Sean “Diddy” Combs is facing more than 100 new assault charges

WASHINGTON – More than a hundred people will sue rap musician Sean “Diddy” Combs for assault, rape and sexual exploitation, a U.S. attorney has said. Texas-based attorney Tony Buzbee said the alleged victims include minors who were abused when they were as young as nine years old. “This is an important issue that we want to address aggressively,” Buzbee told reporters. Erica Wolff, an attorney representing Combs, said the rapper “emphatically and categorically” denies the allegations and says they are “false and defamatory.” Buzbee said at a news conference Tuesday that he and his team will “leave no stone unturned to find potentially liable parties” in the alleged abuse, or “any person or entity that participated in or benefited from this egregious conduct.” Ms Wolff said in a statement to the BBC that Combs “looks forward to proving his innocence and defending himself in court, where the truth will be determined on the basis of evidence, not speculation.” The legal action is the latest against Combs. Combs was arrested last week and faces criminal charges of racketeering and sex trafficking. He is currently in federal custody after being denied bail, which he is appealing. He has denied all allegations of criminal wrongdoing. According to Buzbee, who is licensed to practice law in Texas and New York, the total number of alleged victims he represents is 120, half of whom are men and the other half are women who come from more than 25 states in the USA He added that 25 of the alleged victims he represents were minors. This is the first time Combs has been accused of child sexual abuse. The allegations span from 1991 to as late as this year, with the incidents occurring in Los Angeles, New York and Miami, Buzbee said. He added that most of the incidents occurred after 2015. Most of the accusers, he said, allege they were raped after parties organized by Combs that were held at well-known locations as well as private homes and hotels. Buzbee said the parties would either mark an album release or were New Year’s Eve and American Independence Day celebrations. Others took place during what he believed were auditions. “Often, especially young people who wanted to break into the industry, were coerced into this type of behavior on the promise of becoming a star or the promise that Sean Combs would listen to their tape,” Buzbee said. A man, who was nine years old at the time, claims he was sexually assaulted by Combs and his associates at a New York recording studio while trying to land a recording contract, his lawyer said. ‘If he hadn’t been in power, I think I could have been something great. I quit the industry because of what Sean Combs did to me,” he said in a statement through his attorney. Another man, who was also a minor at the time, claimed that Combs told him he was going to be a “star” but that he had to visit the rapper alone without his parents first. Once in a private area, his attorney alleged that Combs then asked the boy to perform oral sex on him. Buzbee also raised the case of a then-15-year-old girl who claims she flew to New York for a party hosted by Combs and was then raped by him and others. The lawyer claimed there was a clear modus operandi, with alleged victims typically being offered ‘laced’ drinks before being sexually assaulted. “The biggest secret in the entertainment industry has finally been revealed to the world,” Buzbee said. “The wall of silence has now been broken.” He added that this is not a class action lawsuit and that an individual case will be filed for each alleged victim. Andrew Van Arsdale, an attorney with the AVA law group who is working with Buzbee, said his office had received more than 3,000 calls from people alleging abuse by the music mogul. In addition to the 120 alleged victims, he said his company was investigating another 100 cases. – BBC