DIDDY and his bodyguard threatened to ruin a victim’s life if she spoke out after they allegedly drugged and raped her, a new lawsuit claims.
The disgraced rapper was arrested last week and has been charged with sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution and is currently held in a New York prison.
The rapper has also faced a dozen other civil lawsuits that allege similar behavior to the criminal charges.
Thalia Graves has now filed a lawsuit against the music mogul, accusing him of sexual and physical abuse in 2001.
She alleges Diddy and Joseph Sherman, his former head of security, bound her and then violently raped her after she was knocked out by a drugged glass of wine.
Following the brutal attack, Graves said the pair allegedly threatened to “use their power to ruin her life” if she told anyone of the attack.
In her complaint, Graves claims the attack happened at the star’s recording studio in New York.
Graves, who was 25 at the time of the alleged assault, said the attack happened after she had been “lured” into a meeting with Diddy.
Her boyfriend worked for Diddy at the time, with Graves accusing the rapper of “exploiting” the relationship.
She claims Diddy personally called her “concerning her boyfriend’s employment at Bad Boys” and asked to speak in person.
Graves said when she met Diddy, she was given a glass of wine, which made her feel “dizzy” and eventually knocked her out.
When she woke, she said she found she was bound and surrounded by Diddy and Sherman.
The lawsuit claims: “Plaintiff was unable to move, totally overpowered physically, in addition to being drugged and bound.”
She alleges that the two violently raped her and physically assaulted her, leading to injuries.
At a press conference Tuesday, Graves said through tears: “The trauma of the assault has taken a toll on my mental health.
“I’ve had PTSD, depression and anxiety. I’m emotionally scarred, it has been hard for me to trust others, to form healthy relationships, or even feel safe in my own skin.
“I’m glad that he is locked up but that is a temporary feeling of relief.”
Graves said she learned from the now ex-boyfriend in 2023 that the pair had recorded the assault and showed the video to people for years.
The complaint alleges that Diddy and Sherman also may have “sold the video as pornography.”
Diddy’s lawyer has been approached for comment.
Graves’ lawsuit is at least the 12th lawsuit to be filed against the disgraced rapper with allegations of rape and sexual or physical assault.
Sherman said in an interview that he stopped working with Bad Boy in 1999 and had “nothing to do” with Diddy by 2001.
The New York Times reported, he said. “I categorically — a trillion times — deny it.
“Not only do I deny it, I don’t know who she is. I’ve never seen this woman.”
On Wednesday, Sherman responded to Graves’ lawsuit and vehemently denied the accusations, saying he was not working for Combs at the time the alleged rape took place.
“These claims are completely untrue, and Mr. Sherman is committed to clearing his name and protecting his reputation,” a statement shared by Sherman on Instagram read.
“At the time of the alleged incident, Mr. Sherman was not employed by Mr. Combs and has never had any interaction with the accuser.
“Throughout his career, Mr. Sherman has upheld a reputation of professionalism and integrity, and he refuses to be associated with this fabricated story or this clear attempt at a money grab.”
Joseph Sherman, Diddy's former bodyguard, full response to latest lawsuit
Statement from Joseph Sherman's legal team:
“Joseph Sherman, a respected figure in the entertainment industry and former celebrity bodyguard, vehemently denies the false and baseless accusations made against him in connection with Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs and an alleged incident in 2001.
“These claims are completely untrue, and Mr. Sherman is committed to clearing his name and protecting his reputation. At the time of the alleged incident, Mr. Sherman was not employed by Mr. Combs and has never had any interaction with the accuser.
“Throughout his career, Mr. Sherman has upheld a reputation of professionalism and integrity, and he refuses to be associated with this fabricated story or this clear attempt at a money grab.”
Sherman’s comments on the lawsuit he’s named in, “These accusations are not only false but damaging to my character. I have never met the accuser, and I was not working with Sean Combs during the time in question. I will be pursuing legal action to address this defamation and protect my name.”
Statement from Sherman’s attorney, “We stand by Mr. Sherman’s innocence and are taking swift legal action to address this fraudulent claim. This false accusation is clearly an attempt to exploit the current situation involving Mr. Combs.
“We are pursuing a defamation lawsuit against all parties involved in these allegations and will ensure that Mr. Sherman’s rights are fully protected under the law.”
Sherman called the accusations “false and a damage to his character.”
“I have never met the accuser, and I was not working with Sean Combs during the time in question,” Sherman said in the statement.
“I will be pursuing legal action to address this defamation and protect my name.”
Sherman’s attorney called the suit a “clear attempt to exploit the current situation involving Mr. Combs.”
Diddy is currently being held in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center and is refusing to eat, a former inmate claims.
A former bodyguard has also claimed the accused rapper kept Jeffrey Epstein-style tapes of his ‘Freak Off’ parties.
Diddy is accused of inducing female victims and sex workers into drugged-up, days-long sex parties.
Some women reportedly had to be strapped up to IV drips following the sex sessions to recover, according to prosecutors.
Recent lawsuits against Sean 'Diddy' Combs
Diddy was hit with a wave of lawsuits in late 2023 and 2024 with allegations of sex trafficking and sexual assault. He has denied all claims against him.
- November 17, 2023: Cassie, Diddy’s longtime girlfriend, sued him, claiming she endured “a cycle of abuse, violence, and sex trafficking” until their relationship ended in 2018. Diddy and Cassie settled the suit the day after it was filed.
- Diddy was hit with two more lawsuits a week after he settled with Cassie.
- November 23, 2023: Joi Dickerson accused Diddy of drugging and raping her and filming the attack when she was a 19-year-old college student in January 1991.
- November 24, 2023: A second unidentified accuser in a separate lawsuit claimed that Diddy and another man sexually assaulted her and a friend in 1990 or 1991, then showed up at her apartment and beat her several days later.
- December 6, 2023: Diddy was sued again by an unidentified woman who claimed he and two men gang-raped her in 2003 when she was 17 years old.
- February 26, 2024: Rodney ‘Lil Rod’ Jones, who helped produce Diddy’s most recent album, claimed that the mogul sexually harassed, drugged, and threatened him from September 2022 to November 2023 as they worked together.
- May 21, 2024: Model Crystal McKinney accused Combs of sexually assaulting her after meeting at a Men’s Fashion Week event in New York City in 2003. McKinney claims she was drinking alcohol and smoking weed with Combs and several of his colleagues when she took a hit off a joint that she claims was laced with another drug. McKinney claims she felt woozy, and Combs ordered her to the bathroom, where he allegedly forced her to perform oral sex on him.
- May 23, 2024: April Lampros, 51, claimed in her lawsuit that she met Sean Combs in New York City in 1994 while attending the Fashion Institute of Technology. Combs is accused of drugging and raping Lampros in a hotel after promising to help mentor her in the fashion industry.
- July 3, 2024: Adria English, an ex-porn star who went by Omunique, accused Diddy of grooming her into sex trafficking in the early 2000s, according to TMZ.
