian Combs have denied the allegations against them.
Jacob Arabov, aka "Jacob The Jeweler" aka Jacob Arabo
The founder and chairman of high-profile jewelry and watch company Jacob & Co. is named as a co-defendant in English’s suit, which alleges he was one of the “White Party” guests she was forced to have sex with. Jacob & Co did not respond to NPR’s request for comment.
Joseph "Big Joe" Sherman
Combs’ former bodyguard is named as a co-defendant in Graves’ lawsuit, along with Daddy’s House Recordings, Bad Boy Entertainment and more. Graves claims that Sherman actively raped her alongside Combs in 2001. The lawsuit states that when she attempted to escape the assault, Combs slammed her head into a pool table, causing her to lose consciousness. After waking up, she says Sherman continued to assault her and slapped her until she passed out a third time. Sherman has denied Graves’ claims, saying he no longer worked for Bad Boy in 2001 and never met the young woman.
DeVante Swing
In an amended complaint filed on Oct. 8, Liza Gardner added Devante Swing of the R&B group Jodeci as a co-defendant to her lawsuit. Gardner alleges that Swing, who was an adult at the time, was her “assumed co-guardian” when he invited the underaged Gardner to New Jersey. The suit alleges that Swing “trafficked and or coerced the child to travel across state lines from North Carolina to New York and New Jersey with the hidden intention of providing the child with alcohol, and marijuana and prostituting the child to his A&R Combs.” Gardner’s friend, Monica Case, also filed a sworn declaration alleging Swing was in the room “watching whatever Puffy was doing to Liza.”
Swing could not be reached for comment.
Other Names To Know
Jimmy Iovine
In her lawsuit, Richard alleges that she attended a party where Interscope Records co-founder Jimmy Iovine witnessed Combs punch Ventura in the stomach. The lawsuit blames Iovine — and Interscope — for moving forward with a deal with Combs and Bad Boy Entertainment after becoming aware of his violent and abusive behavior. Separately, in 2022, Iovine was accused of sexual abuse and harassment by an unnamed woman under New York’s Adult Survivors Act. The woman later dropped the case.
NPR reached out to Interscope and Iovine's team but did not receive a comment.
Kid Cudi
Kid Cudi and Ventura were romantically involved in 2011. In her lawsuit, Ventura alleged that when Combs found emails between the two on Ventura’s phone, he became enraged and attacked her. Ventura attempted to run away but returned due to pressure from Combs’ staff; the lawsuit alleged that Combs then hit and kicked her. The lawsuit stated that in 2012, Combs told Ventura he wanted to “blow up” Kid Cudi’s car while the rapper was home. Kid Cudi corroborated to The New York Times that his car exploded in his driveway around that time.
Caresha Brownlee, aka Yung Miami
Yung Miami, half of the rap duo City Girls, dated Combs in recent years. In August, she denied knowing anything about the accusations that have surfaced against her ex. “I can’t speak on these allegations because I wasn’t around at the time,” she said on her Revolt TV show, Caresha Please. “I don’t know that person, and that wasn’t my experience.”
In September, however, Brownlee was named in a lawsuit filed against Combs by an unnamed woman. The lawsuit alleges that the plaintiff was forced to travel and “perform” for Combs many times from 2021 to 2024. Much of this travel was reportedly paid for by Combs’ staffer Kristina Khorram. The suit states that in 2022, the plaintiff was forced to take drugs and have sex with Combs. When she learned she was pregnant and told Combs, the lawsuit states that Brownlee — who is not a co-defendant on the complaint — harassed and called the plaintiff repeatedly, pressuring her to get an abortion. The stress allegedly led the woman to suffer a miscarriage.
NPR reached out to Brownlee’s representation Thursday morning and is awaiting a reply.
Tony Buzbee
On Oct. 1, Texas attorney Tony Buzbee held a press conference announcing that his firm will be filing at least 120 individual civil lawsuits against Combs in the coming weeks. “The biggest secret in the entertainment industry that wasn’t really a secret at all has finally been revealed to the world,” Buzbee said during the presser. “The wall of silence has been broken, and victims are coming forward.”
Buzbee is known for representing clients in high-profile cases, including Texas attorney general Ken Paxton during his 2023 impeachment trial, the women who sued football player Deshaun Watson for sexual misconduct, and the victims of the Astroworld deadly crowd surge. During Paxton’s trial, Buzbee took his own share of the spotlight for a public spat with the media over how they photographed his tan in the courtroom. In addition to practicing at the Buzbee Law Firm, his professional ventures include property development, a short-lived THC-infused seltzer company and local politics. He self-funded a run for Houston mayor against Democratic incumbent Sylvester Turner in 2019 and ran for Houston City Council in 2023, ultimately losing both races.
