Sean “Diddy” Combs defends himself against lawsuit filed by his former employee “Lil Rod”

Sean “Diddy” Combs is defending himself against a lawsuit filed against him by a former employee. He accuses the plaintiffs of trying to pressure him into a settlement by publishing offensive allegations.

NBC News has obtained a motion from the controversial star's lawyers to dismiss a lawsuit filed by attorney Tyrone Blackburn on behalf of his client, music producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones. The motion was filed Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Jones claimed in a lawsuit filed in February that Combs sexually harassed, drugged and threatened him while he worked for the mogul from September 2022 to November 2023. Jones is seeking $30 million in damages.

An amended complaint filed in March in Jones' case accused Combs of being part of a “RICO enterprise” and alleged he was involved in a “sex trafficking enterprise.” A RICO enterprise is an enterprise in which individuals or groups act together to violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, which targets organized crime.

The motion alleges that Jones' lawsuit is an attempt to “disguise a very ordinary commercial dispute as an offensive RICO conspiracy.” It claims that the complaint does not meet the criteria for a RICO case and that the lawsuit is inadmissible.

“It is almost 100 pages long and contains countless lies, shameless mentions of celebrities and irrelevant images,” the lawsuit states.

Jones was also accused of failing to provide specific instances and dates of alleged sexual harassment he suffered while working for Combs. The motion described Jones' allegations as vague.

Combs has denied Jones' allegations.

Blackburn said Monday that he had not yet had a chance to read the motion, but that the claims made by Combs' attorney in the motion described to him by NBC News were untrue.

“This is clearly a score-settling exercise by people who are late to the case and are trying to line their pockets before their client is charged,” Blackburn said.

“Mr. Jones' lawsuit is pure fiction – a shameless attempt to create a media frenzy and reach a quick settlement,” Combs' attorney Erica Wolff said in a statement Monday. “There was no RICO conspiracy and Mr. Jones was not threatened, manipulated, attacked or trafficked.”

“We look forward to proving in court that all of Mr. Jones' claims are fabricated and must be dismissed,” Wolff added.

Combs' lawyers wrote in their Monday motion that Jones' “true intent is to create a media frenzy and exploit that to reach a settlement.” They added that this was “no surprise” since Blackburn was referred to a grievance committee earlier this year.

A judge referred a complaint against Blackburn to the Southern District of New York Grievance Committee in April, the motion says, after what appeared to be a “pattern” of cases with obvious jurisdictional issues. The case in which the complaint arose had nothing to do with Combs.

According to an opinion from U.S. District Judge Denise Cote, Blackburn told the court that he conducted a database search that showed the defendant in this case had a New York address. The defendant did not live in that state.

But five other cases involving issues with Blackburn's jurisdiction prompted Cote to file the complaint.

“A reasonable conclusion from Blackburn's pattern of conduct is that he wrongfully files cases in federal court to attract media attention, embarrass defendants with offensive allegations, and pressure them into a quick settlement,” Cote wrote.

Blackburn told NBC News in April that no complaint had been filed against him. On Monday, he said Combs' lawyers were fixated on a quote from a motion in a completely different opinion in a different case.

“If you don't do any offensive shit, I don't have any offensive shit to submit,” Blackburn said.

Blackburn has filed three more lawsuits against Combs since last year.

The attorney also represents Liza Gardner, who claims Combs sexually abused her in 1990 or 1991, when she was 16. Gardner's case was originally filed in New York Supreme Court in November, but earlier this year the lawsuit was reinstated and refiled in New Jersey.

According to the refiled lawsuit, Gardner was transported by car from New York City to a New Jersey apartment where the alleged assault occurred. Combs has denied Gardner's allegations.

In May, Blackburn filed another lawsuit against Combs, alleging that his client, April Lampros, was sexually abused by the Grammy winner four times from 1994 to the early 2000s. Combs denied the allegations and also filed a motion to dismiss that lawsuit.

Combs was also named in a lawsuit Blackburn filed this year alleging that the rapper's son sexually assaulted a woman named Grace O'Marcaigh, who claimed she was working as a stewardess for Combs' New Year's Eve 2022 yacht party at the time of the assault.

In this case, although he is not accused of sexually assaulting O'Marcaigh, as the charterer of the yacht he is being sued for liability protection and aiding and abetting the alleged assault on his son.

A lawyer for Combs and his son called the lawsuit “offensive and without merit,” adding that it was “full of fabricated lies and irrelevant facts, as we have come to expect from Blackburn.”

In a lawsuit filed in November, Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura accused Combs of rape, sex trafficking and physical violence during their relationship, which lasted about 11 years. The lawsuit was settled the following day.

Combs denied the abuse in a statement through his then-attorney. But CNN released surveillance video in May showing Combs violently attacking Ventura in the hallway of a Los Angeles hotel in 2016.

Combs apologized on his Instagram page, saying he was disgusted with himself and described the situation as one of the “darkest” times of his life.

“My conduct in this video is inexcusable,” Combs said. “I take full responsibility for my conduct in this video.”

Combs is currently the subject of a federal investigation by the Southern District of New York. His homes in Los Angeles, Miami and New York were raided by federal agents from Homeland Security Investigations in March.

Two sources familiar with Combs' ongoing legal troubles confirmed to NBC News in July that a federal grand jury heard evidence as part of the investigation but no charges were filed against him. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney's Office declined to comment at the time and Combs' lawyers did not respond to a request for comment.

Combs is facing several lawsuits from other lawyers accusing him of physical and emotional abuse, which he denies.