As Sean “Diddy” Combs remains behind bars awaiting federal trial, a Houston lawyer has announced he will be filing lawsuits against the recording artist on behalf of more than 120 plaintiffs, including at least 25 minors.
Attorney Tony Buzbee said that his law firm, along with California firm AVA Law Group, will be filing the cases individually rather than as part of a class action suit. “We will expose the enablers who enabled this conduct behind closed doors,” Buzbee said during the news conference, per Billboard. “We will pursue this matter no matter who the evidence implicates.”
Buzbee said the alleged incidents occurred between 1991 and 2024. The lawyer’s office was contacted by more than 3,000 individuals and the number of filings could increase as vetting continues. He said he would begin filing lawsuits in multiple states over the next 30 days.
In addition to these new suits, at least 12 individuals have filed civil lawsuits against Combs over the last year. Federal prosecutors previously stated that there are “dozens of victims” who are referenced in the racketeering and sex trafficking case against Combs.
Buzbee alleged that in one case, a 9-year-old boy was sexually abused after he auditioned at the Bad Boy Records Studio in New York City, per People.
“Other boys were there to audition as well,” the lawyer stated. “All of them were trying to land a record deal. All of them were minors. This individual [the 9-year-old] was sexually abused, allegedly by Sean Combs and several other people at the studio with the promise to both his parents and himself of getting a record deal.”
The lawsuits are close to evenly split between male and female plaintiffs. Alleged victims claimed they were abused at all different types of Diddy’s parties, including album release events, New Year’s Eve, “all white parties,” “puppy parties,” and at auditions in Los Angeles, Miami, Manhattan, and the Hamptons.
Combs’s attorney Erica Wolff denied the allegations, saying, “As Mr. Combs’ legal team has emphasized, he cannot address every meritless allegation in what has become a reckless media circus. That said, Mr. Combs emphatically and categorically denies as false and defamatory any claim that he sexually abused anyone, including minors. He looks forward to proving his innocence and vindicating himself in court, where the truth will be established based on evidence, not speculation.”
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The 54-year-old rap artist was arrested in September. Federal authorities allege Combs had “abused, threatened, and coerced women and others, and led a racketeering conspiracy that engaged in sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice, among other crimes,” per a U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of New York press release.
Prosecutors also said Combs “engaged in a persistent and pervasive pattern of abuse toward women and other individuals. This abuse was, at times, verbal, emotional, physical, and sexual,” as The Daily Wire previously reported.
The filing also made mention of sex parties referred to as “freak offs.”
The rapper allegedly used “force, threats of force, and coercion, to cause victims to engage in extended sex acts with male commercial sex workers” during the events, prosecutors said. “In arranging these Freak Offs, COMBS, with the assistance of members and associates of the Combs Enterprise, transported, and caused to be transported, commercial sex workers across state lines and internationally.”
Combs pleaded not guilty to federal charges and has been denied bail twice.