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Music mogul, Sean “Diddy” Combs is now facing even more allegations of s3xual misconduct.
On Tuesday, Tony Buzbee, a Texas-based attorney, revealed at a press conference that he is representing 120 accusers who allege misconduct against Combs over the course of two decades.
“We will expose the enablers who enabled this conduct behind closed doors. We will pursue this matter no matter who the evidence implicates,” Buzbee said in the press conference.
“The biggest secret in the entertainment industry, that really wasn’t a secret at all, has finally been revealed to the world. The wall of silence has now been broken.”
Andrew Van Arsdale, one of the plaintiffs’ attorneys, told the Washington Post that the forthcoming filings were “unprecedented in scope” and included allegations from both men and women, who ranged in age from nine to 38 at the time of the alleged attacks.
Van Arsdale added that there will be 120 individual lawsuits filed in New York, Los Angeles, and Miami in the coming weeks.
In his preview of lawsuits to come, Buzbee said “many powerful people … many dirty secrets”. He added that his team has “collected pictures, video, texts”.
The lawyer said he’s had more than 3,000 individuals come forward to his office with accusations against Combs and that he plans to begin filing lawsuits in various states.
Buzbee said that the new civil claims against Combs will include “violent sexual assault or rape, facilitated sex with a controlled substance, dissemination of video recordings, sexual abuse of minors”.
He added: “It’s a long list already, but because of the nature of this case, we are going to make sure damn sure we are right before we do that. These names will shock you.”
The lawyer broke down the new claimants as 62% African American, from more than 25 states. He also said that 25 of the accusers were minors at the time of the incidents occurring as early as 1991, with one as young as nine at the time.
Separately, the New York Post reported Tuesday that a sexually explicit video of Combs and another A-list celebrity was allegedly being “shopped around”.
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.”
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.
