Rapper Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs facing more sex assault claims

New York (AFP): More sexual assault claims have been filed against Sean Combs in New York, after the rap mogul known as “Diddy” and R&B singer Cassie settled a suit alleging physical abuse and rape last week.

The suits have been submitted under the New York Adult Survivors Act, a law that opened a one-year window for sexual assault claims to be filed that otherwise happened too far in the past to litigate.

Other high-profile figures facing claims under the law, which expired Friday, include US actor Jamie Foxx, Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose and New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

A lawsuit filed Thursday by Joi Dickerson-Neal alleged she had been “drugged, sexually assaulted and abused” in 1992 by the rapper, also known as “Puff Daddy,” and that he had filmed and distributed the acts as “revenge porn.”

Dickerson-Neal is seeking a jury trial and compensation, according to a court filing.

Another complaint, filed by an anonymous “Jane Doe,” accuses Combs and music collaborator Aaron Hall of raping her during a party in 1990 or 1991, according to a report by Rolling Stone magazine.

The court filing was not accessible on the New York court’s website because it had been returned for corrections.

Last week, R&B singer Cassie, whose real name is Casandra Ventura, accused Combs of subjecting her to more than a decade of coercion by physical force and drugs as well as a rape in 2018.

A day after that filing, the parties said they had agreed to resolve the case “amicably,” but did not disclose the settlement terms.

Former US president Donald Trump was also sued under the Adult Survivors Act by former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll.

A jury in May found Trump liable for sexual abuse and awarded Carroll $2 million as well as nearly $3 million for defamation.