Over the past few weeks, a steadily increasing number of allegations have been brought against rapper, producer and music mogul Diddy, real name Sean John Combs, who is currently one of the wealthiest artists alive. The allegations largely began with a lawsuit filed by singer and Combs’ former partner Casandra Ventura, more commonly known by her stage name Cassie, in November 2023, which accused Combs of significant sexual and physical abuse throughout their 11-year relationship. Since these allegations came to light, over 120 separate sexual assault allegations have been levelled at Combs.  Combs currently remains in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Centre following a highly-publicised arrest and indictment last month (September 2024), and denies all allegations. 

These victims allege a wide range of physical and sexual crimes committed by Combs stretching back to as early as 1990, with claimants being as young as nine years old at the time of the alleged assault. At the time of writing, Combs is currently facing charges of sex trafficking by force and transportation for the purposes of prostitution, to which he has pleaded not guilty. Below, we break down everything that has been reported about the accusations so far.

WHY ARE THE ALLEGATIONS COMING OUT NOW?

Rumours surrounding Combs’ alleged criminal behaviour had widely circulated throughout his career, with accusations from fellow rappers 50 Cent and Eminem that he had orchestrated the murder of Tupac Shakur (which he denies having any involvement with), as well as lyrics alluding to sexual misconduct. There was also Lord Jamar’s recent suggestion that Combs may have been fired from hip-hop and R&B label Uptown Records in 1993 for having sex in the company’s offices (contrary to Combs’ previous claims that it was due to him being too “passionate”). However, it is the lawsuit filed by Ventura in 2023 that has opened the floodgates on this latest wave of allegations.

Ventura’s lawsuit claims Combs had controlled almost every aspect of her life during their relationship which lasted from 2007 to 2018, and included multiple claims of physical assault, rape, forcing her to have sex with male sex workers and supplying her with laced beverages. Filing the suit under the Adult Survivors Act, which extends New York State’s statute of limitations in cases involving sexual assault, Ventura explained how she had previously been reluctant to press charges out of fear that it would “give Mr Combs another excuse to hurt her”.

While this initial lawsuit was settled out of court within a day, the allegations were given renewed attention in March of this year when US federal agents raided his properties in Miami and Los Angeles, and again in May, when footage emerged depicting Combs brutally assaulting Ventura in an LA hotel complex back in 2016. Combs promptly issued an apology on Instagram, while dismissing all prior allegations as “individuals looking for a quick payday”, but has since been the subject of numerous additional accusations which led to his arrest and internment last month.

WHAT IS HE ACTUALLY ACCUSED OF?

On October 1 2024, lawyer Tony Buzbee announced that he is representing 120 accusers: 60 male and 60 female, 25 of which were minors at the time of the alleged offences. This number may grow, with Buzbee’s AVA Law Group disclosing that they had received around 3,000 additional accusations since Buzbee’s announcement.

Many of these alleged victims report incidents which sound similar to the kind of behaviour detailed in Ventura’s lawsuit, centering on physical and sexual abuse, often following the consumption of drinks that were later suspected to have been spiked. One lawsuit, filed by Liza Gardner in the immediate aftermath of Ventura’s allegations, details how she met Combs and R&B singer Aaron Hall at a party hosted by the former’s then-label MCA Records in 1990. She claims that she then went back to Hall’s apartment, where she was offered beverages and then coerced into having sex with Combs. Following this incident, which left Gardner “shocked and traumatised”, the lawsuit claims that Hall then forced entry into the room and raped her, too. Days later, Combs is alleged to have visited Gardner’s home which she shared with a friend, who was also alleged to have been assaulted at the party, where Gardner was attacked by Combs once more. The lawsuit claims that Combs visited the house out of concern that her friend might tell “the girl that he was with at the time” about the alleged assault. Combs denies all allegations.

In February of this year, a producer and videographer who lived with Combs during the creation of recent album Love, filed a lawsuit against Combs which also alleged sexual assault. The claims, filed by a man named Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, alleges he “was the victim of constant unsolicited and unauthorised groping and touching of his anus by Mr Combs”. In addition, Jones claims that, due to his role as videographer, he has hundreds of hours of video recordings which document Combs and his entourage’s engagements in illegal activity, including sexual assault and providing laced drinks to minors.

Another of the numerous lawsuits, filed by a woman listed as Jane Doe, claims that Combs, his previous lieutenant Harvey Pierre, and a third unnamed assailant, trafficked her from Detroit to New York at the age of 17, where she was allegedly gang-raped at Combs’ recording studio in 2003. Combs, again, has vehemently denied these allegations. “Let me be absolutely clear: I did not do any of the awful things being alleged. I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth,” he said in a statement.

These claims, as well as the numerous others that have been levelled against Combs, have led to charges of racketeering, sex trafficking by force, and transportation for the purposes of prostitution. Meanwhile, his legal team have continuously denied all allegations, with one representative telling the BBC earlier this month that Combs “looks forward to proving his innocence and vindicating himself in court, where the truth will be established based on evidence, not speculation.”

WHAT’S NEXT FOR DIDDY? 

Combs is set to appear on trial on May 5 2025, and has been denied bail due to the potential harm he poses to his victims. Combs faces life in prison if he is found guilty of the racketeering charge.

Since the allegations formally surfaced last year, Combs has been dropped by a number of brands and commercial partnerships, including a planned reality series commissioned by Hulu surrounding him and his seven children provisionally titled Diddy+7, a public tuition-free charter school co-founded by Combs in 2016, e-commerce platform Empower Global, management agency Salxco, and Howard University, which had previously granted an honorary degree to Combs in 2014.

Additionally, lawyer Tony Buzbee has insinuated that yet other high-profile names might be implicated in next year’s trial, issuing a statement earlier this month which read: “The names that we’re going to name, assuming our investigators confirm and corroborate what we‘ve been told, are names that will shock you.”