Sean Combs accused of sex trafficking and assault by ex-girlfriend Cassie
Rapper Sean Combs has been accused of sex trafficking and assault in a lawsuit filed in a New York court by R&B singer Cassie.
According to the complaint, Cassie – real name Casandra Ventura – alleges that she was trafficked, raped, plied with drugs and viciously beaten by the rapper on many occasions over the course of 10 years.
She alleges Combs, also known as Diddy, brought her into his “ostentatious, fast-paced and drug-fuelled lifestyle” not long after she met him and signed to his label in 2005.
Ventura, now 37, claims Combs began the abuse soon after.
The lawsuit also claims that Combs forced his way into her home and raped her as their relationship was ending in 2018.
In a statement, Ventura said: “After years in silence and darkness, I am finally ready to tell my story, and to speak up on behalf of myself and for the benefit of other women who face violence and abuse in their relationships.
“With the expiration of New York’s Adult Survivors Act fast approaching, it became clear that this was an opportunity to speak up about the trauma I have experienced and that I will be recovering from for the rest of my life.”
Sean Diddy Combs at the Met Gala in May 2023
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In a statement, a lawyer for the rapper said he “vehemently denies these offensive and outrageous allegations”.
They added: “Ms Ventura’s demand of $30m (£24m), under the threat of writing a damaging book about their relationship, was unequivocally rejected as blatant blackmail.
“Despite withdrawing her initial threat, Ms Ventura has now resorted to filing a lawsuit riddled with baseless and outrageous lies, aiming to tarnish Mr Combs’ reputation, and seeking a pay day.”
Combs, 54, is among the most influential hip-hop producers and executives of the past three decades.
This year, he released his fifth studio album The Love Album: Off the Grid which earned two Grammy nominations this month.
He and Ventura began dating in 2007 and had an on-and-off relationship for more than a decade.
She became known for the Ryan Leslie-produced hit single Me & U, which secured the No 1 spot on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop songs chart in 2006. The song was the lead single of her only studio album, which was self-titled.
As an actor, she has appeared in several television and films projects including Fox’s Empire, Step Up 2:The Streets and Spenser Confidential.
Donald Trump has said he is considering “taking away” the US citizenship of actress and comedian Rosie O’Donnell, despite a Supreme Court ruling that expressly prohibits a government from doing so.
In a post on Truth Social on Saturday, the US president said: “Because of the fact that Rosie O’Donnell is not in the best interests of our Great Country, I am giving serious consideration to taking away her Citizenship.”
He also labelled O’Donnell, who has moved to Ireland, as a “threat to humanity” and said she should “remain in the wonderful country of Ireland, if they want her”.
O’Donnell responded on Instagram by posting a photograph of Mr Trump with Jeffrey Epstein.
“You are everything that is wrong with America and I’m everything you hate about what’s still right with it,” she wrote in the caption.
“I’m not yours to silence. I never was.”
Rosie O’Donnell moved to Ireland after Donald Trump secured a second term. Pic: AP
O’Donnell moved to Ireland with her 12-year-old son in January after Mr Trump had secured a second term.
She has said she’s in the process of obtaining Irish citizenship based on family lineage and that she would only return to the US “when it is safe for all citizens to have equal rights there in America”.
O’Donnell and the US president have criticised each other publicly for years, in an often-bitter back-and-forth that predates Mr Trump’s move into politics.
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This is just the latest threat by the president to revoke the citizenship of someone he has disagreed with, most recently his former ally Elon Musk.
But the two situations are different as while Musk was born in South Africa, O’Donnell was born in the US and has a constitutional right to American citizenship.
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Amanda Frost, a law professor at the University of Virginia School of Law, said the Supreme Court ruled in a 1967 case that the fourteenth amendment of the constitution prevents the government from taking away citizenship.
“The president has no authority to take away the citizenship of a native-born US citizen,” he added.
“In short, we are nation founded on the principle that the people choose the government; the government cannot choose the people.”
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