NEW YORK -- Warning: this story contains graphic details of sexual assault
Seven new lawsuits have been filed against Sean âDiddyâ Combs, including one alleging the rape of a 13-year-old girl. They come as his lawyers tried again Monday to get him freed on bail, and complained that a âfresh wave of publicityâ is endangering his right to a fair criminal trial.
In the lawsuits filed Sunday in state and federal courts, four men and three women, all anonymous, allege they were sexually assaulted by Combs at parties over the last two decades.
Combs, 54, has pleaded not guilty to federal sex trafficking charges contained in an indictment unsealed the day after his Sept. 16 arrest. Charges include allegations he coerced and abused women for years, aided by associates and employees, and silenced victims through blackmail and violence, including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings.
He has remained incarcerated pending a May 5 trial after two judges denied bail in rulings being appealed to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
Combsâ lawyers asked a judge Sunday to order potential witnesses and their lawyers to stop making statements that could prevent a fair trial.
âAs the Court is aware, Mr. Combs has been the target of an unending stream of allegations by prospective witnesses and their counsel in the press,â they wrote. âThese prospective witnesses and their lawyers have made numerous inflammatory extrajudicial statements aimed at assassinating Mr. Combsâs character in the press.â
The latest lawsuits are drawn from what lawyers say are more than 100 accusers who are planning legal action against Combs. Plaintiffsâ lawyer Tony Buzbee announced the planned litigation at an Oct. 1 news conference and posted a 1-800 number for accusers to call.
As before, Combs' representatives dismissed the latest lawsuits as âclear attempts to garner publicity.â They said Combs and his legal team âhave full confidence in the facts, their legal defenses, and the integrity of the judicial process.â
Combs âhas never sexually assaulted anyone â adult or minor, man or woman," they added.
One of the lawsuits filed Sunday alleges that a 13-year-old girl who was invited to a party by a limousine driver after the Video Music Awards in Manhattan in September 2000 was raped by a âmale celebrityâ and then by Combs as individuals identified only as âCelebrity A,â a male, and âCelebrity B,â a female, watched.
Another lawsuit alleged that Combs sexually assaulted a 17-year-old male at a Manhattan hotel penthouse party in 2022.
In the lawsuits, it was alleged that the plaintiffs believed they had been fed drinks laced with drugs before they were assaulted.
Meanwhile, lawyers for Combs on Monday told the 2nd Circuit in a filing that heâll renew his bail application before the lower court based on âsignificant changed circumstances.â They said the issues include âconstitutional concerns stemming from his conditions of confinement and evidence contained in recently produced discovery.â
In a filing last week, prosecutors told the appeals court that judges denied bail after evidence showed Combs âused methodical and sophisticated means to silence and intimidate witnesses throughout the racketeering conspiracy and during the Governmentâs investigation.â