Sean “Diddy” Combs has asked a federal judge to throw out a lawsuit from a music producer who accused the music mogul of a broad pattern of sexual abuse and other misconduct.
The lawsuit filed in February by Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones — one of many filed against Combs in the past year — is overrun with “tall tales”, “lurid theatrics”, “legally meaningless allegations” and “blatant falsehoods” whose intent is only to “generate media hype and exploit it to extract a settlement”, according to the motion to dismiss filed in federal court in New York.
The case fails to establish that Jones has standing to sue, does not include essential details including times and places of the incidents described and “fails to make a single viable claim”, according to the motion.
Several lawsuits alleging sexual and other abuse against Combs had already been filed when Jones sued in February, but the circumstances surrounding the hip-hop star have grown more dire since.
In March, simultaneous raids on Combs’ homes in Florida and California led to the revelation that he was the subject of a federal criminal sex trafficking investigation that is ongoing.
And in May, CNN aired 2016 hotel security video that showed him punching, kicking and dragging the R&B singer Cassie, who was his protege and long-time girlfriend at the time.
The incident closely matched a description in a lawsuit she filed in November that was settled the following day but set off intense scrutiny of Combs.
A few days after the video’s airing, Combs posted an apology video on social media saying he was “truly sorry” and his actions were “inexcusable”.
Jones’ sprawling lawsuit, which also names Combs’ son and several of his business associates as defendants, describes a year he spent in the music mogul’s life in Los Angeles and Miami in the process of producing an album in 2022 and 2023.
Jones says he witnessed — and in many cases captured on audio — hundreds of hours of illegal drug and sexual activity by Combs and the people surrounding him.
Combs’ motion says it is “replete with farfetched tales of misconduct” but “contains very few allegations relating to Jones other than an allegation that Combs failed to pay the producer for his work”.
The suit is an attempt to turn that commercial dispute into a broad criminal conspiracy run by Combs, without providing evidence of any significance, Combs’ filing says.
Jones also alleges that Combs tried to groom him for sex, groped him, made him solicit prostitutes and pressured him to have sex with them.
But the motion from Combs’ lawyers says that “Jones fails to plead the most basic facts, such as where and when any purported instance of assault occurred or what allegedly transpired”, and fails to provide evidence that Jones was coerced in a way that would make him a victim.
The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly as Jones and Cassie have done.
Other than what was captured on the hotel security video with Cassie, Combs has broadly denied the allegations in the lawsuits against him.
“Let me absolutely clear. I did not do any of the awful things being alleged,” he said in a post in December.
