Because the lookback window below New York’s Gender-Motivated Violence Act (GMVA) approaches its March 1 closure, 4 extra lawsuits have been filed in opposition to Sean “Diddy” Combs, bringing new allegations of sexual assault.
Every of the lawsuits, filed in New York, follows an identical sample, with accusers alleging they had been drugged and subjected to non-consensual sexual acts.
The GMVA modification, enacted in 2022, quickly lifted the statute of limitations, permitting survivors whose claims had been beforehand time-barred to hunt authorized motion between March 1, 2023, and March 1, 2025. With the deadline quick approaching, extra lawsuits are anticipated earlier than the window closes.
The primary lawsuit comes from Aristalia Benitez, who alleges she was assaulted in 1995 when she was a 20-year-old pupil at New York College. Whereas working for Pepe Denims, a sister model of Tommy Hilfiger, she was invited by Andy Hilfiger to a celebration at a restaurant the place Combs was current.
READ ALSO: Why A$AP Rocky’s lawyer declined to signify Diddy in court docket
Benitez claims she was seated subsequent to Combs and given a non-alcoholic drink earlier than being “forcibly groped and fondled” below her garments. She says she later misplaced consciousness and awoke hours later behind a cab with no reminiscence of how she acquired there. The lawsuit alleges that Combs and his associates sexually assaulted her whereas she was unconscious.
One other plaintiff, Justin Gooch, alleges that in 1999, on the age of 16, he met Combs on the New York Metropolis nightclub Tunnel. Combs reportedly invited him right into a membership rest room stall, the place he allegedly gave him ketamine earlier than sexually assaulting him. After the incident, Gooch claims Combs casually remarked, “That wasn’t so dangerous, was it?”
The third lawsuit was filed by Leslie Cockrell, who claims she was assaulted in 1999 at one in every of Combs’ events within the Hamptons. Cockrell, then 24, labored within the music business and noticed the occasion as a networking alternative. She alleges that Combs supplied her a drink and, whereas giving her a tour of his home, touched her inappropriately.
She describes the home as “packed inside and out of doors with bare folks participating in sexual actions.” After consuming a second drink, she started to really feel lightheaded and was led to a room the place she lay down. Drifting out and in of consciousness, she claims she awoke to Combs sexually assaulting her. When she totally regained consciousness, she felt sore and was warned not to talk about the incident.
READ ALSO: Diddy fights federal cost, calls it racially motivated: ‘No white particular person has confronted an identical prosecution’
The fourth lawsuit, filed by Kendra Haffoney, names each Combs and VH1 as defendants. Haffoney, who labored in a designer showroom in Los Angeles in 2007, alleges she was drugged and assaulted whereas taking part in VH1’s actuality present I Need to Work for Diddy.
She claims she was invited to an afterparty in New York, the place she was led to a backroom with Combs and others. After taking a drink she believes was laced, she alleges that Combs pressured her to carry out oral intercourse earlier than she misplaced consciousness. She later woke as much as discover Combs sitting on the foot of the mattress, feeling sore and disoriented. Haffoney additional claims she was later invited to Combs’ Los Angeles mansion, the place she was subjected to extra abuse.
Responding to the brand new lawsuits, a consultant for Combs advised to Selection:
“Irrespective of what number of lawsuits are filed—particularly by people who refuse to place their very own names behind their claims—it gained’t change the truth that Mr. Combs has by no means sexually assaulted or intercourse trafficked anybody—man or girl, grownup or minor. This lawsuit is nothing greater than a group of media headlines, stitched along with fragments from different lawsuits and baseless rumors. With the deadline for New York’s Gender-Motivated Violence Act expiring tomorrow, opportunists are scrambling to file last-minute, meritless claims. We dwell in a world the place anybody can file a lawsuit for any motive, however that doesn’t make the claims true. Mr. Combs is assured he’ll prevail in court docket.”
These newest lawsuits observe a separate declare filed by a male escort, who accused Combs of sexual assault in 2012. Sean “Diddy” Combs is at the moment detained at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Heart, the place he awaits his prison trial set for Might 5.
READ ALSO: Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs hit with one other lawsuit over hiring an underage woman for a intercourse social gathering
![ABFF Honors President On Elevating Black Hollywood [Exclusive]](https://madamenoire.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/9/2025/02/17407733810169.jpg "ABFF Honors President On Elevating Black Hollywood [Exclusive]")
