When singer Casandra Ventura filed a lawsuit final yr accusing Sean “Diddy” Combs of attacking and raping her, the music legend’s attorneys have been fast to disclaim the costs.
Her swimsuit, one Combs lawyer mentioned, was “riddled with baseless and outrageous lies, aiming to tarnish Mr. Combs’ status and in search of a payday.” He added that Combs “vehemently denies these offensive and outrageous allegations.”
However after a stunning video emerged Friday exhibiting Combs attacking Ventura in 2016, Combs on Sunday posted a video admitting to the violence and apologizing.
“I take full duty for my actions in that video. I’m disgusted. I used to be disgusted then once I did it. I’m disgusted now,” he mentioned.
Combs mentioned that after the assault, he sought rehab and counseling, including: “My conduct on that video is inexcusable.”
Combs, who has confronted a number of allegations of abusive conduct towards girls and is now the topic of a federal intercourse trafficking investigation, didn’t handle why his authorized staff had beforehand denied the abuse claims by Ventura. Additionally it is unclear precisely when the video, first aired by CNN, surfaced.
However an lawyer for Ventura, who performs beneath the title Cassie, was fast to level out the inconsistencies in slamming Combs’ apology.
“When Cassie and different a number of girls got here ahead, he denied every thing and advised that his victims have been on the lookout for a payday,” Meredith Firetog mentioned in a press release. “That he was solely compelled to ‘apologize’ as soon as his repeated denials have been confirmed false exhibits his pathetic desperation, and nobody might be swayed by his disingenuous phrases.”
Some authorized specialists additionally say the contradictions are regarding.
“Any apology wanted to be detailed sufficient for the general public to realize some perception into why he behaved so violently within the first place, and why, after attending counseling and fascinating in years of self-reflection, he continued to disclaim assaulting Cassie,” mentioned Meghan Blanco, an Orange County protection lawyer who has expertise with federal intercourse offense instances, mentioned. “This fell far in need of that.”
The recording of the assault, dated March 5, 2016, exhibits Ventura in a hoodie and carrying a duffel bag, strolling in a lodge hallway towards an elevator. Combs may be seen operating down the identical hallway, shirtless and holding a towel round his waist.
The lawsuit mentioned the violence occurred on the InterContinental lodge in Century Metropolis. After Combs fell asleep, Ventura tried to go away the room, the lawsuit said, however he awoke and “started screaming” at her.
“He adopted her into the hallway of the lodge whereas yelling at her,” the grievance mentioned. “He grabbed at her, after which took glass vases within the hallway and threw them at her, inflicting glass to crash round them as she ran to the elevator to flee.”
Safety video captured from one other angle exhibits Combs grabbing Ventura’s head and throwing her on the bottom, the place he kicks her a number of occasions. He can be seen selecting up her luggage and making an attempt to pull her again to the primary hallway.
The footage additionally exhibits Ventura utilizing a lodge telephone by the elevators, in addition to Combs going again to his lodge room after which individually seemingly shoving Ventura right into a nook.
Ventura additionally accused Combs in her lawsuit of raping her, forcing her to interact in intercourse acts with male intercourse staff and introducing her to “a life-style of extreme alcohol and substance abuse” that required her “to acquire illicit prescriptions to fulfill his personal addictions.”
Three different girls have filed civil lawsuits in opposition to Combs, who has denied any wrongdoing within the instances. The fits have been filed beneath the Grownup Survivors Act, a regulation that went into impact in November 2022 in New York that provides people who consider they have been sexually assaulted a one-year window throughout which they will sue their abusers, even when the statute of limitations for prosecuting the underlying alleged crimes had expired.
Legislation enforcement sources who weren’t licensed to talk publicly advised The Instances that Combs is the topic of a sweeping inquiry into sex-trafficking allegations that resulted in a federal raid in March at his estates in Los Angeles and Miami. Combs has not been charged with any crime and has denied any wrongdoing.
