Sean Combs accused of sexual harassment in new lawsuit

A former model filed a lawsuit Tuesday accusing hip-hop mogul Sean Combs of forcing her to perform oral sex on him in his New York recording studio in 2003.

In the complaint, Crystal McKinney says that when she was 22, she was invited by an unnamed fashion designer to a Men’s Fashion Week event at a Manhattan restaurant, where she met Mr. Combs, a well-known impresario and record label host MTV reality show “Making the Band.”

Later that night, according to the lawsuit, Mr. Combs invited her to his recording studio, where Ms. McKinney said she was given alcohol and marijuana, which she later believed were toxins. She says Mr. Combs took her to the bathroom, pushed her head into his crotch and, after she refused, forced her to perform oral sex on him. Soon after, the lawsuit says, she lost consciousness, later waking up in a taxi and realizing she had been sexually assaulted.

Representatives for Mr. Combs did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit.

Mr. Combs, 54, has faced mounting legal problems since his former girlfriend Casandra Ventura, known as Cassie, filed a lawsuit against him last year accusing him of sexually and physically abusing her for years. The lawsuit was settled within a day, but three more lawsuits followed from women accusing him of rape. In March, two of Mr. Combs’ homes were searched as part of an investigation that officials said was at least partly human trafficking.

The producer and businessman, known as Puff Daddy and Diddy, called the allegations against him false and “disgusting” and described the plaintiffs as looking for a “quick payday.”

Mr Combs’s behavior has come under intense scrutiny in recent days after CNN released footage from 2016 of him hitting, kicking and dragging Ms Ventura, corroborating part of the lawsuit she filed last year. On Sunday, he apologized, saying in a video posted on Instagram: “My behavior in this video is inexcusable.”

Ms. McKinney, who filed her lawsuit in federal district court in Manhattan, said that when she learned of the other lawsuits against Mr. Combs, she filed her own suit. Because the allegations are more than two decades old, which is outside the statute of limitations, the lawsuit is governed by New York’s Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Act, which allows accusers for a limited period to file civil lawsuits over claims after the statute of limitations has expired.

A lawyer representing Mr. Combs, Jonathan Davis, argued in a separate personal injury lawsuit that the gender-based violence law should not be used to advance such suits because another state law that expressly extends the statute of limitations for sexual assault has expired.