Sean “Diddy” Combs was hit with two new lawsuits on Monday accusing the rapper of drugging and sexually assaulting two men who were underage at the time, one just 10 years old.
Both lawsuits were filed by attorney Tony Buzbee.
The attorney, who has already filed several suits against Combs, said more than 100 people planned to file suits against him over alleged sexual abuse and exploitation.
The first of the new lawsuits claims that Combs assaulted the plaintiff in 2005 when he was a 10-year-old aspiring actor travelling from California with his parents to meet music industry representatives, the Associated Press reported.
According to the lawsuit, he was taken to Combs’s hotel room where he performed several rap songs for his audition. Combs told him he had potential, and asked if he was committed to pursuing music. The plaintiff replied that he would “do anything”, the BBC reported.
The plaintiff was given a soda laced with drugs by one of Combs’s associates, the lawsuit claims, and ordered to perform a sex act by the rapper. The plaintiff eventually lost consciousness, and woke up in pain and with his pants undone.
The lawsuit alleges that Combs said he would hurt the boy’s parents if he told anyone what had happened.
The second lawsuit accuses Combs of assaulting a 17-year-old auditioning for the reality television series Making the Band, which he produced, in 2008. Combs and his bodyguard forced the young man into sexual acts, the lawsuit states, and eliminated him from the competition when he resisted.
In a statement to The Independent, attorneys for Combs said: “The lawyer behind this lawsuit is interested in media attention rather than the truth, as is obvious from his constant press appearances and 1-800 number. As we’ve said before, Mr Combs cannot respond to every new publicity stunt, even in response to claims that are facially ridiculous or demonstrably false.
“Mr Combs and his legal team have full confidence in the facts and the integrity of the judicial process. In court, the truth will prevail: that Mr Combs never sexually assaulted or trafficked anyone – man or woman, adult or minor.”
Combs is being held without bail in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center after he was arrested on racketeering and sex trafficking charges in September with prosecutors alleging that the rapper and his associates threatened, coerced and abused several people around him “to fulfil his sexual desires”, including forcing victims into recorded sexual activity which he referred to as “Freak Offs”.
His trial is scheduled to begin on 5 May.
In addition to interrogating witnesses, prosecutors are pulling potential evidence off of more than 90 devices they seized from Combs’s properties.
Combs’s legal team has filed a petition to have the alleged victims in his lawsuits identified so that they can prepare their defence. They have also filed a motion to gag the alleged victims, arguing their statements could prejudice a potential jury against him.
The rapper has been accused of sex crimes by more than 120 alleged victims thus far. Combs has denied all of the charges against him. His attorney, Marc Agnifilo, said the rapper intended to testify at his trial.
