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Seven new lawsuits have been filed against Sean “Diddy” Combs, including one alleging the rape of a 13-year-old girl. They come as his lawyers tried again on Monday to secure his bail and complained that a “new wave of publicity” is jeopardizing his right to a fair criminal trial.
In lawsuits filed Sunday in state and federal courts, four men and three women, all anonymous, allege that Combs sexually assaulted them at parties over the past two decades.
Combs, 54, pleaded not guilty to federal sex trafficking charges contained in an indictment unsealed the day after his Sept. 16 arrest. The charges include allegations that he coerced and abused women for years, with the help of associates and employees, and silenced victims through blackmail and violence, including kidnappings, arson and physical beatings.
He has remained jailed pending a May 5 trial after two judges denied bail in rulings appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit.
Combs’ attorneys on Sunday asked a judge to order potential witnesses and their attorneys to stop making statements that could impede a fair trial.
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“As the Court knows, Mr. Combs has been the target of an endless stream of accusations from potential witnesses and his attorneys in the press,” they wrote. “These potential witnesses and their attorneys have made numerous inflammatory extrajudicial statements designed to assassinate Mr. Combs’ character in the press.”
The latest lawsuits come from what attorneys say are more than 100 accusers who are planning legal action against Combs. The plaintiffs’ attorney, Tony Buzbee, announced the planned litigation at a news conference on Oct. 1 and posted a 1-800 number for accusers to call.
As before, Combs’ representatives dismissed the latest lawsuits as “clear attempts to gain publicity.” They said Combs and his legal team “have complete confidence in the facts, their legal defenses and the integrity of the judicial process.”
Combs “has never sexually assaulted anyone, whether adult or minor, man or woman,” they added.
One of the lawsuits filed Sunday alleges that a 13-year-old girl who was invited to a party by a limousine driver after the Video Music Awards in Manhattan in September 2000 was raped by a “male celebrity” and then by Combs as identified individuals. only while “Celebrity A,” a man, and “Celebrity B,” a woman, looked on.
Another lawsuit alleged that Combs sexually assaulted a 17-year-old boy at a party in the penthouse of a Manhattan hotel in 2022.
In the lawsuits, it was alleged that the plaintiffs believed they had been given drinks laced with drugs before they were assaulted.
Meanwhile, Combs’ attorneys told the Second Circuit in a filing Monday that he will renew his bail request in the lower court based on “significant circumstances.” They said the issues include “constitutional concerns arising from his conditions of confinement and the evidence contained in a recently produced discovery.”
In a document filed last week, prosecutors told the appeals court that judges denied bail after evidence showed Combs “used methodical and sophisticated means to silence and intimidate witnesses during the racketeering conspiracy and during the Government’s investigation.
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© 2024 The Canadian Press
