(NewsNation) —Embattled music producer Sean “Diddy” Combs has filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit accusing him and a Bad Boy Records music executive of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old in 2003.
Lawyers for Combs’ called the allegations “an entirely false and hideous claim” and that the lawsuit was a “stunt” in their motion obtained by NewsNation.
Lawyers also stated that the lawsuit passed the legal time to bring such claims.
What are the allegations in the lawsuit?
The motion to dismiss comes in response to a federal civil suit filed in December by a woman under the “Jane Doe” pseudonym who alleged that Combs, Bad Boy Records executive Harvey Pierre and a third “assailant” gang raped her when she was 17 after trafficking her across state lines in 2003.
Doe said that she met Pierre as a junior in high school when he approached her at a lounge in Detroit near her home.
Pierre and Combs convinced the then-teen to take a private jet with them and a third person to Combs’ recording studio in New York City.
That’s where they drugged her and then began taking turns raping her, she alleged.
“As the night wore on, the 17-year old Ms. Doe became more and more inebriated, eventually to the point that she could not possibly have consented to having sex with anyone, much less someone twice her age,” her lawsuit stated.
In her lawsuit, Doe stated that she “suffered significant emotional distress and feelings of shame that have plagued her life and personal relationships for 20 years” as a result of the alleged assault.
What was Diddy’s response?
Combs’ motion stated that he and his companies” categorically deny Plaintiff’s decades-old tale against them, which has already caused incalculable damage to the reputations and business standing of the Combs Defendants, even before any evidence has been presented.”
Combs’ lawyer, Jonathan Davis asked a judge to dismiss the lawsuit with prejudice, so it cannot be brought again, “to protect the Combs Defendants from further reputational injury and before more party and judicial resources are squandered.”
In the motion, Davis stated that Doe “cannot allege what day or time of year the alleged incident occurred, yet purports to miraculously recall the most prurient details with specificity.”
The motion also stated that the claim is “time-barred” because it was filed under New York City’s Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Law, which has a seven-year statute of limitations.
But lawyers for Doe say their client’s claims are valid.
“At this point, no one should take anything ‘Diddy’ or his lawyers say seriously. The motion is just a desperate attempt by Combs to avoid accountability for Ms. Doe’s allegations of gang rape and sexual assault. It won’t work,” they said in a statement, according to People.
What other allegations is he facing?
The music producer has been slapped with five civil suits in the last six months, each containing a multitude of disturbing accusations including abuse and sexual assault by multiple victims spanning over 30 years.
A number of his accusers say they were teens when they were allegedly assaulted by him. Several attest in their lawsuits he had rage-filled violent tendencies.
Many stem from the Adult Survivors Act, a New York law that creates a one-year window for victims 18 or over to bring cases in the state after any statutes of limitations have expired.
Singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, who had been in a decadelong relationship with Combs in the early 2000s, filed a lawsuit in New York federal court last November alleging sex trafficking, human trafficking, sexual battery, sexual assault and gender-motivated violence, among other causes of action.
In other lawsuits, a woman said Combs filmed his sexual assault on her and later used it as “revenge porn” when she was a student at Syracuse University.
Combs has denied all allegations.
In her filing, the attorney representing Doe said that “seeing two other women bravely speak out against Mr. Combs and Mr. Pierre, respectively, gave Ms. Doe the confidence to tell her story as well.”
Two homes belonging to Combs were raided by federal investigators in March.
While federal authorities have given sparse public comment as to what prompted the raids, NewsNation affiliate WPIX reported that it was part of an ongoing sex trafficking investigation.
If you or someone you know needs help, please call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-4673.
