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Sean “Diddy” Combs will face 120 accusers for alleged sexual misconduct, attorney says
HOUSTON — Texas attorney Tony Buzbee said Tuesday he is representing 120 accusers who have come forward with new sexual misconduct allegations against Sean “Diddy” Combs, the hip-hop mogul awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking charges.
Houston-based Buzbee said he expects lawsuits to be filed within the next month. Buzbee described the victims as 60 males and 60 females, and that 25 were minors at the time of the alleged misconduct.
“It’s shocking. Our youngest victim at the time of the occurrence was nine years old. We have an individual who was 14 years old,” Buzbee said at a news conference Tuesday. “The conduct at issue spans from the years 1991 all the way till this year, 2024. If you wonder why there are so many alleged victims. That’s your answer. We’re talking about more than 25 years of this type of conduct.”
Buzbee said most of the alleged events and incidents occurred at parties “typically after parties or album release parties, New Year’s Eve parties, fourth of July parties, something they call the ‘puppy party,’ ‘all white party.'”
“Some of this behavior occurred at well-known venues in New York City,” Buzbee said. “Some of this behavior occurred at private residences of people that we all know. Some of this behavior occurred at hotels that we’re all familiar with. You should know that more than 55% of the victims filed reports reported this conduct to either the authorities, that is the police or to hospitals.”
Following the news conference in Texas, an attorney for Combs said the performer “cannot address every meritless allegation in what has become a reckless media circus.”
“That said, Mr. Combs emphatically and categorically denies as false and defamatory any claim that he sexually abused anyone, including minors,” attorney Erica Wolff said in a statement. “He looks forward to proving his innocence and vindicating himself in court if and when claims are filed and served, where the truth will be established based on evidence, not speculation.”
Combs, 54, has been locked up at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since pleading not guilty on Sept. 17 to federal charges that he used his “power and prestige” to induce female victims into drugged-up, elaborately produced sexual performances with male sex workers in events dubbed “Freak Offs.”
Buzbee also represented women who accused NFL quarterback Deshaun Watson of sexual assault.
Other alleged victims have already filed lawsuits against Combs that include allegations of sexual assault.
Combs has pleaded not guilty to federal racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking. His attorney said he is innocent and will fight to clear his name. Combs is being held in the federal detention center in Brooklyn until his trial.
Combs is one of the best-known music executives, producers and performers across hip-hop, having won three Grammys and worked with artists such as Notorious B.I.G., Mary J. Blige, Usher, Lil Kim, Faith Evans and 112. He founded Bad Boy Records in 1993, the influential fashion line Sean John, a vodka brand and the Revolt TV network. He sold off his stake in the latter company in June of this year.
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Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday night for the first time said he would veto a federal abortion ban, a position he has shied away from declaring and is likely to upset his anti-abortion supporters.
In the middle of the vice presidential debate, Trump posted to social media that “everyone knows that I would not support a federal abortion ban, under any circumstances, and would, in fact, veto it, because it is up to the states to decide based on the will of their voters (the will of the people!)”
Trump had not previously said if he would veto a national ban. His running mate, Sen. JD Vance, said in August that the former president would veto a national abortion ban, but Trump said during the Sept. 10 debate with Vice President Kamala Harris, “I didn’t discuss it with JD.”
During that same debate, Harris said, “Understand, if Donald Trump were to be reelected, he will sign a national abortion ban.”
Trump responded that was a “lie” and he’s “not signing a ban, and there’s no reason to sign a ban because we’ve gotten what everybody wanted.”
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Democrats have tried to tie Trump to the abortion restrictions enacted in 22 states since Roe v. Wade was reversed, as well as to the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 initiative. Project 2025 says “the next conservative President should work with Congress to enact the most robust protections for the unborn that Congress will support while deploying existing federal powers to protect innocent life and vigorously complying with statutory bans on the federal funding of abortion.”
Trump had boasted about putting three conservative justices on the Supreme Court who were crucial to overturning Roe v. Wade. In August, Trump said he will vote against a proposed constitutional amendment in Florida which would undo the state’s six-week abortion ban. However, just days prior to that, he had said in an interview that six weeks “is too short.”
“There has to be more time,” he said at the time. “I am going to be voting that we need more than six weeks.”
He has insisted that giving states’ the authority to make abortion law is what people wanted.
In Tuesday’s debate, Vance said he never supported a national ban, although he said when running for Senate in 2022 that he “certainly would like abortion to be illegal nationally.” Vance also disputed the moderators’ calling a federal 15-week restriction a “ban,” saying he supported a “minimum national standard.”
Trump’s post Tuesday also falsely claimed that Democrats support late-term abortions and the “execution” of babies after they are born, a false claim he has repeated on the campaign trail.
contributed to this report.
