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A lawyer representing an alleged victim of Sean “Diddy” Combs has told Sky News she believes the criminal case against him is “just the tip of the iceberg” and there are “hundreds” more who may be “too afraid to come forward”.

Lisa Bloom is representing singer Dawn Richard, a former member of two groups formed by the rapper, who has filed a civil lawsuit against him.

Richard is one of dozens of people suing Combs following his arrest in September. The 55-year-old is currently in jail in New York awaiting trial over criminal charges of sex trafficking and racketeering, which he has strenuously denied.

Warning – this story includes details some may find upsetting

Rap group Diddy Dirty Money, consisting of Sean Combs (C), Dawn Richard (L) and Kalenna Harper, arrive at the 2011 BET Awards in Los Angeles, California, June 26, 2011. REUTERS/Jason Redmond (UNITED STATES - Tags: ENTERTAINMENT)
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Dawn Richard performed with Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs in Diddy – Dirty Money. Pic: Reuters/Jason Redmond 2011


“I think this is just the tip of the iceberg, what we’re seeing right now,” said Bloom. “I think we’re going to see a lot more accusers come forward.”

The lawyer said she had “no doubt there are hundreds more people” who have allegations of “sexual assault, physical violence, threats, sex trafficking” against Combs, as well as “people associated with him”.

However, she says many alleged victims may feel scared or unable to speak out, or “think they have no rights” after signing non-disclosure agreements (NDAs).

The criminal case against Combs claims that, with the help of some employees, he coerced and abused individuals for years, and used blackmail and violence to silence alleged victims.

On top of the criminal charges, the hip-hop mogul also faces a mounting number of civil suits, with more than 20 filed so far.

‘She alleges she was groped and grabbed’

Dawn Richard arrives at the 66th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 4, 2024, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, File)
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Richard attended the Grammy Awards earlier in 2024. Pic: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP

Richard appeared on the TV show Making The Band, for which Combs was an executive producer, in the early 2000s.

She was a member of Danity Kane, a girl group formed on the show who signed to his label, and later performed alongside the rapper in the trio, Diddy – Dirty Money.

She accuses him of subjecting her to years of inhumane working conditions, and threatening her life.

“She alleges that during the show, she and the others were subjected to horrendous conditions,” Bloom said. “They weren’t allowed to eat, they weren’t allowed to sleep, they were locked in places and not allowed to leave.

“They were subjected to all kinds of gender comments… calling them names, insulting them.

“She alleges that she was groped and grabbed by Sean Combs, that she witnessed him physically assaulting other women, that he restrained her, locked her into cars and other places, falsely imprisoned her, and it was just a really terrifying experience for her.”

When Richard tried to speak out on behalf of other women Combs was allegedly abusing in her presence, she was threatened and felt “very fearful”, Bloom said.

Combs’s lawyers say Richard’s allegations are “an attempt to rewrite history”. They say they are false claims manufactured by a singer who has an album out and who’s “trying to get a pay day”.

They also say that if she had such “a negative experience” working with the rapper and producer while in Danity Kane, she would not have returned to work with him a second time in Diddy – Dirty Money.

‘People turned a blind eye’

Richard has spoken with the officers from the US Department of Justice, Bloom said. She believes there will be “more criminal charges to come” against Combs, as well as more civil lawsuits.

“She’s sat and answered questions,” Bloom said. “I assume other people probably have as well. So [criminal charges] could very well be forthcoming… I think there will be more civil suits as well.

“Sean Combs is the top of the pyramid, he was the one orchestrating everything, but those who helped him also need to be brought to justice.

“We want to hold accountable anybody who’s complicit, because to victimise people on this scale where we’re probably talking about hundreds of people, you can’t do that alone, you have to have helpers… people who actually saw incidents of abuse turned a blind eye to it and continued funding these events where things happened. They should be held accountable, and we intend to do that in our case.”

Bloom said she also expects other famous names to be brought up.

“People used to brag about going to Diddy parties, a lot of people were there, maybe some of them didn’t know what was happening but surely many of them did,” she said. “Being a celebrity does not mean that you’re above the law, as I think some of them think.”

Read more from Sky News:
‘They share women. They share secrets’
The allegations against Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs

For now, the civil cases against Combs are running concurrently to the criminal case against him.

The rapper has not asked for a stay, “which would essentially freeze” the civil cases, Bloom said, so she is “aggressively moving ahead” with Richard’s claim.

From behind bars the rapper, through his lawyers, has said he is “confidently standing on truth and looks forward to proving that in court”.

“I look forward to taking Sean Combs’s deposition in prison,” Bloom said. “For one thing, he can’t say he’s unavailable and out of town.”

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‘A genius actor’, ‘firecracker’, and ‘my friend’: Tributes paid to Top Gun star Val Kilmer

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'A genius actor', 'firecracker', and 'my friend': Tributes paid to Top Gun star Val Kilmer

Actors, directors and celebrity friends have paid tribute to Val Kilmer, after he died aged 65.

The California-born star of Top Gun, Batman and Heat died of pneumonia on Tuesday night in Los Angeles, his daughter Mercedes told the Associated Press.

She said Kilmer was diagnosed with throat cancer in 2014 but later recovered.

Tributes flooded in after reports broke of the actor’s death, with No Country For Old Men star Josh Brolin among the first to share their memories.

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Watch: Val Kilmer in his most iconic roles

He wrote on Instagram: “See ya, pal. I’m going to miss you. You were a smart, challenging, brave, uber-creative firecracker. There’s not a lot left of those.

“I hope to see you up there in the heavens when I eventually get there. Until then, amazing memories, lovely thoughts.”

Kyle Maclachlan, who co-starred with Kilmer in the 1991 biopic The Doors, wrote on social media: “You’ll always be my Jim. See you on the other side my friend.”

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Michael Mann, who directed Kilmer in 1995’s Heat, also paid tribute in a statement, saying: “I always marvelled at the range, the brilliant variability within the powerful current of Val’s possessing and expressing character.

“After so many years of Val battling disease and maintaining his spirit, this is tremendously sad news.”

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Heat co-star Danny Trejo also called Kilmer “a great actor, a wonderful person, and a dear friend of mine” on Instagram.

Cher, who once dated the actor, said on X that “U Were Funny, crazy, pain in the ass, GREAT FRIEND… BRILLIANT as Mark Twain, BRAVE here during ur sickness”.

Lifelong friend and director of Twixt, Francis Ford Coppola said: “Val Kilmer was the most talented actor when in his High School, and that talent only grew greater throughout his life.

“He was a wonderful person to work with and a joy to know – I will always remember him.”

The Top Gun account on X also said it was remembering Kilmer, who starred as Iceman in both the 1986 original and 2022 sequel, and “whose indelible cinematic mark spanned genres and generations”.

Nicolas Cage added that “I always liked Val and am sad to hear of his passing”.

“I thought he was a genius actor,” he said. “I enjoyed working with him on Bad Lieutenant and I admired his commitment and sense of humor.

“He should have won the Oscar for The Doors.”

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Island home only to penguins hit by tariffs – and other things you may have missed on ‘Liberation Day’

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Island home only to penguins hit by tariffs - and other things you may have missed on 'Liberation Day'

No one expected penguins to bear the brunt of Liberation Day. 

But among the barrage of tariffs set out by Donald Trump, the US also took aim at uninhabited islands, talked up American beef and turned its nose up at plastic eggs.

Here is what you might have missed in the US leader’s expansive announcement.

Trump latest: Follow live updates

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What the numbers behind Trump’s tariffs really mean

Tiny territories hit with big tariffs

At first glance, newly imposed tariffs on countries such as China, the European Union, India and the UK stand out – ranging from 34% to 10% respectively.

But the president also imposed tariffs on dozens of tiny territories – some of which don’t even have human inhabitants.

One of those was the Heard and McDonald Islands, an external territory of Australia in the Antarctic that is inhabited only by penguins and seals.

All of Australia's external territories that have been hit with US tariffs
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All of Australia’s external territories that have been hit with US tariffs

Despite having no human residents – or imports and exports – the island now faces a 10% tariff for any goods bound for the US.

According to export data from the World Bank, the US imported $1.4m (£1m) of mainly “machinery and electrical” products from Heard Island and McDonald Islands in 2022.

Australian territory Norfolk Island, a volcanic island 600 miles east of Queensland, was also hit with a hefty 29% tariff on exports to the US. That’s much higher than mainland Australia, which had a 10% tariff imposed.

The news was met with confusion by some of Norfolk Island’s 2,188 residents.

“Norfolk Island is a little dot in the world,” Richard Cottle, owner of a concrete-mixing business on the island, said on Thursday.

“We don’t export anything. It was just a mistake”.

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How is the world reacting to Trump’s tariffs?

Although the island does ship a modest amount of Kentia palm seeds abroad, this is typically worth less than $1m (£760,000) a year, with the products mostly going to Europe.

According to US government data, America has recorded trade deficits with Norfolk Island for the past three years.

Other tiny nations and territories were also hit with 10% tariffs, including Tokelau, a dependent territory of New Zealand, with a population of around 1,600 people, and the Cocos Islands, another territory of Australia, with a population of around 600 people.

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told reporters he had no explanation for the tariffs, calling them “unexpected” and “a bit strange”.

A Southern Elephant Seal pup on the beach below the Baudissin Glacier on Heard Island.
Pic: VWPics/AP
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We have a feeling the seals won’t welcome Trump for his next holiday to the Heard Island… Pic: AP

‘Our beef is beautiful, theirs is weak’

After announcing a 20% tariff against the European Union, Mr Trump’s secretary of commerce Howard Lutnick spoke to Fox News to try to explain what was behind the decision.

In a brief but bizarre rant, Mr Lutnick spoke about the bloc’s ban on imported chicken from the US.

“I mean European Union won’t take chicken from America,” he said.

“They will take lobsters from America… they hate our beef because our beef is beautiful and theirs is weak.”

The EU has a ban on chicken washed in chlorine – a practice that is approved by the United States Department of Agriculture.

Although US beef is not completely prohibited in Europe, any beef that has been treated with artificial growth hormones – which is legal in the US and common among producers – is banned by the EU.

Why was Russia exempt?

Russia was not on Mr Trump’s tariff list, despite his threat to introduce some on Russian oil imports last week.

The US president made the threat after telling NBC’s Kirsten Welker he was “very angry” and “pissed off” after Vladimir Putin criticised the credibility of Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as fragile peace negotiations are ongoing.

Read more:
World leaders react to Trump’s tariff announcement
Do Trump’s ‘Liberation Day’ tariff numbers add up?

Mr Trump said that if Russia was unable to make a deal on “stopping bloodshed in Ukraine” – and Mr Trump felt that Moscow was to blame – then he would put secondary tariffs on “all oil coming out of Russia”.

“That would be that if you buy oil from Russia, you can’t do business in the United States. There will be a 25% tariff on all oil, a 25 to 50-point tariff on all oil,” he said.

Axios reported that White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told the publication on Wednesday that Russia was left off the tariffs list because US sanctions already “preclude any meaningful trade”.

Russia ran a $2.5bn goods trade surplus with the US in 2024, according to the US Trade Representative’s office, falling from $35bn in 2021 as a result of sanctions put in place due to the war in Ukraine.

World’s poorest nations face highest tariffs

Many of Mr Trump’s tariffs have targeted the world’s poorest countries.

Lesotho in southern Africa, listed as the 22 poorest country in the world, has been slapped with the highest duty of 50%. It primarily exports diamonds and garments, with the US as one of the top five exporting destinations, Sky News’ US partner network NBC News reported.

The second-highest tariff went to Cambodia at 49%, even though the US is Cambodia’s largest single-country export destination.

Madagascar in east Africa, the world’s ninth poorest country, will face 47% reciprocal tariffs. It primarily exports vanilla, cloves, and garments, with the US among the top five countries it exports to, according to NBC.

‘Huge complexities’ for Northern Ireland and the Republic

Tanaiste Simon Harris speaks to media outside Government Buildings, Dublin. Picture date: Thursday April 3, 2025. PA Photo. See PA story IRISH Tariffs . Photo credit should read: Cillian Sherlock/PA Wire
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Deputy premier Simon Harris said the difference in tariffs between the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland will cause complexities. Pic: Cillian Sherlock/PA Wire

Under the 10% tariff imposed on the UK, Northern Irish goods will also be covered at the same rate.

Whereas the Republic of Ireland will subject to a 20% tariffs – which Mr Trump imposed on the entirety of the EU.

Reacting to the announcement, Ireland deputy premier Simon Harris said the tariff difference would create “huge complexities” for products that need to be carried across the cross-border dimension during production.

He said the issues were similar to those at play during the Brexit debate around maintaining a frictionless land border on the island of Ireland.

Mr Harris said it was on the US to “outline their understanding” on how the 10% differential between Northern Ireland and Ireland will play out.

Trump defines groceries

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Trump says ‘groceries’ is a ‘beautiful term’

As has become common when delivering major addresses, the US president repeatedly deviated from his script.

At one point, he took time to define the word groceries: “It’s a bag with a lot of different things in it.”

He went on to describe the word as “old-fashioned” but “beautiful”.

‘Could you use plastic eggs?’

In another part of his wide-ranging speech, Mr Trump got onto the topic of eggs – the price of which reached an all-time high earlier this year in the US due to the outbreak of bird flu.

On Wednesday, Mr Trump confirmed that the annual White House tradition of rolling around 30,000 Easter eggs across the South Lawn is expected to proceed, and will use real eggs, despite pleas for plastic ones to be used instead.

“They were saying that for Easter ‘Please don’t use eggs. Could you use plastic eggs?’ I say, we don’t want to do that,” Mr Trump said.

He did not clarify who was telling him not to use real eggs.

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Donald Trump’s tariffs will have consequences for globalisation, the US economy and geopolitics

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Donald Trump's tariffs will have consequences for globalisation, the US economy and geopolitics

For decades, trade and trade policy has been an economic and political backwater – decidedly boring, seemingly uncontroversial. 

Trade was mostly free and getting freer, tariffs were getting lower and lower, and the world was becoming more, not less, globalised.

But alongside those long-term trends, there were some serious consequences.

Trump latest: US president announces sweeping global trade tariffs

Mature, developed economies like the UK and US became ever more reliant on cheap imports from China and, in the process, saw their manufacturing sectors shrink.

Large swathes of the rust belt in the US – and much of the Midlands and North of England – were hollowed out.

And to some extent that’s where the story of Donald Trump’s “Liberation Day” really began – with the notion that free trade and globalisation had a darker side, a side he wants to remedy via tariffs.

More on Donald Trump

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Trump’s tariffs: Ed Conway analysis

He imposed a set of tariffs in his first term, some on China, some on specific materials like steel and aluminium. But the height and the breadth of those tariffs were as nothing compared with the ones we have just heard about.

Not since the 1930s has the US so radically increased the level of tariffs on all nations across the world. Back then, those tariffs exacerbated the Great Depression.

It’s anyone’s guess as to what the consequences of these ones will be. But there will be consequences.

Consequences for the nature of globalisation, consequences for the US economy (tariffs are exceptionally inflationary), consequences for geopolitics.

President Trump with his list of tariffs for various countries. Pic: Reuters
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Imports from the UK will face a 10% tariff, while EU goods will see 20% rates. Pic: Reuters

And to some extent, merely knowing that little bit more about the White House’s plans will deliver a bit of relief to financial markets, which have fretted for months about the imposition of tariffs. That uncertainty recently reached unprecedented levels.

But don’t for a moment assume that this saga is over. Nothing of the sort. In the coming days, we will learn more – more about the nuts and bolts of these policies, more about the retaliatory measures coming from other countries.

We will, possibly, get more of a sense about whether some countries – including the UK – will enjoy reprieves from the tariffs.

To paraphrase Churchill, this isn’t the end of the trade war, or even the beginning of the end – perhaps just the end of the beginning.

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