Sean “Diddy” Combs will face 120 more sexual assault lawsuits in civil court, a Texas attorney announced Tuesday.
Combs, 54, has already been hit with 12 similar suits in addition to the federal sex trafficking charges that have left him locked up in a Brooklyn jail.
An additional 60 men and 60 women plan to sue Combs in courts across the country, attorney Tony Buzbee said at a Tuesday press conference.
Lawyers claim the alleged victims were between 9 and 38 years old when they were assaulted during a 20-year period across the 2000s and 2010s, according to the Washington Post. Of the 120 plaintiffs, 25 were minors at the time of the reported assaults, lawyers said.
Another lead attorney, Andrew Van Arsdale, told the Post the legal plan was “unprecedented in scope” — and Van Arsdale would know, having previously represented dozens of alleged victims of sex abuse who sued the Boy Scouts of America.
Front page of the New York Daily News for Sept. 17, 2024: Rapper accused in civil suits of sex assaults arrested after indictment; charges unclear. Sean “Diddy” Combs, amid a federal probe for alleged sex trafficking, was arrested Monday evening at a Midtown hotel by federal authorities. The charges were expected to be unsealed Tuesday morning.
The lawsuits will contain now-familiar allegations about Combs coercing people into sexual encounters and recording the romps to pressure people into silence, according to Buzbee.
After federal agents arrested Combs in New York on Sept. 16, Buzbee posted online advising any victims of the superstar’s abuse to contact his law firm. He claimed Tuesday that the firm received more than 3,000 responses and was confident enough to bring 120 cases.
Van Arsdale told the Washington Post that Diddy being locked up without bail helped more people feel confident coming forward.
Buzbee and Van Arsdale said the suits will also name other defendants, including “household names,” the Washington Post reported. The cases will be filed in New York, Los Angeles and Miami, according to the lawyers.
“The biggest secret in the entertainment industry, that really wasn’t a secret at all, has finally been revealed to the world,” Buzbee said at the press conference. “The wall of silence has now been broken.”
Front page of the New York Daily News for Sept. 18, 2024: Diddy faces racketeering and trafficking raps in horror-filled “Freak Off” parties. Music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs (in court Tuesday) was held without bail after feds unsealed wide-ranging indictments.
Buzbee, based in Houston, has taken on numerous high-profile cases. Last year, he defended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in impeachment proceedings. Paxton was acquitted.
A few years ago, he also represented more than 20 women who filed civil sex abuse suits against NFL quarterback Deshaun Watson. All of those cases were settled out of court.
Buzbee’s first big case was suing BP over the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill.