in 2008 In May 2017, Cindy Rueda, who previously served as Combs' personal chef, filed a lawsuit against Combs in the
Los Angeles County Superior Court, claiming, among other things, sexual harassment and retaliation. The lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed amount in February 2019.
Cassie Ventura, with whom Combs had a long-term relationship, filed a lawsuit against him on November 16, 2023, accusing him of rape, sex trafficking, and physical abuse. The lawsuit also suggested that Combs was responsible for blowing up Ventura's then-boyfriend
Kid Cudi's car. Combs and Ventura reached an undisclosed settlement the following day, and the lawsuit was dismissed. Ventura later testified in court that she had received a $20 million settlement in the case. On May 17, 2024,
CNN released surveillance footage of Combs physically assaulting Ventura at the InterContinental hotel in
Century City, Los Angeles, on March 5, 2016. This incident was among the allegations made in the lawsuit. On May 19, 2024, Combs issued a video apology on
Instagram and
Facebook, stating he was "truly sorry" and that his actions were "inexcusable". Combs' assault of Ventura was stopped by hotel staff, while, after the episode, Combs, according to a federal indictment in September 2024, allegedly tried to bribe the staff. On November 23, 2023, two more lawsuits were filed. Liza Gardner alleged that Combs and
Guy's
Aaron Hall had both sexually assaulted her and her friend in 1990. Actor
Cuba Gooding Jr. was mentioned in the sexual assault lawsuit brought against Sean Combs by Rodney Jones. In May, a lawsuit by model Crystal McKinney accused Combs of sexually assaulting her in 2003. On May 23, 2024, April Lampros sued Combs in New York State court alleging battery, sexual assault, and negligent infliction of emotional distress between 1994 into the 2000s. Both were overturned on September 18 by the same judge, who ruled the lawsuit was not properly served to Combs and that it was not likely the plaintiff would prevail on the merits of the case due to the
statute of limitations for sexual assault. On September 10, 2024,
Making the Band's
Dawn Richard filed a lawsuit against Combs alleging sex trafficking, sexual assault, sexual battery, false imprisonment, and more. In her complaint, Richard also confirmed she was a witness to the claims made in Ventura's lawsuit. On September 24, 2024, Thalia Graves filed a lawsuit against Combs alleging he and his head of security drugged her, bound her, and raped her in 2001 when she was 25 years old, and recorded the incident. On September 27, a Florida model filed a lawsuit, as a Jane Doe, alleging Combs drugged, sexually assaulted, and impregnated her. Although she wound up having a
miscarriage, she claimed that Combs' then-girlfriend, rapper
Yung Miami, pressured her to have an
abortion. On October 1, 2024, the
Washington Post reported that a team of lawyers would be filing as many as 122 more lawsuits against Combs and persons related to Combs, covering assaults that took place during the 2000s and 2010s. Plaintiffs, twenty-five of whom were minors at the time of the alleged incidents, are both male and female.
Tony Buzbee, one of the attorneys on the team, said most of the alleged assaults took place in New York State. Half of the alleged victims say they had reported the assault to police, to a doctor, or to the FBI. Some claim to have been drugged or offered
hush money. Additional potential defendants other than Combs were also to be named in the lawsuits: "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", Buzbee stated at a press conference in Houston. "I'm talking here about not just the cowardly but complicit bystanders, that is those people that we know watched this behavior occur and did nothing. And I'm talking about the people that participated, encouraged it, egged it on. They know who they are." Buzbee filed the first six of these lawsuits in New York federal court on October 13, 2024. Andrew Van Arsdale of the AVA Law Group, which is working with Buzbee, said they have heard from some 3 thousand people with abuse allegations against Combs, and the team is currently actively examining another 100 potential cases. On October 14, Combs faced six additional lawsuits from accusers. On October 21, seven new lawsuits from accusers were filed against Combs. On October 28, two lawsuits were filed alleging that Combs drugged and sexually assaulted a 10-year-old boy in a New York hotel room, in 2005, following a planned audition, and that Combs and a bodyguard sexually assaulted a 17-year-old male during an audition for the MTV reality show
Making the Band in 2008, which was executive produced and hosted by Combs. In December 2024, Combs and
Jay-Z were accused in a civil lawsuit of raping a 13-year-old girl at an
MTV Video Music Awards after-party in 2000. The lawsuit against Combs and Jay-Z was dropped in February 2025. In the same month, Combs was accused of raping and sexually assaulting three men, of committing sexual battery against a former male employee, and of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman, in separate suits against him. In January 2025, Combs was sued by a woman who claimed that he had sexually assaulted her when she was a 16-year-old babysitter in September 2000.
Rolling Stone reported that there were over forty lawsuits against Combs. A lawsuit filed by Austrian television presenter Kathi Steininger was dismissed because the alleged rape occurred outside the United States. == Criminal prosecution ==