An unnamed woman has filed a federal lawsuit against Sean “Diddy” Combs and his longtime lieutenant Harve Pierre alleging that they gang-raped her in 2003, when she was 17 years old. The complaint, which the Cut reviewed, alleges that the men trafficked her across state lines, plied her with drugs and alcohol, then violently assaulted her along with a third unidentified man at Combs’s Manhattan recording studio.
The Jane Doe is the fourth woman to sue Combs and accuse him of sexual abuse in the span of three weeks. Pierre, who led Combs’s Bad Boy Entertainment for decades, was also sued last month by an assistant who alleged that he sexually assaulted her several times. Combs has denied all the allegations against him; Pierre and Bad Boy, which was also named as a defendant in the latest complaint, did not immediately respond to the Cut’s request for comment.
“ENOUGH IS ENOUGH,” Combs said Wednesday in a statement. “For the last couple of weeks, I have sat silently and watched people try to assassinate my character, destroy my reputation and my legacy. Sickening allegations have been made against me by individuals looking for a quick payday. Let me be absolutely clear: I did not do any of the awful things being alleged. I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth.”
Doe alleges she met Pierre and the third unnamed assailant at a lounge in the Detroit area on a night out when she was 17. She says that Pierre claimed to be “best friends” with Combs and told her that the music mogul would “love to meet” the teenager. He then called Combs and put Doe on the line; the then-34-year-old artist said she should come with Pierre to New York aboard a private jet, according to the lawsuit. After the call, Doe alleges Pierre asked her to accompany him to the bathroom at the lounge, where he “demanded” oral sex. The teen then joined Pierre and the unnamed assailant on the private jet, flying into Teterboro, New Jersey, before they were driven to Daddy’s House Recording Studio, which Combs owned.
The complaint includes several pictures of Doe that she claims were taken at the studio on that night, including one that shows her sitting on Combs’s lap. There, Doe alleges Combs and his associates plied her with drugs and alcohol. “As the night wore on, the 17-year-old became more and more inebriated, eventually to the point that she could not possibly have consented to having sex with anyone, much less someone twice her age,” the complaint says. Doe alleges she was then violently raped by Combs, the unnamed assailant, and Pierre. After the assault, she claims she was flown back to Michigan.
The complaint says the woman decided to come forward after learning that Combs’ ex-partner, the singer Cassie (real name Cassandra Ventura), filed a lawsuit against him alleging a pattern of “abuse, violence, and sex trafficking” throughout their relationship. (Cassie and Doe are represented by the same attorney, Douglas H. Wigdor.) Combs settled Cassie’s suit one day after the suit was filed. His attorney has said the settlement was “in no way an admission of wrongdoing.” Two more women sued Combs following the settlement. One of them, also identified in her suit as a Jane Doe, alleges that Combs and singer-songwriter Aaron Hall violently assaulted her at Hall’s apartment three decades ago. The other, Joi Dickerson-Neal, says Combs drugged her and sexually assaulted her in 1991. She also claims that he recorded the assault and distributed the tape.
“Most triggering for Ms. Doe was reading about Ms. Ventura’s allegations of sex trafficking and being forced to have sex with other men against her will,” the newest Jane Doe complaint reads. “Ms. Doe obviously understands that she too had been sex trafficked, and that Mr. Combs’ behavior in forcing women into nonconsensual sex was not an isolated incident or unique only to Ms. Ventura.”
Doe filed the new suit under New York City’s Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Act, which allows survivors to file civil complaints involving sexual assault claims against alleged abusers and institutions after the statute of limitations has run out. The lookback window expires on March 1, 2025.
