The rapper and music businessman P. Diddy was denounced this Thursday in New York for rape and sexual abuse for more than a decade starting in 2005 by the singer Cassie, who worked for his music label.
Cassie, 37, whose real name is Casandra Ventura, also accused Diddy, named Sean Combs, 54, of sexually exploiting her and subjecting her to violent behavior, according to a wide-ranging civil lawsuit filed in federal court.
Ventura filed the complaint thanks to a one-year legal window to seek justice for past sexual crimes, enabled by the New York State Adult Survivors law, which expires in a week.
The singer explains that shortly after they met, in 2005, when she was 19 and he was 37, she signed with Combs' music label, Bad Boy Records, and the professional relationship led to a sexual one in which he was controlling and abusive. .
Among other things, she accuses the music executive of having introduced her to a lifestyle of excessive alcohol and drug consumption, of forcing her to have sex with prostitutes and recording the encounters, reports The New York Times.
She also claims that in 2018, Combs forced his way into the apartment and raped her, an event after which she cut off the relationship with him and left her music label the following year.
The lawsuit indicates that the woman did not report the events when they occurred for fear of retaliation, and in a statement sent to the media she explains that she now feels "ready" to do so, taking advantage of the legal window in New York.
"(...) I understood that this was an opportunity to raise my voice about the trauma that I have experienced and from which I will have to recover for the rest of my life," added the singer, who in 2019 married another man and has two small children.
A lawyer for Combs, Ben Brafman, told The New York Times that his client vehemently denies the allegations and that Ventura is trying to extort him, having allegedly threatened to write a book about their relationship if he does not pay him $30 million ( about 27.6 million euros).
For his part, a lawyer for Ventura maintained that both sides spoke before the lawsuit and that Combs offered her an "eight-figure" payment for her silence, which she rejected.
