Sam Amico
Music mogul and legendary rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs is being sued by singer Cassie on allegations of rape and that he sex-trafficked her for about a decade.
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Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, said in the lawsuit she is ready to open up about the alleged sexual torment from Combs.
“After years in silence and darkness, I am finally ready to tell my story,” Cassie said.
Combs, who has gone by “Puff Daddy” and “P-Diddy,” is unquestionably one of the most influential and successful executives in rock, pop or rap music history. He founded Bad Boy records in the early 1990s.
He also launched a clothing label, Sean John, and is believed to be worth more than $1 billion.
Cassie filed her suit in filed in U.S. District Court in Manhattan.
“After years in silence and darkness, I am finally ready to tell my story, and to speak up on behalf of myself and for the benefit of other women who face violence and abuse in their relationships,” Cassie said in a statement.
“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.”
Per NBC News:
“Cassie’s suit says 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,’ the suit alleges.
“The suit claims that Combs raped Cassie in 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.”
The suit adds:
“Throughout their relationship Mr. Combs was prone to uncontrollable rage, and frequently beat Ms. Ventura savagely.
“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.”
