NEW YORK (Court TV) — An explosive lawsuit filed this week in New York accuses music mogul Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs of leading a business built around drugs, sex trafficking and sexual assault.
FILE – In this May 30, 2018, file photo, Sean “Diddy” Combs arrives at the LA Premiere of “The Four: Battle For Stardom” at the CBS Radford Studio Center in Los Angeles. (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP, File)
Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones filed the lawsuit on Monday in federal court, naming actor Cuba Gooding Jr., along with Combs as perpetrators of sexual assault. The lawsuit is topped with a red “Trigger Warning” for “graphic information of a sexual nature” as well as redacted images showing a shooting and minors.
The lawsuit was filed the same day that Homeland Security Investigations agents raided Combs’ homes in Los Angeles and Miami.
Jones says in the lawsuit that he was first introduced to Combs in Aug. 2022, when a representative asked him to produce songs on a forthcoming R&B album to be called, “The Love Album: Off the Grid.” According to the lawsuit, “Mr. Jones agreed, and his life has been detrimentally impacted ever since.”
When Jones began working with Combs in Sept. 2022, he said that he lived with the celebrity for months, and was not allowed to leave to return to his family for birthdays, “major family events” or holidays. While producing nine songs for the album, Jones alleges that he was witness to, and in fact, forced to record, hundreds of hours of criminal activity that included drug use and sex with prostitutes.
Sex Trafficking, Sexual Assault and Grooming
Jones’ lawsuit accuses Combs of sexually assaulting him multiple times, describing himself as “the victim of constant unsolicited and unauthorized groping.” More than just sexually assaulting him, Jones alleges that Combs was attempting to groom him into accepting a homosexual relationship, going so far as to say, “Mr. Combs promised to make sure that Mr. Jones wins producer of the year at the Grammys if he engaged in homosexual acts.”
Jones said that he was also sexually assaulted by Yung Miami’s female cousin on Thanksgiving of 2022 in a bathroom at Combs’ direction.
A photo allegedly shows Cuba Gooding Jr. with Rodney Jones on Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ yacht in January, 2023. (Lawsuit)
Actor Cuba Gooding Jr., who has previously faced unrelated allegations of sexual assault, is accused in the lawsuit of molesting Jones while on Combs’ yacht in the U.S. Virgin Islands in January, 2023.
“Mr. Jones believes Mr. Combs was grooming him to pass him off to his friends. This fear became a reality when Mr. Combs introduced Mr. Jones to Cuba Gooding Jr. while they were on Mr. Combs’ yacht. According to Mr. Jones, during the introduction, Mr. Combs suggested that Cuba ‘get to know’ Mr. Jones better. He then left them alone in a makeshift studio on the yacht.”
Jones included photos with the lawsuit, which he said show Gooding touching, groping and fondling his legs, upper thighs near his ground, the small of his back, and his shoulders. Jones said that Gooding “did not stop until Mr. Jones forcibly pushed him away.”
The lawsuit alleges that Combs had a constant flow of sex workers and prostitutes around him, and forced others, including Jones, to engage in sexual activity. Kristina Khorram, a codefendant in the lawsuit who works as Combs’ chief of staff, is described in the suit as “the Ghislaine Maxwell to Sean Combs Jeffrey Epstein,” referencing the disgraced financier who abused dozens of underage girls. The lawsuit alleges that Combs solicited underage girls, citing a July 2023 party where he allegedly laced the drinks of at least five women under age 16 with drugs.
Brendan Paul appears to hold a black bag and pill bottles in a screengrab from a video taken in December, 2022. (Lawsuit)
The drugs weren’t only hidden in drinks. The lawsuit alleges that every member of Combs’ staff carries a black Prada pouch filled with drugs, including cocaine, GHB, ecstasy and marijuana gummies. Photos in the lawsuit show Brendan Paul, who Jones identified as Combs’ mule, who acquires and distributes both guns and drugs, holding a black pouch and pill bottles. Paul was arrested in Miami on March 25, the same day as the raids at Combs’ properties and the lawsuit was filed, on charges of drug possession in Miami, court records show.
Violence, Threats and 1999 NYC Nightclub Shooting
Jones said that he feared for his safety because of Combs’ history of violence dating back to 1999, when the rapper was criminally charged in a shooting at a New York City nightclub. At the time, Combs was dating Jennifer Lopez, and was charged after leaving a nightclub where three people were injured after a shooting that began with Combs knocking a drink out of someone’s hand.
Despite his acquittal, Jones said in his lawsuit that Combs frequently talked about the incident, “bragging about having law enforcement under control, bragging about murdering people, and bragging about bribing witnesses and jurors in the criminal case concerning the 1999 NYC nightclub shooting with Shyne.” Shyne later served nearly nine years after he was convicted in the case.
Jones said that Combs would leverage his relationships with known gang leaders in Los Angeles and Miami to access and distribute guns. Combs was described as oscillating between promises of grandeur and threats of violence to keep his victim in line: “He would go from promising Mr. Jones the world to threatening Mr. Jones with physical harm. Mr. Combs threatened to eat Mr. Jones’ face and informed Mr. Jones that he was willing to kill his mother, Janice Combs, if he must get what he wanted so he wouldn’t think twice about harming Mr. Jones.”
No criminal charges have been filed against Combs, who said in a statement to Court TV when asked about the lawsuit,
“Mr. Jones is nothing more than a con man, shamelessly looking for an easy and wholly undeserved payday. We have indisputable, incontrovertible proof that his claims are complete fabrications. Our attempts to share this proof … have been ignored. … We look forward to addressing these ridiculous claims in court and intend to take all appropriate action against all who are attempting to peddle them.”
Court TV has reached out to Cuba Gooding Jr. for a comment on the lawsuit, but has not received a response.
