Diddy lawsuit alleges rapper raped woman in 2001 and filmed it
- Diddy was indicted on sex trafficking, racketeering charges
- New lawsuit accuses him of raping woman in 2001
- She is the 11th woman to sue Diddy for sexual assault
(NewsNation) — Another woman has accused Sean “Diddy” Combs of sexual assault.
Thalia Graves said the music mogul, along with his bodyguard, Joseph “Big Joe” Sherman, “viciously raped her” at the Bad Boy Records studio in the summer of 2001, according to court documents obtained by NewsNation local affiliate KTLA.
New lawsuit against Diddy
Attorney Gloria Allred and Graves allege that the assault was filmed and then shared without the victim’s consent — including selling it as pornography.
Allred announced the newest lawsuit at a Tuesday press conference, calling the accusations a “violation of New York City’s victims of gender-motivated violence protection law by viciously and violently forcing sexual contact [including] oral sex and sexual intercourse on the plaintiff.”
“By raping the plaintiff and recording it,” Allred added, “the defendants caused the plaintiff to be depicted in a video image unclothed and with intimate body parts exposed and engaged in sexual conduct with another person.”
At the time of the alleged assault, Graves was in a relationship with one of Diddy’s employees. At the Tuesday press conference, she shared that she was going through a divorce and family issues at the time of the assault.
Court documents show that Graves didn’t report it for decades out of fear they “would use their power to ruin her life, as they had repeatedly, explicitly threatened to do.”
The incident left her traumatized and contemplating suicide, according to the filing.
“It goes beyond just physical harm caused by the assault,” she said at the press conference. “It’s a pain that reaches into the very core of who you are and leaves emotional scars that may never fully heal. Some of the hardest parts of this pain are the shame and the guilt I have experienced that plays a negative part in my day-to-day ability to function properly.”
Graves said that the assault left her with lasting physical ailments, including chronic pain and a fear of leaving her house.
“The trauma of the assault has taken a toll on my mental health. I’ve had PTSD, depression and anxiety,” she continued. “It has been hard for me to trust others, create relationships or even feel safe in my own skin. The combination of physical and emotional pain has created a cycle of suffering from which it is so hard to break free.”
Allred said the charges filed by Graves — the 11th of their kind — will not overlap with the existing criminal charges against Diddy.
Diddy’s allegations, arrest
Diddy is accused of using his music empire to engage in sex trafficking and accused of having a pattern of abusing women.
He was arrested Sept. 16 after months of allegations and a federal raid on two of his properties. He pleaded not guilty in New York court the next day.
Both his bids to bail out of jail have been rejected, leaving him in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center for the foreseeable future.
NewsNation affiliate KTLA contributed to this report.