Sean “Diddy” Combs accused of sexually assaulting a model in new suit

Top line

Sean “Diddy” Combs is again accused of sexual assault in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in New York. This adds to the string of recent controversies against the rapper and record label executive, including multiple sexual misconduct lawsuits and surveillance footage showing him physically attacking his ex-partner Cassie Ventura.

The McKinney lawsuit is the latest in a series of sexual misconduct claims against Sean “Diddy” … (+) Combs since November last year.

Presentation 2018

Important facts

In a lawsuit filed in Federal District Court in Manhattan, former model Crystal McKinney accused Combs of drugging and sexually abusing her in his New York recording studio in 2003.

According to the lawsuit, McKinney, then 22, met Combs while attending a Men’s Fashion Week event at a Manhattan restaurant.

During their meeting, the rapper allegedly approached her “in a sexually suggestive manner” and told McKinney that “he had power in the industry and would help her advance her career,” the filing says.

Combs then invited McKinney to his studio later that evening, where he offered her marijuana, which she now believes was “laced with a narcotic or other intoxicating substance,” the complaint states.

McKinney claims that after she became “very drunk,” Combs took her to a bathroom where he first kissed her without her consent and then “forced her to perform oral sex on him.”

The lawsuit alleges that McKinney eventually lost consciousness before waking up in a taxi and realizing she had been sexually assaulted.

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tangent

McKinney won MTV’s first modeling competition, described in the lawsuit as a “televised modeling competition similar to Miss America,” in 1998 when she was only 17 years old. Her win earned her a modeling contract with IMG. McKinney went on to model for a Tommy Hilfiger campaign and appear on various MTV shows, including Total Request Live, Fashionably Loud and True Life. The lawsuit alleges that following the assault, Mckinney’s “modeling opportunities began to rapidly dwindle and then evaporated completely.” The lawsuit accuses Combs of using his influence to “pressure” Mckinney in the industry, sending her into “a spiral of anxiety and depression.”

News Peg

Because the alleged assault occurred more than twenty years ago and the statute of limitations has expired, McKinney’s lawsuit was filed under New York’s Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Act. The law gives plaintiffs a little more time to file civil lawsuits in cases where the statute of limitations has expired.

Important background

Combs has been embroiled in a number of controversies in recent months, with multiple sexual misconduct lawsuits filed against him. In March, Department of Homeland Security agents raided his homes in Florida and California as part of a federal sex trafficking investigation. One of the lawsuits filed against the rapper in November was filed by his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura and was settled out of court within a day. Late last week, CNN released surveillance footage from 2016 showing Combs physically attacking Ventura in a hotel. The video, which shows the rapper grabbing, dragging and kicking Ventura, appears to confirm some of the allegations mentioned in her lawsuit. Combs responded to the footage in a video statement posted on Instagram, saying he was “truly sorry” for his behavior in the video and that he was “determined to be a better person every day.” The rapper said the recordings were “disgusting” and claimed they were taken during “one of the darkest times” of his life.