Sean “Diddy” Combs requests dismissal of rape of a minor charge

FILE – Sean “Diddy” Combs appears at the premiere of “Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop: A Bad Boy Story” on June 21, 2017 in Beverly Hills, California. Combs on Friday, May 10, 2024, asked A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit alleging that he and two co-defendants raped a 17-year-old girl in a New York recording studio in 2003, saying it was a ” “false and despicable claim” that was filed too late according to the law. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)

Sean “Diddy” Combs asked a federal judge on Friday to dismiss a lawsuit alleging he and two co-defendants raped a 17-year-old girl in a New York recording studio in 2003, saying it was a “false and vile allegation” that was submitted too late according to the law.

The legal move is the latest defiance from the 54-year-old hip-hop mogul and his legal team after he was the subject of several similar lawsuits and a subsequent criminal investigation into sex trafficking.

“Mr. Combs and his companies categorically deny plaintiff’s decades-long allegations against them, which have caused incalculable harm to their reputation and business condition, before evidence has been presented,” says the filing, which also lists companies owned by Combs as defendants “Plaintiff cannot claim what day or time of year the alleged incident occurred, but miraculously remembers other salacious details despite her alleged incapacitated state.”

The lawsuit was filed in December and amended in March by the woman, who now lives in Canada and whose name was not mentioned in the court filing. She said she was in the 11th grade of a suburban Detroit high school in 2003 when Harve Pierre, then president of Combs’ record label Bad Boy Entertainment, flew her to New York on a private jet and took her to a recording studio, where she was given drugs and alcohol until she was no longer able to consent to sex. Then, the lawsuit says, Pierre, Combs and a man she didn’t know took turns raping her.

The lawsuit included photos of the woman sitting on Combs’ lap, which she said were taken on the night in question.

The defense filing requests that the case “now be dismissed with prejudice” — meaning it cannot be refiled — “to protect the Combs defendants from further reputational damage and before even more party and judicial resources are wasted.” “

One of the plaintiff’s attorneys, Michael J. Willemin, said in a statement responding to the filing: “At this time, no one should take anything ‘Diddy’ says or what his attorneys say seriously. Today’s motion is merely a desperate attempt by Combs to evade responsibility for Ms. Doe’s allegations of gang rape and sexual assault. It will not work.”

READ: Sean “Diddy” Combs co-defendant in sexual assault lawsuit against his son

At this early stage in the litigation, the arguments relate to the procedure rather than the facts of the case.

Some of the lawsuits filed against Combs involve decades-old allegations and are among more than 3,700 lawsuits filed under New York’s Adult Survivors Act, which temporarily suspended certain legal deadlines to give victims of sexual assault a final opportunity to to sue for years of abuse, or even decades ago.

The new deadlines set by that law were expiring, but the lawsuit Combs filed Friday was filed under a different law, New York’s Gender-Based Violence Victims Protection Act. This city law also allows plaintiffs to file civil lawsuits for sexual assault after the statute of limitations has expired.

However, Combs argues in his motion that the lawsuit was filed too late because city law is preempted by state law, provisions of which mean the lawsuit had to be filed by August 2021 to be filed on time.

“The law of the State of New York shall, without exception, prevail over the law of the City of New York,” the filing states.

The amended version of the lawsuit filed in March aimed to address some of those issues, but Combs’ attorneys argue it didn’t go far enough.

The judge has ruled that the woman must reveal her name if the lawsuit continues after this challenge.
The Associated Press typically does not name people who say they were sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, as some of Combs’ accusers have done.

Friday’s filing also criticizes the lawsuit for “containing a boldface, legally irrelevant ‘trigger warning’ designed to draw attention to the salacious and depraved allegations.”

The public dissemination of the allegations against Combs began in November with a lawsuit filed by singer Cassie, his former protege, and his girlfriend, which included allegations of beatings, rape and other abuse between 2005 and 2018. The lawsuit was filed by the same attorneys who filed the lawsuit filed on Friday and was settled the day after it was filed. Combs denied the allegations through his attorney before the settlement.

Additional lawsuits were filed against Combs in the following months. Then on March 25, Homeland Security Investigations served search warrants at his homes in Los Angeles and Miami as part of a sex trafficking investigation.

His lawyer called it “a gross use of military force.” The investigation is ongoing. Combs has not been charged.

Last month, Combs filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed by Joi Dickerson, who said she was a 19-year-old student when Combs drugged and sexually abused her.