Former Danity Kane American rock band member Dawn Richards has filed a lawsuit against Sean “Diddy” Combs, alleging that the music mogul groped her on multiple occasions, witnessed him physically assaulting women, trapped her in a locked car for two hours as a form of punishment, and threatened her life.
Richard, who was also a member of the Diddy-Dirty Money group along with Combs and singer Kalina Harper, filed the lawsuit Tuesday in the Southern District of New York. She also sued former Bad Boy Entertainment CEO Harvey Pierre, who faces two sexual assault lawsuits over his work with Combs.
Ever since Richard met Cobbs while auditioning for his hit MTV series band making From 2004 until the end of her musical career with Combs in 2012, she claims in her lawsuit that she obtained Rolling Stone“The music manager manipulated her by repeating slogans that submitting to his corrupt demands was necessary for career advancement, and instilled in her the belief that such abuse and exploitation were required for female artists to succeed in the music industry.”
Her files detail dozens of disturbing encounters she observed while in Combs' orbit, including drug-fueled parties with young women who appeared “intoxicated or passed out” while “Combs and his friends performed sexual acts on them.”
Richard also supported allegations that Combs’ ex-girlfriend, singer Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura, leveled against Combs in her sex trafficking and sexual assault lawsuit, which she filed in November. (Combs reached a private settlement with Ventura a day after the lawsuit was filed.) Richard said she personally witnessed Combs strangling Ventura, and once saw him throw a hot skillet of eggs at Ventura before dragging her up the stairs of his Los Angeles home. Around 2005, Richard claimed she saw Combs’ children’s mother, Kim Porter, emerge crying from Combs’ recording studio with visible facial injuries, including a lacerated lip.
Richard claimed she once tried to intervene and encourage Ventura to leave the relationship, but Combs became enraged when he found out, threatening to make “the nigger disappear” and “I’m going to kill people,” the lawsuit alleges. (Representatives for Combs and Pierre did not immediately respond to requests for comment.)
Richard’s lawsuit comes 10 months after Ventura’s, making her the seventh woman, plus one man, to have since come forward to sue Combs, with allegations ranging from sex trafficking to sexual assault. (Combs has denied any wrongdoing in each case.) Richard said in the lawsuit that Ventura’s courage made her realize that “her personal suffering was connected to the many years of abuse by Mr. Combs that had become normal to her.”
Combs' fall from grace began with Ventura's lawsuit, in which she alleged that Combs routinely physically assaulted her and forced her to have drugged sex with male sex workers during arrangements he called “flirts” throughout their 10-year relationship. She also detailed a 2016 physical assault at a Los Angeles hotel following a fling, which was later corroborated by hotel surveillance video showing Combs chasing a fleeing Ventura. He is seen throwing her to the ground, kicking her and stomping on her before attempting to drag her away, then throwing a glass vase in her direction.
Although Combs’ attorneys had previously called Ventura’s 35-page lawsuit a “shameful, baseless, and ridiculous” extortion racket, Combs issued a video apology after the video surfaced, saying he was “at the lowest point” and was “truly sorry” for his behavior in the disturbing footage. In response, Ventura’s attorneys called Combs’ admission “pathetic.”
in May, Rolling Stone She published her six-month investigation into the business mogul, uncovering a previously unreported allegation of violence against a woman on Howard's campus, new details of the alleged physical assault, and allegations that Combs sexually harassed a freelance employee at a 2001 party. Several people who spoke to Rolling Stone Combs was described as a serial predator who used his fame, wealth, industry standing and reputation as a fun-loving party host to hide his volatile moods and disturbing narcissistic behavior for decades.
