Woman accuses Sean “Diddy” Combs and his bodyguard of drugging and assaulting her in 2001 and filming it

Editor’s note: This story contains graphic descriptions that some readers may find disturbing.

CNN
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A woman accused music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs and his bodyguard of drugging and assaulting her in 2001 and filming the attack, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court in New York.

Thalia Graves claimed she met Combs at age 25 through her boyfriend, who worked at Combs' record label, Bad Boy. Around the summer of 2001, while sitting in a car with Combs and Joseph Sherman, his bodyguard and head of security, she accepted his offer of a glass of wine and began to feel “lightheaded, dizzy and physically weak,” the lawsuit states.

She lost consciousness and later woke up naked in a Manhattan studio with her hands tied behind her back, the lawsuit says. Combs came into the room and raped her. When she tried to resist, he slammed her head into a pool table, the lawsuit says. Sherman sexually abused her as she repeatedly lost consciousness, the lawsuit says.

At a press conference on Tuesday with attorney Gloria Allred, Graves tearfully described how the alleged attack had damaged her physically and emotionally.

“The combination of physical and emotional pain has created a cycle of suffering that is so hard to break out of,” she said. “I want to continue on this path of recovery and healing. I'm glad it's locked up, but this is only a temporary feeling of relief.”

CNN has contacted representatives for Combs and Sherman for comment.

The lawsuit is the latest allegation of sexual battery against Combs and comes a week after he was charged with conspiracy to commit organized crime, sex trafficking and transportation for the purpose of prostitution. Combs, 54, has pleaded not guilty to the charges. He was released on bail and will remain in federal custody, a federal judge ruled.

The indictment accuses Combs of running a “criminal organization” with other partners and associates, of conducting drug-induced “freak offs” with victims and male sex workers, of identifying instances of physical and sexual abuse, and of finding weapons and a large collection of baby oil and lubricant during raids on his homes in March.

In addition, Diddy has been accused of a number of allegations of sexual misconduct and other illegal activities in ten civil lawsuits.

After the attack, Graves was in pain and distressed and was driven to a hospital by a chauffeur, the lawsuit says. However, she did not leave the car because she was “shaking and crying hysterically” and “afraid of what Combs would do to her and her family if she reported him,” the lawsuit says.

Due to the damage caused by the rape, Graves suffered from severe depression and post-traumatic stress disorder and attempted suicide, she claimed.

In November 2023, she learned from her ex-boyfriend that Combs and Sherman had recorded a video of the assault, released it and shown it to others, the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit accuses Combs, Sherman and companies affiliated with Combs of violating New York's Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Act. Combs and Sherman are accused of violating state civil rights laws and the city's code of conduct.

Combs was moved Monday to a dormitory-like room at Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center, which he now shares with former FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried and former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez. The facility's high-profile inmates remain in this larger detention unit, which is isolated from the public, and do not have access to the prison's common areas, a source told CNN.

This is a developing story and will be updated.