Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs accused of rape in new lawsuit
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, who is currently in prison following his recent arrest, has now been accused of rape by Thalia Graves. The lawsuit alleges that both Combs and a member of his security team raped Graves and videoed the incident at his recording studio in New York in 2001.
The lawsuit has been filed in federal court in New York. Combs has been retained in detention at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn following sex trafficking and racketeering charges brought against him on September 16th. Prior to that, he had already faced a number of charges similar to those filed by Graves, who is the 11th person to come forward with claims against him.
Graves claims the event occurred when she was 25 and dating an executive who worked for Combs in the summer of 2001. Allegedly, Combs and Joseph Sherman, his head of security, convinced her to come to a meeting at Bad Boy Recording Studios. Graves alleges that she was picked up in an SUV and was given a drink that she believes was laced with some sort of drug.
Graves claims she began to lose consciousness and woke up bound inside Combs’s office and lounge at the studio. She says that the two men proceeded to rape her, slap her and slam her head against the pool table. Graves also alleges that the two men ignored her cries for help once she had regained consciousness.
Graves states she has been suffering from the repercussions of this incident for years. At a news conference in Los Angeles with her attorney, Gloria Allred, she said that she suffered from continuous “Flashbacks, nightmares and intrusive thoughts” in the years that followed.
“It has been hard for me to trust others to form healthy relationships or even feel safe in my own skin,” said Graves, reading a pre-prepared statement. She described ongoing repercussions as “a pain that reaches into your very core of who you are and leaves emotional scars that may never fully heal.”
Combs remains imprisoned in New York for the foreseeable future after being denied. The ongoing lawsuit claims that he ran a vast network which facilitated sexual crimes and committed acts of sexual violence on a number of people over the years.
Videos of these acts were then allegedly used as blackmail against victims to guarantee silence and cooperation. Combs has pleaded not guilty to all these charges and is awaiting a formal trial date. He has yet to submit a plea in the case of Thalia Graves.
Combs is yet to respond to the allegations made by Graves. However, last December, he made a statement claiming, “I did not do any of the awful things being alleged. I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth.”
His recent responses to the case being brought against him have come from his legal representatives. “It was adults and consensual,” his lawyer Marc Agnifilo told CNN on September 17th, in reference to the “freak-offs” where many of Diddy’s crimes are alleged to have occurred. “And everybody who was there wanted to be there.”
As it stands, the Manhattan Federal Court are yet to reveal the date of Combs’ trial. The rapper has pled not guilty to all of the charges.
For help, advice or more information regarding sexual harassment, assault and rape in the UK, visit the Rape Crisis charity website. In the US, visit RAINN.
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