Written by Steve Gorman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – R&B singer Cassandra Ventura sued Sean Combs in federal court on Thursday, accusing the rapper and hip-hop mogul she once dated and signed to his music label of subjecting her to a series of physical assaults and sexual slavery. And rape.
One of the central allegations against Combs by Ventura, who performs under the stage name Cassie, is that he forced her to have sex with a series of male prostitutes he hired while he watched and filmed the encounters for his own pleasure.
The lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan accuses Combs of regularly beating Ventura over the course of a decade-long professional and romantic relationship that he controlled through intimidation and plying her with drugs and alcohol.
Ventura, 37, claims Combs raped her toward the end of their relationship in 2018 when she brought up the idea of leaving him.
Combs’ attorney, Ben Brafman, issued a statement saying his client “vehemently denies these insulting and outrageous accusations.”
Brafman said Ventura filed a lawsuit “full of outrageous and baseless lies” after a failed attempt to blackmail Combs into paying her $30 million by threatening to write a damaging book about their relationship.
Combs, 54, founder of the iconic Bad Boy Records, is one of the most influential producers and executives in hip-hop, and a highly successful performer in his own right, as well as the manager of his own Sean John clothing line.
In 2017, Forbes magazine classified him as the highest-paid musician in the world, earning an estimated $130 million annually.
The lawsuit filed Thursday portrayed Combs, who was previously known by nicknames P. Diddy, Puff Daddy and Diddy, as an eccentric and controlling person with violent tendencies targeting Ventura and others.
He forced Ventura to carry his gun for him in her purse, once pinned a friend of hers on the balcony of a high-rise hotel suite and blew up a car owned by rapper Kid Cudi after learning he was interested in Ventura, the lawsuit said.
According to the lawsuit, Ventura met Combs in late 2005 when she was 19 and he was 37, signed a 10-album record deal with Bad Boy Records within months and began a romantic relationship with him a few years later.
The lawsuit does not seek a specific amount of financial compensation. Instead, the letter says, Ventura seeks “justice for the decade of her life that Mr. Combs took from her with threats of violence, excessive drug use, physical and psychological abuse, and sexual enslavement.”
The lawsuit cites violations of sex trafficking and human trafficking laws under federal, New York and California laws.
Combs is the latest high-profile recording industry figure to be accused of sexual misconduct in recent lawsuits, including singer-songwriter Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, record producer L.A. Reid and music executive Neil Portnow, the former president and CEO of the Recording Academy. Which hosts the Grammys.
(Reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Deepa Babington)
