A woman has accused music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs and his bodyguard of drugging and assaulting her in 2001 and filming the rape, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday (24) in federal court in New York.
Thalia Graves claimed she met Combs when she was 25 through her boyfriend, who worked at Combs’ Bad Boy record label. In mid-2001, while in a vehicle with Combs and Joseph Sherman, his bodyguard and head of security, she accepted his offer of a glass of wine and began to feel “dizzy and physically weak,” the lawsuit claims.
She lost consciousness and later woke up naked in a Manhattan studio apartment with her hands tied behind her back, the lawsuit claims. Combs entered the room and raped her, slamming her head on a pool table as she tried to resist, according to the lawsuit. Sherman sexually assaulted her when she regained consciousness, the lawsuit claims.
At a news conference Tuesday alongside attorney Gloria Allred, Graves spoke through tears about how the alleged assault took a toll on her physically and emotionally.
“The combination of physical and emotional pain has created a cycle of suffering that is very difficult to break free from,” she said.
“I want to continue this journey towards recovery and healing. I’m glad he’s in jail, but it’s a temporary sense of relief.”
THE CNN has reached out to representatives for Combs and Sherman for comment.
The lawsuit is the latest allegation of sexual assault against Combs and comes a week after he was indicted on charges of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.
Combs, 54, has pleaded not guilty to the charges. He was denied bail and will remain in federal detention, a federal judge ruled.
Prosecutors accused Combs of running a “criminal enterprise” with other associates and employees, alleged he organized drug-fueled “Freak Offs” with abuse victims and sex workers, noted instances of physical and sexual abuse, and highlighted the weapons and large amounts of baby oil and lubricant found during searches of his homes in March.
Additionally, Diddy has been hit with 10 civil lawsuits alleging a range of sexual misconduct and other illegal activities.
After Graves was attacked, she claims to have felt pain and distress and caught a ride with a taxi driver to a hospital, the lawsuit states. However, she did not get out of the car because she was “shaking and crying hysterically” and “afraid of what Combs would do to her and her family if she reported him,” according to the lawsuit.
Because of the damage caused by the rape, Graves suffers from severe depression and post-traumatic stress disorder and has attempted suicide, she alleged.
In November 2023, she learned from her ex-boyfriend that Combs and Sherman had recorded and posted a video of the assault and shown it to others, according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit accuses Combs, Sherman and companies associated with Combs of violating New York’s Gender-Based Violence Victims Protection Act, and accuses Combs and Sherman of violating state civil rights law and the city’s administrative code.
Combs was moved to a dormitory at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn on Monday, a space he now shares with former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez. The facility’s high-profile inmates are housed in this larger detention unit, which is isolated from the general public and does not go into the prison’s common areas, a source said. to CNN .
This content was originally published in Woman accuses Sean Diddy Combs of rape; assault was reportedly recorded on the CNN Brasil website.
Source: CNN Brasil
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