An eighth person has filed a lawsuit against Sean “Diddy” Combs, accusing the embattled tycoon of sexual assault, battery, negligent infliction of emotional distress and gender violation victimization, according to court documents reviewed by The Times protector law.
Attorneys for April Lampros, the seventh person to accuse Combs of sexual assault in recent months, filed the lawsuit in New York on Thursday. She also sued Bad Boy Records and Arista Records, a subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment, accusing them of condoning Combs’ conduct.
His representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The New York Times on Friday.
Lampros said in the lawsuit that she had “four horrific sexual encounters” with Combs in the mid-1990s and early 2000s. The lawsuit alleges that she was discouraged from talking about her relationship with Combs because “he didn’t want anyone to know he was dating her because she was a white woman.”
The lawsuit alleges that Lampros met Combs in early 1994 when she was a student at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology. After learning of her interest in the fashion industry, Combs offered to mentor her and promised a job.
She claimed that Combs “love bombed” her by repeatedly sending her gifts and flowers and inviting her to events. The lawsuit alleges that these “kind gestures” then turned into an “aggressive, coercive and abusive relationship based on sex.”
The lawsuit alleges that in 1995, Lampros met Combs and an unnamed woman at a bar in New York’s SoHo neighborhood. Everyone had been “drinking a little bit” throughout the evening, and Lampros said she felt pressured to do so because of Combs’ “delusions and violent outbursts.”
Lampros said in the filing that after “a few sips of alcohol,” she “began to feel uneasy.” The group left the bar and headed to the Millennium Hotel, where Combs allegedly “forced himself on top of her.”
Despite her pleas, Combs raped Lampros, the lawsuit states. The next morning, she was allegedly “naked, sore and confused” and quickly left the building.
The lawsuit alleges that Combs used his influence in the music industry to “lure” Lampros back. The second incident allegedly occurred months later in a parking lot near Combs’ Manhattan apartment, where the “somewhat drunk” tycoon forced Lampros to his knees, the lawsuit said.
Combs “quickly unzipped his pants” and asked Lampros to perform oral sex on him as the parking attendant watched nearby, the lawsuit states. When Lampros tried to distance himself from Combs, he “immediately changed his attitude and became angry, threatening and forceful,” the report said.
“She felt that if she did not obey him, he would deprive her of her dream of pursuing a career in the world,” the lawsuit states. “Mr. Combs also threatened to have her arrested if she tried to upset him in any way. Be included in the industry blacklist.
In 1996, Combs “forced” Lampros and one of his ex-girlfriends, Kim Porter, to swallow ecstasy after a night out drinking. He then “required” Porter to have sex with Lampros, the lawsuit states. (Porter died of pneumonia in 2018.)
“Multiple Sclerosis.” The documents say Lampros knew she had to comply because she witnessed firsthand what happened to people who resisted Mr. Combs. The lawsuit says Mr. Combs allegedly masturbated while watching the women and then Raped Lampros.
Lampros said she severed ties with Combs around 1998 because she “had enough pain.” The two met at a Rockefeller Center event in late 2000 or early 2001, where he told her he missed her. At the time, Combs was dating Jennifer Lopez, who is now married to Ben Affleck.
Combs allegedly called Lampros multiple times that day and invited her to his apartment. The communication continued days later, leading Lampros to “reluctantly and regretfully” invite Combs to her apartment “to hear what he had to say,” the document said. At the apartment, Lampros said, Combs apologized for his past behavior and then made sexual advances, which she rejected.
Combs “violently grabbed” Lampros “out of nowhere” and “touched her against her will,” the lawsuit states. Lampros said she fought him off and ordered him to leave, speaking loudly so guards outside the door could hear.
“I believe justice will prevail and the veil will be lifted so that no other woman has to endure what I did,” Lampros told CNN in a statement Thursday.
In a lawsuit filed earlier this week, former model Crystal McKinney also accused Combs of sexual assault. In addition to numerous sexual assault allegations dating back decades, Coombs is at the center of a federal investigation into sex trafficking charges.
Combs issued a public apology on Sunday after CNN last week released footage of Combs violently attacking her ex-boyfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura in a Century City hotel in 2016. Ventura accused Combs of sexual assault and other charges in a civil lawsuit last year.
The pair reached a settlement a day later, which Combs’ attorney said did not constitute an admission of wrongdoing.
