Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs has filed a motion to dismiss a $30m lawsuit filed by record producer Rodney ‘Lil Rod’ Jones, who sued him for constant groping and a possible drug-induced rape.
Jones filed suit in February – just weeks before two of Combs’ homes were raided by federal agents amid a sex trafficking probe.
Jones claimed he was ordered to recruit prostitutes and have sex with them for the star’s pleasure, and has hundreds of hours of video documenting Combs’s ‘serious illegal activity’. Diddy has denied all allegations of wrongdoing.
At that time, the embattled hip-hop star was already facing lawsuits from three women and had lost a host of commercial deals in the wake of the claims.
Now Combs, 54, has fired back at Jones’ second amended lawsuit in new court documents filed in Manhattan Federal Court Monday and obtained by DailyMail.com – accusing him of ‘exploiting’ the star for money.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs has filed a motion to dismiss a $30m lawsuit filed by record producer Rodney ‘Lil Rod’ Jones, who sued him for constant groping and a possible drug-induced rape
Jones filed suit in February – just weeks before two of Combs’ homes were raided by federal agents amid a sex trafficking probe. Jones claimed he was ordered to recruit prostitutes and have sex with them for the star’s pleasure
The filing reads: ‘Jones’ Second Amended Complaint is his third attempt to dress up a run of the mill commercial disagreement as a salacious RICO [Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act] conspiracy.
‘Running to nearly 100 pages, it includes countless tall tales, shameless celebrity namedrops, and irrelevant images. Yet, despite all its hyperbole and lurid theatrics, the SAC fails to state a single viable claim against any of the Combs Defendants.
‘Replete with legally meaningless allegations and blatant falsehoods, the SAC’s [Second Amended Complaint] true purpose is to generate media hype and exploit it to extract a settlement—no surprise, given that his attorney was recently referred to this Court’s Grievance Committee for engaging in a ‘pattern’ of ‘improperly fil[ing] cases in federal court to garner media attention, embarrass defendants with salacious allegations, and pressure defendants to settle quickly.’
The documents also claim Jones posted a video laughing about the lawsuit and joking about money Diddy would have to pay him.
‘Taking a page from his lawyer’s playbook, Jones recently posted a video on the ‘X’ platform in which he, together with a performer known as ‘Uncle Murda,’ laughed about this lawsuit (despite his allegations of ‘severe emotional distress’), demanded Mr. Combs pay him ‘that money by Monday,’ and warned: ‘I’m from Chicago, we don’t play about our business.’
In his lawsuit, Jones claims he was subjected to a year of grooming and abuse
‘Like the SAC, Jones’ videotaped threats on social media are part of a calculated effort to promote his personal brand and profit from the exposure. Such tactics have no place in federal court.’
Combs’ Lawyer, Erica Wolff said: ‘Mr. Jones’s lawsuit is pure fiction — a shameless attempt to create media hype and extract a quick settlement.
‘There was no RICO conspiracy and Mr. Jones was not threatened, groomed, assaulted, or trafficked. We look forward to proving – in a court of law – that all of Mr. Jones’s claims are made-up and must be dismissed.’
Diddy shot back at Jones’ claims his ‘business or property’ was hurt due to non-payment for services he performed on Diddy’s 2023 The Love Album: Off The Grid – saying he failed to prove this under the RICO Act.
The documents also allege Jones never offered a primary claim under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 – showing that he was forced to commit a sex act in exchange for something of value, or fall victim to any such act.
Diddy also claims Jones failed to provide details describing the alleged sexual assault claims and sexual harassment claims he made against the star.
Regarding an argument over breach of oral contract, Diddy says that has run beyond the statute of limitations.
Jones’ attorney Tyrone Blackburn told TMZ: ‘This is clearly a billing exercise by Combs’ latest set of attorneys, who are late to the game and are attempting to fill their pockets with this Hail Mary motion to dismiss before their client is indicted.’
Diddy denies causing Jones emotional distress and says he ‘failed to show [Combs] exercised control over premises where third parties committed alleged assaults.
In April Combs’ legal team sought to throw Jones’ credibility into question by unearthing the accuser’s own past interactions with the criminal justice system.
Combs’ attorneys pointed out that Jones was convicted of a reckless homicide in 2003, and that he has faced multiple assault charges that were later dismissed.
Combs was sued November 16 by his ex-girlfriend, the singer Cassie, who accused him of rape and physical abuse before the case was settled out of court
Blackburn sprung to his client’s defense, responding to the assault claims by reminding Page Six that ‘a charge is not a conviction.’
He then explained the homicide by saying Jones accidentally ‘totaled’ a car while driving, tragically killing his cousin and ‘best friend,’ who was seated beside him.
Court documents obtained by Page Six indicated that Jones faced a misdemeanor sexual assault charge in 2006, followed by domestic assault charges in 2009 and 2014 – but that in all cases the charges were ultimately dismissed.
Confronted with the information about the assault cases, Blackburn retorted: ‘I am sure you know that a charge is not a conviction.’
With regard to the conviction that did occur, Blackburn said: ‘Mr. Jones’ July 2003 reckless homicide occurred when he was 17 years old.’
Jones’ attorney continued: ‘He was driving a vehicle with his cousin in the passenger seat. The police pulled him over, but he was afraid and drove off. It was pretty typical behavior for a young black boy in Chicago when pulled over by the police. As a result, he totaled the vehicle, and his cousin, who was his best friend, died.’
Blackburn asserted that Jones pled guilty, being without ‘adequate legal representation,’ and added that his client ‘has to live with the guilt of the death of his best friend and family member for the rest of his life.’
Jones has named some of the industry’s biggest names as co-defendants in the $30 million suit, claiming record boss Ethiopia Habtemariam dismissed Combs’s groping as ‘friendly horseplay’, and his way of ‘showing that he likes you’.
Combs has denied the existing allegations against him, calling them ‘sickening’, and his lawyer dismissed Jones’s claims as ‘pure fiction’.
‘Lil Rod is nothing more than a liar who filed a $30 billion lawsuit shamelessly looking for an undeserved payday,’ attorney Shawn Holley told TMZ.
‘His reckless name-dropping about events that are pure fiction and simply did not happen is nothing more than a transparent attempt to garner headlines.
‘We have overwhelming, indisputable proof that his claims are complete lies. Our attempts to share this proof with Mr Jones’ attorney, Tyrone Blackburn, have been ignored, as Mr Blackburn refuses to return our calls.’
Combs recruited Jones in August 2022 to produce some of the songs on the R&B album ‘The Love Album: Off the Grid’ which was nominated for a Grammy after its release in September 2023.
‘Mr Jones agreed, and his life has been detrimentally impacted ever since,’ the lawsuit claims.
For more than a year he endured ‘constant unsolicited and unauthorized groping and touching of his anus’, at Combs’ homes in Florida, Los Angeles and New York, as well as on a rented yacht in the US Virgin Islands, Jones asserted.
Combs introduced him to Cuba Gooding Jr on the yacht where the actor allegedly began ‘touching, groping, and fondling Mr Jones’s legs, his upper inner thighs near his groin, the small of his back near his buttocks and his shoulders’.
Sean ‘ Diddy ‘ Combs has denied gang-raping a 17-year-old girl in his Manhattan recording studio in 2003 while claiming a photograph of her sitting in his lap (pictured) ‘isn’t accurate’
Within an hour of December’s lawsuit being filed, Combs emphatically denied all accusations against him in a tweet that has already been viewed by hundreds of thousands of people
The star received the key to New York City alongside sons Quincy Brown and Justin Combs in Times Square in September last year
He claims he was also sexually assaulted by a female cousin of Combs’s girlfriend Yung Miami and forced to watch a video of record producer Stevie J having sex with another man.
Jones was required to work in Combs’ bathroom where the star would shower naked behind a glass screen, according to the lawsuit.
The producer alleges Combs boasted of having shot people and threatened to inflict bodily harm if Jones did not comply with his demands.
He says the ‘forceful and demanding’ star privately admitted involvement in a 1999 nightclub shooting that saw him acquitted of gun possession and bribery charges.
‘Mr Combs consistently made it clear that he has immense power in the music industry and with law enforcement,’ the lawsuit claims.
Jones claims that underage girls and sex workers were guests at the star’s house parties and that he saw the star drug their drinks.
He also claims he was ordered to Miami trawl bars and nightspots to recruit sex workers, and says he himself was drugged in February last year before he woke up naked, dizzy and confused in bed with Combs and two sex workers.
The suit was filed on Monday at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York three weeks after Jones launched a Gofundme appeal asking for money to sue the rapper for unpaid royalties.
‘For the better part of the past 6 months, my team and I have extended every opportunity we knew possible to have these matters addressed and resolved (fairly) but in private,’ he wrote.
‘However, Diddy’s negotiation tactics, to stall communications, dry out (my) funds, and have me negotiating out of desperation or without a real means of fighting back has forced me here!’
His lawsuit also names Combs’ son Justin, his chief of staff Kristina Khorram, and Universal Music Group CEO Sir Lucian Grange as defendants.
It accuses Khorram of ‘grooming’ him on Combs’s behalf and claims that Motown Records, Love Records and Universal Music Group comprised a ‘Rico enterprise’ that ‘failed to adequately monitor, warn or supervise’ Combs and his inner circle.
A spokesman for Justin Combs said he ‘categorically denies these absurd allegations’.
‘They are all lies!’ he added, ‘This is a clear example of a desperate person taking desperate measures in hopes of a pay day.’
Combs senior was forced to deny gang-raping a 17-year-old girl in his Manhattan recording studio, claiming a photograph of her sitting in his lap ‘isn’t accurate’.
His filing in the same New York court denies her claim that Combs, his longtime friend Harve Pierre and a third unidentified man flew her to his New York studio before plying her with ‘copious amounts of drugs and alcohol in 2003.
At that time that Jones filed suit, Combs had recently fortified his legal team with new lawyers, according to Rolling Stone.
They include Bobbi C Sternheim, who defended Ghislaine Maxwell, and Shawn Holley, who successfully got Dodgers pitcher Trevor Bauer reinstated with Major League Baseball amid sexual assault allegations.
Combs’ co-defendant Pierre also filed a denial saying he ‘never participated in the sexual assault of the plaintiff nor did he ever witness anyone else sexually assaulting the plaintiff’.
The anonymous accuser, now in her late 30s, has backed her bombshell claims with now-contested photographs of herself sitting on the I’ll Be Missing You singer’s lap and goofing around in his Manhattan studio.
After Ventura launched her lawsuit, Liza Gardner and Joie Dickerson-Neal also filed papers claiming the rapper sexually assaulted them in the early 1990s.
Combs sent out a tweet denying the accusations in December and saying that all allegations made against him are from people ‘looking for a quick payday’.
The star stepped down as chairman of Revolt TV in November and saw Hulu scrap a planned reality TV show that would have featured his family, in December.
Jones’s suit was filed on Monday at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York three weeks after Jones launched a Gofundme appeal asking for money to sue the rapper for unpaid royalties
In January he withdrew his lawsuit against drinks giant Diageo which he had accused of racism over its treatment of his sponsorship deal.
Shortly thereafter, thereafter he skipped the Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles despite being nominated for the first time in 20 years in the best progressive R&B Album category for the album that Jones helped produce.
He has never been convicted, and recently settled a bombshell rape lawsuit brought by his ex-girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie – just one day after it was filed.
In December he issued a statement denying the allegations against him, saying ‘enough is enough’. ‘Let me be absolutely clear: I did not do any of the awful things being alleged. I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth,’ he added.
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