On Thursday, Combs and his companies, Bad Boy Records, Bad Boy Entertainment, Epic Records and Combs Enterprises, were identified as defendants in the case brought by his former girlfriend, singer, Cassie. The civil lawsuit claims that in 2005, when she was 19 years old, the then 37-year-old Combs lured the singer into a professional relationship by signing her to his label, Bad Boy Records.
Within several years he induced her into a sexual relationship, and introduced her “to a lifestyle of excessive alcohol and substance abuse and required her to procure illicit prescriptions to satisfy his own addictions.
Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, alleges that Combs raped her at her home after she tried to leave him, “blew up” another man’s car after learning of his romantic interest in the singer, and often beat and kicked her. She further alleges that Combs “forced her to engage in sex acts with male sex workers while masturbating and filming the encounters.”
“Throughout their relationship Mr. Combs was prone to uncontrollable rage, and frequently beat Ms. Ventura savagely,” the suit alleges.
“These beatings were witnessed by Mr. Combs’ staff and employees of Bad Boy Entertainment and Mr. Combs’s related businesses, but no one dared to speak up against their frightening and ferocious boss,” it adds.
Ventura is suing for $30 million. In a statement, she said, “With the expiration of New York’s Adult Survivors Act fast approaching, it became clear that this was an opportunity to speak up about the trauma I have experienced and that I will be recovering from for the rest of my life.”
Speaking on behalf of his client, Diddy’s attorney, Ben Brafman said, his client vehemently denies “these offensive and outrageous allegations.”
