The most recent headlines from our reporters throughout the US despatched straight to your inbox every weekdayYour briefing on the newest headlines from throughout the USSean “Diddy” Combs, a rapper and music mogul credited with serving to launch the careers of a few of the largest stars lately, is now going through a number of civil lawsuits accusing him of intercourse trafficking, sexual abuse and rape.Combs, previously often known as Puff Daddy, P. Diddy and a bunch of different names, has undergone a myriad of reinventions for the reason that begin of his profession – however has since entered a brand new and unwelcome “period.”Federal brokers with US Homeland Safety raided two of the rapper’s homes in Los Angeles and Miami on 25 March as he faces a string of various accusations.Federal brokers with US Homeland Safety raided two of the rapper’s homes on Monday (AP)Combs, 54, has strongly denied all the allegations towards him. His attorneys have branded the lawsuits and their accusations as cash grabs, “baseless” or “sickening.”The entertainer has not been formally charged or accused by federal prosecutors of any crime.The brand new lawsuits come months after Combs’s former companion, Casandra “Cassie” Ventura filed a lawsuit towards him in November. She accused him of raping her in 2018, beating her, demanding she carry a firearm to “make her uncomfortable and display how harmful he’s” and forcing her into “undesirable sexual encounters with male intercourse employees.”Ms Ventura’s lawsuit towards Combs was settled a day after she filed it for an undisclosed sum of money.The slew of allegations in lawsuits towards Combs date way back to the Nineteen Nineties, when he based his personal report label, Dangerous Boy Data.All of the allegations towards Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs:Lawsuits towards the rapper started on 16 November 2023 when he was sued by singer and dancer Cassie, his former companion, who alleged years of abuse. It was filed beneath the New York Grownup Survivors Act, simply earlier than it expired. This act supplied a one-year window for grownup victims of sexual assault to come back ahead with civil claims whatever the statute of limitations.Casandra ‘Cassie’ VenturaR&B singer Cassie, whose full title is Casandra Ventura, filed a lawsuit in 2023 alleging that she was trafficked, raped and crushed by Combs on many events over 10 years.Her lawsuit claimed that Combs introduced the singer into his “ostentatious, fast-paced, and drug-fueled way of life” not lengthy after she met him, and signed her to his label in 2005 when she was simply 19 and he was 37.Ms Ventura mentioned that the sample of abuse started as quickly as their relationship began and that, as she was making an attempt to finish it in 2018, he compelled himself into her Los Angeles residence and raped her.The lawsuit towards Combs was settled a day after she filed it for an undisclosed sum of money.Ms Ventura advised CNN she had chosen to “resolve this matter amicably,” whereas Combs’ lawyer mentioned the settlement was “by no means an admission of wrongdoing” and didn’t change his denial of the allegations.Cassie (left) and Sean “Diddy” Combs on the 2017 Met Gala. Cassie filed a lawsuit in 2023 alleging that she was trafficked, raped and crushed by Combs on many events over the course of 10 years (Getty Photos)Her accusations towards Combs had been introduced via the New York Grownup Survivors Act (ASA), which expired at midnight on 23 November 2023.The act supplied survivors a one-year window to pursue civil litigation no matter when the abuse occurred, that means incidents from many years had been lastly dropped at mild.Greater than 2,500 instances had been filed beneath the ASA earlier than its expiry at midnight on 23 November 2023, court docket information despatched to The Impartial confirmed.Survivors introduced lawsuits towards a few of the state’s strongest males, together with main gamers in leisure, similar to Invoice Cosby, Harvey Weinstein, Axl Rose, and Combs.Rodney ‘Lil Rod’ JonesIn the latest lawsuit towards Combs, filed on 26 February 2024 in New York, producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, alleged he was “subjected to undesirable advances by associates of Diddy at his course” and that he was compelled to interact in relations with the intercourse employees Combs had employed.The producer, who labored for Combs between September 2022 and November 2023 claimed Combs sexually harassed, drugged and threatened him for greater than a 12 months.He mentioned he has video and audio proof of Combs, his employees and others “partaking in critical criminality.”The lawsuit additionally alleges that Combs often hosted “sex-trafficking events” with underage ladies and unlawful medicine, and implies report label executives who regarded the opposite approach financially benefited from entry to celebrities and dignitaries, together with the British royal Prince Harry.Prince Harry shouldn’t be accused of any wrongdoing or of attending events himself.Combs’s lawyer advised The Los Angeles Occasions that the lawsuit incorporates “reckless name-dropping about occasions which can be pure fiction and easily didn’t” happen.Ryan Mendelsohn, 20, who used to dwell within the space the place Combs’ Los Angeles property was searched, advised reporters he would see events on the residence and girls outdoors till 6am, which was not ordinary.“I drive by loads, and I see that — a variety of ladies, possibly 5 – 6 ladies outdoors, some leaving, some not, some entering into,” he mentioned, in keeping with NBC Information.“I by no means thought something of it,” Mr Mendelsohn, who added that he didn’t know Combs lived there till Monday’s information broke. “However now, it’s loopy.”Joie Dickerson-NealIn November 2023, Joie Dickerson-Neal filed a lawsuit alleging that Combs drugged her, sexually assaulted her and secretly recorded the assault whereas she was a school pupil in 1991, NBC Information reported, citing the submitting.She claimed that Combs pushed her to go to dinner with him and he or she agreed “reluctantly” on 3 January 1991, which is when she alleges she was drugged, “leading to her being in a bodily state the place she couldn’t independently stand or stroll,” the BBC reported.The swimsuit additionally claims he recorded the assault and confirmed it to different individuals.She later filed police reviews in New York and New Jersey, spoke to prosecutors, however was advised by colleagues they had been “terrified that Combs would retaliate towards them and that they might lose future enterprise and music alternatives in the event that they made an announcement in help of” her, NBC Information reported, citing the lawsuit.Extra ladies come forwardSince November, three extra ladies have come ahead with lawsuits within the Southern District of New York alleging that they had been sexually assaulted by Combs, in keeping with NBC Information. Two of the ladies mentioned they had been youngsters on the time of the alleged assaults.Nameless PlaintiffIn November, an nameless plaintiff accused Combs and singer-songwriter Aaron Corridor of raping her and a good friend in 1990 or 1991 after assembly at an MCA Data occasion in New York, the place the singers “had been very flirtatious and handsy” and supplied them drinks, Rolling Stone reported.The swimsuit alleges that Combs and Corridor invited the ladies to Corridor’s condominium for an afterparty the place the plaintiff “was supplied extra drinks and was coerced into having intercourse with Combs,” and was “shocked and traumatized” afterwards, earlier than “Corridor barged into the room, pinned her down and compelled Jane Doe to have intercourse with him,” in keeping with Rolling Stone.After she spoke to her good friend, the plaintiff allegedly discovered she had additionally “been compelled to have intercourse with Combs and Corridor in one other room,” in keeping with the swimsuit.Just a few days later, Combs allegedly visited the plaintiff and her good friend at a house the place they had been staying, the place he grew to become “irate and started assaulting and choking Jane Doe to the purpose that she handed out,” the lawsuit alleges.Unnamed Accuser ‘Jane Doe’In December, Combs was hit with one other lawsuit which claimed he had drugged and gang-raped a 17-year-old woman in 2003.The plaintiff, recognized as Jane Doe, accused Combs of plying her with medicine and alcohol at his New York studio after which raping her together with two associates.The swimsuit accused Combs of a “intercourse trafficking scheme,” by which Jane Doe was flown by personal jet from her residence in Michigan to New York.Combs’s response to allegationsSean Combs has strongly denied all of the accusations towards him and vowed to “struggle for my title, my household and for the reality.”In an announcement in December, following the lawsuit introduced by Jane Doe, he referred to as the claims “sickening” and mentioned his accusers had been “on the lookout for a fast payday”.“Let me be completely clear: I didn’t do any of the terrible issues being alleged,” he mentioned in an announcement. “I’ll struggle for my title, my household and for the reality.”Combs’ lawyer, Shawn Holley, branded the occasions described within the lawsuit as “pure fiction”.Usher reveals what he noticed at Diddy’s residence when he was 13“We now have overwhelming, indeniable proof that his claims are full lies,” he mentioned. “We are going to handle these outlandish allegations in court docket and take all applicable motion towards those that make them.”Following the settlement with Ventura, Ben Brafman, one other lawyer for Combs, advised The Impartial: “Simply so we’re clear, a choice to settle a lawsuit, particularly in 2023, is by no means an admission of wrongdoing.“Mr. Combs’ choice to settle the lawsuit doesn’t in any approach undermine his flat-out denial of the claims.“He’s comfortable they acquired to a mutual settlement and needs Ms Ventura the most effective.”