American rapper and producer Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs will face a new trial in the coming days from 120 people, including 25 minors, who accuse him of rape and sexual assault. A team of lawyers based in Texas (United States) announced on Tuesday that it represented more than a hundred men and women in filing a class action against Combs for sex crimes dating back to 1991.
“The victims come from more than 25 states, mostly from California, New York, Georgia and Florida,” attorney Tony Buzbee, lead legal representative for the lawsuit, told a news conference. 25 of the 120 plaintiffs in these cases were minors when the events occurred. “Our youngest victim was 9 years old. We have a 14-year-old and a 15-year-old,” Buzbee added.
Most of the victims said they had been drugged and horse tranquilizers were found in several drug tests. The legal team said it contacted more than 3,000 people saying they were victims of Combs. The singer, 54, was arrested in mid-September, charged with three counts of organized crime, sex trafficking and human trafficking. The judge imposed preventive detention pending trial.
His arrest came after receiving ten complaints of sexual abuse and rape from various women over the last year, accusations that Combs has denied. However, after his arrest, new charges were filed against him. The prosecution alleges that the American rapper forced encounters between women and male prostitutes, called “freak offs”, which usually included the use of drugs, such as ecstasy or ketamine, and which could last for several days. According to the prosecutor’s office, he once paid more than $46,000 to cover damage to a Manhattan hotel room after one of these orgies.
