Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs sued for sexual assault by former Bad Boy Records singer

By Danielle Broadway

(Reuters) -Daybreak Richard, a former singer for Unhealthy Boy Data, has filed a lawsuit accusing music mogul and the label’s founder Sean “Diddy” Combs of sexual assault and battery, intercourse trafficking, gender discrimination and fraud, in keeping with courtroom paperwork.

Richard filed the swimsuit on Tuesday within the Southern District of New York, additionally suing former Unhealthy Boy Leisure CEO Harve Pierre.

The authorized motion by Richard was filed in the future after a Michigan jail inmate was awarded a $100 million judgment in opposition to the rapper, a judgment Combs’ legal professional stated he would search to have dismissed. The inmate, Derrick Lee Smith, had accused Combs of drugging and sexually assaulting him at a celebration virtually 30 years in the past.

Richard belonged to lady group Danity Kane and R&B trio Diddy Soiled Cash, which included Combs and singer Kalenna Harper. The teams have been a part of Unhealthy Boy Data.

Combs’ legal professional, Erica Wolff, stated in a press release on Tuesday that the rapper is raring to show Richard’s claims are false within the courtroom.

“Mr. Combs is shocked and dissatisfied by this lawsuit. In an try to rewrite historical past, Daybreak Richard has now manufactured a sequence of false claims all within the hopes of making an attempt to get a pay day — conveniently timed to coincide along with her album launch and press tour,” Wolff wrote.

“If Ms. Richard had such a unfavorable expertise with Making the Band and Danity Kane, she wouldn’t have chosen to proceed working straight with Mr. Combs for Soiled Cash, nor would she have returned for the Making the Band reboot in 2020 or agreed to be featured on The Love Album final yr,” she added.

Throughout her time working with Combs, Richard alleged within the swimsuit, the rapper repeatedly groped her, was bodily violent, and trapped her in a automobile whereas threatening her life.

Richard met Combs throughout her audition for his MTV sequence “Making the Band” in 2004, which was when she alleges he started displaying inappropriate conduct.

“(Combs) manipulated her with mantras that submission to his wicked calls for was crucial for profession development, instilling in her the assumption that such abuse and exploitation have been required for feminine artists to reach the music trade,” the lawsuit stated.

Within the lawsuit, Richard additionally stated she witnessed Combs abusing his then-girlfriend, the R&B vocalist Cassandra Ventura. Final yr, Combs settled a lawsuit filed by Ventura that had accused him of serial bodily abuse, sexual slavery and rape.

Combs is among the most influential producers and executives in hip-hop and was a massively profitable performer, in addition to the impresario of his personal Sean John clothes line.

(Reporting by Danielle Broadway and Steve Gorman; Modifying by Rosalba O’Brien and Daniel Wallis)