Sean “Diddy” Combs was sued Tuesday by a woman who says that he and his bodyguard “viciously” raped her in a New York City recording studio more than 20 years ago after Combs had drugged her, and that the men recorded the encounter on video.
Thalia Graves said in the lawsuit filed in federal court in New York that she only learned of the alleged recording decades later, in November 2023, after the R&B singer Cassie sued Combs, alleging that he had subjected her to years of abuse, including severe beatings and rape, while they had dated. The singer, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, settled the suit with Combs in a day without disclosing the terms. Combs denied any wrongdoing.
Graves is seeking a jury trial. It appears to be the first lawsuit Combs has faced since he was indicted last week by federal authorities in New York on charges of sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty and was denied bail. His representatives did not immediately reply to a request for comment Tuesday.
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In addition to Combs, Graves’ suit names Joseph Sherman, who, according to the suit, was known as “Big Joe,” and was for a time, Combs’ bodyguard and head of security. Sherman said Tuesday that he did not know or rape Graves and that he was not employed by Combs at the time of the alleged assault.
Graves met Combs in or around late 1999 or early 2000 through her then-boyfriend, who was an executive at Combs’ record label, Bad Boy, and had a close personal relationship with the hip-hop mogul, the suit says. Graves frequently visited her boyfriend, who is not identified in the complaint, at the Bad Boy studio in New York City and attended events hosted at Combs’ residences, the suit says.
According to the suit, in the summer of 2001, Combs called Graves, who was 25 at the time, and asked her to meet to discuss her boyfriend’s performance issues.
“Her boyfriend was determined to climb up the ladder at Combs’ records label and as his romantic partner, Plaintiff was committed to helping him,” the suit says, so she agreed to meet with Combs.
Combs and Joseph Sherman, who was behind the wheel of an SUV, picked Graves up from her mother’s home in Queens, the suit says. It alleges Combs, who was in the backseat, offered her a glass of wine that she accepted and that later caused her “to feel lightheaded, dizzy, and physically weak.” They drove her to the Bad Boy studio in Manhattan and as she exited the SUV, the lawsuit says, she felt odd and found it difficult to walk. The suit alleges Combs led her to a couch in a private room in the studio, where she lost consciousness.
When she regained consciousness, she was naked, and her hands had been tied behind her back with what felt like a plastic grocery bag, the suit says. After she shouted for help, Sherman lifted her up from the couch and forcefully slammed her face down on a pool table, according to the suit. Shortly thereafter, Combs entered the room naked, the suit says.
Combs applied lubricant to himself and then raped her as she screamed out in pain, the suit alleges. It says Graves, who is 4 foot 11 and weighed 103 pounds at the time, “was unable to move, totally overpowered physically, in addition to being drugged and bound.” She then lost consciousness again, according to the suit. When she regained consciousness, the suit alleges Sherman slapped her in the face and sexually assaulted her. She again lost consciousness, the suit says.
When she next awoke, she was on the couch terrified, naked and alone in the room, so she quickly got dressed and fled, the suit says.
According to the suit, Graves called a livery driver she knew who drove her to a hospital and tried to convince her to report the alleged rape and to get a rape kit, but she was unable to leave the car, as she was “shaking and crying hysterically” and “terrified of what Combs would do to her and her family if she reported him.”
She was also involved in a contentious divorce and custody battle at the time and feared that reporting the alleged rape would cause her to lose custody of her young child, the suit says. Her boyfriend, who was still employed by Combs, also allegedly discouraged her from disclosing the alleged assault, the suit says, and told her that it could negatively affect his career.
Graves said she sustained injuries, including bruising on her wrists and face, as well as burning in her vagina and anus and prolonged anal bleeding and hemorrhoids. She has relocated multiple times throughout the years to stay away from Combs, who, along with Sherman, has threatened her multiple times to stay silent, the suit alleges. Graves never went to police because she was afraid Combs and Sherman would follow through on their threats, the suit says.
In late November, Graves’ former boyfriend revealed to her for the first time that, years earlier, Combs and Sherman had showed him “and a group of men — some of whom were also employed by Combs’ companies and/or their related entities — the video” of her being raped, the suit alleges. Her former boyfriend reported that he and the other men watched the alleged recording on a handheld camera while at the Bad Boy studio in New York City, the suit says.
And in the years since, the suit says, both Combs and Sherman contacted her and warned her to stay silent and threatened repercussions, including that she could lose custody of her son if she ever disclosed the alleged assault.
According to the suit, Graves suffers from severe depression and post-traumatic stress disorder and has experienced suicidal ideation and intrusive thoughts, and has attempted to end her life.
“Plaintiff lives in constant fear,” the suit says. “She struggles with hypervigilance and experiences anxiety and panic attacks in social settings, preferring to be alone. Her need to hide to feel safe has strained her relationships with friends and family.”
Sherman, who denies the allegations in Graves’ lawsuit, said he was employed by Combs from 1998 to 1999, years before the alleged assault would have taken place. He said he provided security to Combs and other Bad Boy artists, such as Total, Carl Thomas and 112. He said he has never been alone with Combs and hasn’t seen him in 25 years.
Graves’ attorneys include Gloria Allred, a women’s rights attorney who represented several of singer R. Kelly’s accusers.
At a news conference Tuesday afternoon, Graves said the worst pain she has experienced is shame and guilt.
“Being blamed, questioned and threatened has often made me feel worthless, isolated and sometimes responsible for what happened to me,” Graves said through tears, as Allred consoled her.
Combs has faced a wave of sexual abuse allegations in civil lawsuits since Ventura sued him. Ventura signed to Combs’ label in 2005, and the two dated on and off for many years. Her suit said Combs plied her with drugs and forced her to have sex with a series of male prostitutes in what Combs called “freak offs” and what the government has described as “elaborate and produced sex performances” that sometimes lasted days and at times were recorded. Freak offs are at the heart of the sex trafficking case.
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