Sean “Diddy” Combs is accused of sexually abusing 120 people, including minors

A prominent Texas The attorney says he is currently working with 120 people who have filed a series of sexual abuse claims against Sean “Diddy” Combs, which have gone through a “rigorous” process of review and certification. Attorney Tony Buzbee claims 25 of the new clients were minors at the time of their alleged abuse.

“When we talk about the age of the victims at the time of the conduct, it is shocking,” Buzbee said at a news conference broadcast online Tuesday. “Our youngest victim was nine years old at the time of the incident. We have one person who was 14 years old. We have one who was 15.”

Buzbee said the latest alleged victim met with Combs at his Bad Boy offices in Manhattan for an audition. The nine-year-old child, along with “other boys,” “tried to get a record deal” in a competition, the lawyer said. “This individual was allegedly sexually assaulted in the studio by Sean Combs and several other individuals,” Buzbee said.

At his Houston law office, Buzbee said another client was also a minor and was hoping to enter the entertainment industry when he met Combs. The music mogul is said to have told the boy that he would “make him a star, but that he would have to visit him privately” away from his parents. “While they were allegedly in a private area, Mr. Combs had the victim perform oral sex on him,” Buzbee said.

The attorney said the 15-year-old client claimed she was flown to New York City to attend a party. Buzbee said the teen was allegedly drugged and raped by Combs. He said the recent alleged victims overall fit a pattern. “Everyone was either pursuing a career in television or a career in music with the promise, 'We're going to make you a star,'” Buzbee said. “Instead, (Combs) basically did things to them so that they would never want anything to do with the entertainment industry again.”

In a statement, Combs' attorney, Erica Wolff, said Combs vehemently denies the allegations. “As Mr. Combs’ legal team has emphasized, he cannot address every unfounded allegation in what has become a ruthless media circus. However, Mr. Combs strongly and categorically denies any allegation that he sexually abused anyone, including minors, as false and defamatory. “He looks forward to proving his innocence and vindicating himself in court as lawsuits are filed and served, with the truth determined based on evidence rather than speculation,” Wolff said.

According to Buzbee, his group of 120 customers consists of 60 men and 60 women. He said they all “intend to pursue civil claims in civil court” against Combs and possible co-defendants, described as accomplices, silent bystanders, enablers and companies such as hotels, banks and even pharmaceutical companies. Buzbee said he expects to begin filing the lawsuits in the next 30 days. Alluding to the likelihood that some claims may fall outside the statute of limitations, he said New York and California will likely receive the majority of his clients' claims. New York City still has a look-back window for gender-based violence lawsuits. Meanwhile, in California, there is a lookback window that can revive certain allegations of sexual abuse involving a corporate cover-up.

“I expect that a lot of powerful people will be exposed through this process,” Buzbee said Tuesday, declining to name names. “Some of these behaviors occurred in private homes of people we all know. … The names we will name, assuming our investigators confirm and corroborate what we have been told, are names that will shock you.” A co-defendant could be added to someone who is in a room and witnesses the alleged abuse without intervening to stop him.

“As we speak, I can imagine there are countless people who are very nervous,” the lawyer said. “You can’t hide corpses in the closet forever. I suspect there are many people currently desperately searching for their memories while deleting their texts and data.”

Buzbee said more than half of his clients have reported their suspected abuse to either law enforcement or medical personnel. He said some tested positive for strange substances. “Drugs were found in her body, strange drugs, drugs you've probably never heard of. One that keeps coming up is a drug called xylazine, or “Tranq,” which our research shows is known to be a horse tranquilizer.”

The attorney said the alleged abuse dated back to 1991 and occurred frequently at events such as album release parties, New Year's Eve celebrations, Fourth of July gatherings, Combs' famous “White Parties” and other social occasions from Hollywood to the Hamptons. “If you are wondering why there are so many alleged victims, this is your answer. “We’re talking about more than 25 years of this kind of behavior,” he said. “This has been going on for a very long time.”

Buzbee, already known in music circles for representing victims of the deadly crowd at Travis Scott's 2021 Astroworld concert, first announced his connection to the Combs case in a social media post on September 26. He said he is working with Andrew Van Arsdale of California-based AVA Law Group to represent more than 50 people “who have suffered sexual assault and abuse at the hands of Sean 'Diddy' Combs and his colleagues.” On Tuesday, Buzbee said more than 3,200 people had contacted the law firms in recent days with allegations related to Combs.

“Every single story is heartbreaking and heartbreaking. “The acts complained of occurred in hotels, private homes and also at P-Diddy's infamous 'Freak Off' parties,” he said. “The violations committed against this group of people are staggering and can only be described as debauchery and depravity perpetrated by the powerful against the minor and the weak.”

Combs, 54, was arrested in Manhattan two weeks ago as federal prosecutors filed his racketeering and sex trafficking charges. In a 14-page indictment, prosecutors said Combs ran a criminal enterprise that engaged in “unlawful acts of violence, including sexual violence,” interstate transportation for the purposes of prostitution, drug distribution, arson, bribery, kidnapping and obstruction of justice was. Prosecutors said a primary function of the alleged enterprise was to “lure female victims into Combs' orbit, often under the guise of a romantic relationship,” and then to use “violence, threats of violence and coercion” to coerce the victims. engaging in “elaboration” and producing “sex performances” that Combs called “freak offs.” The extensive sex acts often involved commercial sex workers and sometimes lasted several days, they said. Combs allegedly distributed drugs to his alleged victims to keep them “obedient and submissive,” prosecutors said.

Combs pleaded not guilty to the indictment and was released on bail. At hearings in which they argued for Combs' release pending trial, Combs' lawyers described the “freak-offs” in a much different light. Combs' attorney Marc Agnifilio argued the allegedly violent sex parties were voluntary. “Is it sex trafficking? No, not if everyone wants to be there,” Agnifilo told the court. “We’re not all better off when the federal government comes into our bedrooms. They're not doing so well there, and that's exactly what's happening here. You enter this man's bedroom and don't just make judgments. They are accusing him of laws that, they said, could send him to prison for life.”

Descriptions of Combs' alleged “freak-offs” first appeared in the assault and sex trafficking complaint filed by Combs' ex-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura last November. Cassie claimed Combs forced her to smear herself with oil and submit to highly staged sex acts that would wreak havoc on hotel rooms and seriously injure her. Her lawsuit said Combs would feed Cassie “large quantities” of drugs, including ecstasy, cocaine, GHB, ketamine, marijuana and alcohol, and that the intoxicants allowed her to “distance herself during these horrific encounters.”

The indictment against Combs, unsealed Sept. 17 in the Southern District of New York, alleged that federal investigators searching Combs' facility seized more than a thousand bottles of baby oil and lubricant, as well as narcotics and three AR-15 rifles with defaced serial numbers. Homes in Los Angeles and Miami Beach last March.

As he awaits trial in a federal penitentiary in Brooklyn, Combs also faces at least a dozen civil lawsuits filed in the wake of Cassie's explosive lawsuit. Two cases filed last Thanksgiving, just as New York's Adult Survivors Act was set to expire, allege that Combs sexually abused women as early as the early 1990s. He and his attorneys called the civil lawsuits “trumped up” and filed as a “money grab.”