NEW YORK (AP) – Sean “Diddy” Combs is accused in one of two lawsuits filed on Monday of drugging and assaulting a 10-year-old boy in a New York City hotel room in 2005.
The second lawsuit accuses the jailed hip-hop mogul of similarly assaulting a 17-year-old would-be contestant on the reality television series Making the Band in 2008.
The lawsuits filed in state Supreme Court in New York are the latest in a wave of lawsuits in which accusers allege they were assaulted by Combs at parties and meetings over the last two decades. Combs’ lawyers denied the two new claims on Monday and accused the plaintiffs’ lawyer, Anthony Buzbee, who also represents accusers in earlier lawsuits, of seeking publicity. “Mr Combs and his legal team have full confidence in the facts and the integrity of the judicial process,” an emailed statement said. “In court, the truth will prevail: that Mr Combs never assaulted or trafficked anyone – man or woman, adult or minor.”
Combs, 54, is incarcerated in a New York City jail after pleading not guilty to federal trafficking charges contained in an indictment unsealed the day after his September 16 arrest. Charges include allegations he coerced and abused women and silenced victims through blackmail and violence.
The 10-year-old boy who was not identified in the lawsuit was an aspiring actor and rapper who had traveled with his parents from California for meetings with music industry representatives. During what was supposed to be an audition for Combs, he was given a drug-laced soda by a Combs’ associate and assaulted by the Bad Boy Records founder, according to the lawsuit.
The boy eventually lost consciousness. When he awoke, Combs threatened to badly hurt the child’s parents if he told anyone what happened, the filing said. In a second lawsuit, a 17-year-old unidentified male said Combs forced him into inappropriate acts with Combs and a bodyguard during a three-day audition for the Making the Band television show, which Combs produced.
When the aspiring contestant expressed reservations, he was eliminated from the competition and unable to return to the music industry for seven years, according to the filing. Both lawsuits were brought under New York City’s Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Act, which allows survivors to bring lawsuits even if the statute of limitations has passed.
