Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs allegations are ‘tip of the iceberg’, says lawyer for alleged victim Dawn Richard
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.
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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’
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.”
Donald Trump has filed a lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch, two Wall Street Journal reporters and the publication’s owner, News Corp.
The US president has accused the named individuals of defamation, claiming they acted with malicious intent and caused him overwhelming financial and reputational harm.
The lawsuit, which was filed in Miami, seeks at least $10bn (£7.5bn) in damages.
In a post on Truth Social, Mr Trump called the lawsuit “historic legal action” which was filed on behalf of himself and all Americans who he said will “no longer tolerate the abusive wrongdoings of the Fake News Media”.
“I hope Rupert and his ‘friends’ are looking forward to the many hours of depositions and testimonies they will have to provide in this case,” he wrote.
It comes after Mr Trump claimed that a letter he allegedly wrote to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein was “fake” and said he would sue the “ass off” Rupert Murdoch, who owns the Wall Street Journal (WSJ), which first published the story.
The publication had said Mr Trump wrote the letter as part of a collection Epstein’s former girlfriend, Ghislaine Maxwell, planned to give him as a 50th birthday present in 2003.
It claimed the message, allegedly from Mr Trump, featured several lines of typewritten text, concluding with: “May every day be another wonderful secret.”
The text was framed by what appeared to be a hand-drawn outline of a naked woman, the WSJ claimed. The letter is also said to have featured the signature “Donald”.
Mr Trump immediately denied writing the letter when the WSJ report was published on Thursday night.
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Memes of Epstein undermine victims, says lawyer
“The Wall Street Journal printed a FAKE letter, supposedly to Epstein,” he wrote on Truth Social.
“These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don’t draw pictures. I told Rupert Murdoch it was a Scam, that he shouldn’t print this Fake Story. But he did, and now I’m going to sue his ass off, and that of his third rate newspaper.”
Mr Trump ignored questions about Epstein as he signed a cryptocurrency bill at the White House earlier on Friday.
The president’s lawsuit comes as the US government filed a motion to unseal grand jury transcripts related to Epstein, who took his own life while awaiting trial in 2019.
In a Manhattan federal court filing, the Department of Justice said the criminal cases against Epstein and Maxwell are a matter of public interest, justifying the release of associated grand jury transcripts.
Earlier on Friday, Mr Trump said attorney general Pam Bondi had been asked to release the transcripts because of “the ridiculous amount of publicity given to Jeffrey Epstein”.
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The justice department previously said it had around 200 documents relating to Epstein and that the FBI had thousands more.
It is unknown how much of this is grand jury testimony, which is typically kept secret under US law.
Read more:
All we know about the ‘friendship’
Trump denies writing birthday letter to Epstein
The president has faced increased scrutiny over his alleged friendship with Epstein since his administration’s U-turn on the so-called ‘Epstein files’.
Mr Trump pledged to release files on Epstein during his presidential campaign, as his MAGA movement accused the Biden administration of suppressing the extent of Epstein’s paedophilia, predatory behaviour and his so-called “client list” – thought to contain names of the rich and famous who conspired with him in his child sex trafficking operation.
But after a review of the evidence the US government has, the Justice Department recently determined that no “further disclosure would be appropriate or warranted”.
Venezuela releases jailed Americans in prisoner swap
The Trump administration said on Friday that it had negotiated an exchange with Venezuela, resulting in the release of 10 jailed Americans.
US secretary of state Marco Rubio said the prisoners, who had been held in the South American country, were “on their way to freedom”.
Men in the CECOT jail in EL Salvador. Pic: Reuters
In return, 252 Venezuelan migrants being held in El Salvador have been freed, the Venezuelan government said.
They had been held in the notorious maximum security CECOT prison after being deported by the US.
US
Trump denies claim he wrote birthday letter to Jeffrey Epstein – and says he has ordered release of more case files
Donald Trump has called an alleged letter he wrote to paedophile Jeffrey Epstein “fake” and said he will sue the “ass off” Rupert Murdoch, who owns the paper that first published the claim.
In multiple posts on Truth Social, the US president accused The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) of fabricating the letter that it claimed was written by Mr Trump as part of a collection of letters addressed to Epstein that his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell planned to give him as a birthday present in 2003.
According to documents seen by the WSJ, Mr Trump’s letter featured several lines of typewritten text framed by what appeared to be a hand-drawn outline of a naked woman.
The paper said the letter concludes “Happy Birthday – and may every day be another wonderful secret”, and featured the signature “Donald”, allegedly drawn across the woman’s waist, meant to mimic the appearance of pubic hair.
Epstein took his own life in prison in 2019. Pic: AP
Responding to the WSJ’s claims, Mr Trump wrote: “The Wall Street Journal printed a FAKE letter, supposedly to Epstein. These are not my words, not the way I talk. Also, I don’t draw pictures.
“I told Rupert Murdoch it was a Scam, that he shouldn’t print this Fake Story. But he did, and now I’m going to sue his ass off, and that of his third rate newspaper. Thank you for your attention to this matter! DJT.”
He said earlier he would also sue the WSJ and News Corp, which Mr Murdoch owns. The WSJ is published by News Corp subsidiary company, Dow Jones & Co.
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From 16 July: Trump: Epstein case is ‘a boring story’
The Justice Department has not responded to the WSJ and the FBI declined to comment.
In a separate post, Mr Trump said he has asked the attorney general, Pam Bondi, to release “any and all pertinent grand jury testimony” in the case of the paedophile financier who was found dead in his Manhattan cell in August 2019, shortly after he was arrested on sex trafficking charges.
The release of any documents, Mr Trump said, would be subject to approval by a court.
The justice department has previously said it had around 200 documents relating to Epstein and that the FBI had thousands more. It is unknown how much of this is grand jury testimony – which is typically kept secret under US law.
Ms Bondi responded to the president on X, writing: “President Trump-we are ready to move the court tomorrow to unseal the grand jury transcripts.”
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Elon Musk, who claimed last month that Mr Trump appears in the Epstein files, was surprisingly among the first to come to the president’s defence over the WSJ claims.
“It really doesn’t sound like something Trump would say tbh,” the tech billionaire wrote on X, before going on to ask where the evidence against Epstein allegedly held by the FBI had gone.
The Trump administration has come under criticism after the president appeared to U-turn on his own promise to release more information about the Epstein case publicly.
In the run-up to the US election last year, Mr Trump drew on rumours and conspiracy theories that appeared to accuse the Biden administration of suppressing the extent of Epstein’s paedophilia, predatory behaviour and his so-called “client list” – thought to contain names of the rich and famous who conspired with him in a child sex trafficking operation.
Ms Bondi fuelled these rumours in February by telling Fox News that the alleged Epstein client list was “sitting on my desk right now to review”.
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Why is Trump fighting with MAGA over Epstein?
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In the same month, the justice department released some government documents regarding the case, but there were no new revelations.
After a months-long review of additional evidence, the department earlier this month released a video meant to prove that Epstein killed himself, but said no other files related to the case would be made public.
The decision was criticised by many in Mr Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement, who Mr Trump later called “weaklings”.
Sky News has contacted the White House for further comment.
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