he federal trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs is scheduled to start May 5, a judge in New York declared on Thursday.
Sean “Diddy” Combs is facing a new civil lawsuit filed in federal court Monday.
The complaint, first obtained by NBC News, was filed in the Southern District of New York on behalf of one female, who is not named. The incident alleged in the complaint dates back to 2004 and includes allegations of sexual assault and rape against her in a Manhattan hotel room when she was a 19-year-old college student.
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The lawsuit was filed by Texas-based attorney Tony Buzbee — who announced at a press conference on Oct. 1 that he was representing accusers with allegations against Combs — under the Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Act. Under this law, victims have a two-year window ending in March 2025 to file older claims.
Buzbee told NBC News, “We’re going to just try to file cases that we feel are credible and legitimate,” Buzbee said.
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The lawsuit, filed Monday, names Combs and his various businesses as defendants and the accuser is seeking unspecified damages.
NBC News has not independently corroborated any of the allegations in the complaint.
“There’s an overarching theme here, as you probably can see, which is basically Sean Combs feels like he can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants to do it,” Buzbee said in an interview with NBC News ahead of filing the suits.
NBC News has reached out to Combs’ legal team for comment. However, Combs has previously denied all civil and criminal claims via his attorneys saying the accusations leveled against him are “sickening” and the result of people looking for a “quick payday.”
The new filing comes as the embattled music mogul is fighting his pre-trial detention on federal racketeering and sex trafficking charges. While the specific allegations in the lawsuit are new, the court documents lay out a disturbing picture of drug-fueled parties combined with violence that mirror some of the details in his criminal indictment filed by prosecutors in the Southern District of New York last month.
This latest lawsuit comes after a New York judge set a May 5 trial date for Combs’ criminal case. He is currently awaiting trial at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. Federal prosecutors stated in a hearing last week that they are going through data on over 90 devices belonging to Combs which were seized at his properties in raids earlier this year and when he was arrested in New York.
Combs, who was denied bail twice by two separate judges, is seeking to have those decisions overturned. In a filing ahead of last week’s hearing, attorneys for Combs filed a bail appeal in New York’s federal appeals court.
Buzbee’s latest civil suit is among several filed since Combs’ ex-girlfriend Cassandra “Cassie” Venture filed a federal lawsuit in New York nearly a year ago, accusing Combs of physical and sexual abuse over a period of years. Combs and Ventura settled for an undisclosed amount the following day. In a statement at the time of the settlement, Combs denied all of the allegations.
But in May, CNN published a surveillance video of Combs beating Ventura in the hallway of a Los Angeles hotel in 2016. Combs then apologized for the incident but said it was a one-off instance and that he had sought therapy and had changed.
Last week, Combs’ legal team filed a petition claiming that the government had provided the video of the incident involving Ventura to CNN and had been responsible for leaking other information to the media.
“Between the grand jury leaks and the incendiary public statements, the agents all but ensured that the grand jury would be tainted as well as the general public from which we will soon select a jury,” the filing stated.
Combs’ legal team is seeking an evidentiary hearing on the matter, but prosecutors have denied the accusations. The judge overseeing the case said during last week’s hearing that he will likely impose a reciprocal gag order preventing both sides from engaging with the media.
In the months since Ventura’s lawsuit, several individuals have sued Combs including Dawn Richard, a former member of the girl group Danity Kane, who alleged that Combs groped, assaulted and imprisoned her and threatened her life.
— Dan Mangan, CNBC contributed.
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