Sean “Diddy” Combs has been accused of sexual assault in a new lawsuit filed on Thursday by April Lampros, who said she met him in 1994 when she was a student at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology.
According to the complaint, filed in New York and obtained by CNN, Lampros accused Combs of four instances of sexual assault from the mid-1990s to the early-2000s. The suit further accused the rap mogul of battery, assault, negligent infliction of emotional distress and violation of the victims of gender-motivated violence protection law. The filing has not been reviewed yet by the county clerk.
“I’m confident that justice will prevail and the veil will be removed so no other woman will have to endure what I did,” Lampros said in a statement to CNN Thursday.
This is the eighth lawsuit against Combs since November – the seventh directly accusing him of sexual assault. One of the eight lawsuits, filed by former girlfriend Cassie Ventura, had been settled. Another lawsuit accused his son Christian Combs of sexual assault, and Sean Combs is accused of aiding and abetting.
Lampros had shared with Combs that she wanted to work in the fashion industry, and Combs promised to mentor her, introduce her to music and fashion industry executives and help her find work, the suit says. But, the lawsuit claims: “What Mr. Combs displayed as kind gestures quickly manifested into an aggressive, coercive, and abusive relationship based on sex.”
In the first encounter in 1995, Lampros alleges that Combs pressured her to drink at a New York City bar and then later at a hotel “she was laid on the hotel bed where Mr. Combs forced himself on top of her,” the lawsuit said. Lampros claims that Combs raped her after she “pleaded with Mr. Combs to stop.” “She was nude, sore, and confused” the next morning, according to the lawsuit.
During another incident, they were in a parking garage near his Manhattan apartment when Combs allegedly grabbed her and “demanded Ms. Lampros perform oral sex” while a parking attendant was watching, the lawsuit claims.
“Ms. Lampros was in shock, morally depleted, embarrassed, and in physical agony because of Mr. Combs violently yanking her down to her knees and pulling her hair,” the suit says.
Afterwards, Lampros attempted to leave and distance herself from Combs, and “he immediately switched his approach and became angry, threatening, and forceful,” the suit alleges. Combs had “developed this mobster persona, and Ms. Lampros was in fear of him,” the lawsuit said.
One night in 1996, Combs allegedly forced Lampros and one of his former girlfriends to take ecstasy at his apartment, after which he demanded the two have sexual intercourse. After Lampros opposed, Combs threatened “he could make her lose her job,” the lawsuit claims. Combs then masturbated and raped Lampros, the lawsuit alleges.
“She felt disgusted, ashamed, and embarrassed and couldn’t believe what had happened,” according to the suit.
Around 1998, Lampros ended her relationship with Combs, according to the suit. Years later, between the end of 2000 and the beginning of 2001, they met again and Combs violently grabbed Lampros and forced himself onto her, kissing and touching her against her will, the lawsuit claims.
As a result, Lampros “has suffered and continues to suffer harm, including physical injury, severe emotional distress, humiliation, anxiety,” the lawsuit claims.
More recently, Lampros says she was told that Combs had in the past recorded them having sex without her knowing and showed it to multiple people, according to the lawsuit.
Combs had a temper and often threatened to harm her if she didn’t act according to his demands, talked to other men or didn’t take his phone calls, Lampros claims in the suit. According to Lampros, she was also not allowed to talk about her relationship with Combs to anyone, the lawsuit claims.
“She felt that if she disobeyed him, he would take away her dreams of pursuing a career in his world. Mr. Combs would also threaten to blacklist her in the industry if she tried to mess with him in any way,” the suit said. “Ms. Lampros’ dreams and everything she’s been working hard for were in the palm of his hands.”
The suit was filed by Lampros’ attorney Tyrone Blackburn, who also represents others who filed lawsuits against Combs, including Rodney Jones, as well as Grace O’Marcaigh, the woman who accused his son Christian Combs of assault.
Defendants named in the suit also include Bad Boy Records, Arista Records and Sony Music Entertainment. Lampros was an intern for Arista Records – a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment and former parent company of Diddy’s Bad Boy Records – during at least one of the alleged assaults, the suit says.
The complaint alleges Arista Records enabled the sexual abuse by placing Combs in a position of authority and failing to protect Lampros.
CNN has sought comment from representatives for Combs, Bad Boy Records, Arista Records and Sony Music Entertainment.
The latest lawsuit comes just two days after former model and winner of MTV’s 1998 Model Mission competition show, Crystal McKinney, accused Combs of drugging and sexual assaulting her in a lawsuit. It also comes after CNN released exclusive surveillance footage that showed Combs physically attacking his then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura in 2016.
Combs is a target of a federal investigation carried out by a Department of Homeland Security team that handles human trafficking crimes, according to a senior federal law enforcement official briefed on the investigation.
“There has been no finding of criminal or civil liability with any of these allegations,” said Aaron Dyer, Diddy’s attorney, after two of the musician’s homes were searched in March as part of the investigation. “Mr. Combs is innocent and will continue to fight every single day to clear his name.”
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