A former model accused Sean “Diddy” Combs of sexual assault in a new lawsuit filed Tuesday in New York.
The lawsuit alleges that in 2003, Combs assaulted model Crystal McKinney in his music studio after a dinner at Men's Fashion Week.
According to the lawsuit, Combs invited McKinney, then 22, to the New York City space, where he and a group of men drank alcohol and smoked marijuana. McKinney said he was offered a joint, which he later came to believe had been laced with a “narcotic or other intoxicating substance.”
After she “insisted that she had had enough,” he said, Combs pressured her to continue drinking and smoking and “demanded” that she follow him to the bathroom.
There, the lawsuit alleges, Combs “forced himself” on McKinney, kissing her without her consent and pushing her head into his crotch. Despite her refusal, she said, he then forced her to perform oral sex on him.
Combs then took McKinney back to the studio, where he passed out, according to the lawsuit. When she woke up, she was alone in a taxi heading back to the home of an anonymous fashion designer who had introduced McKinney and Combs earlier that night. McKinney said she realized she had been assaulted once she regained consciousness.
McKinney's lawyers were not immediately available to clarify whether her discovery was due to the allegations of forced oral sex or some other event that occurred while she was unconscious.
Combs faces multiple sexual assault allegations dating back decades. He is also the subject of a federal investigation into allegations of sex trafficking. His representatives did not immediately respond to The Times' request for comment.
McKinney's lawsuit comes days after surveillance video from 2016 showed Combs hitting his ex-girlfriend, R&B singer Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura, who filed a lawsuit against Combs in November accusing him of rape. That lawsuit was quickly settled, but Combs has since denied the allegations.
In a video posted Saturday, Combs apologized for his actions caught on camera.
“It's very difficult to reflect on the darkest moments in life, but sometimes you have to do it,” Combs saying in its Apology from Instagram. “I was screwed, I hit rock bottom, but I don't make excuses. My behavior in that video is inexcusable. “I take full responsibility for my actions in that video.”
According to McKinney's lawsuit, the former model felt a “moral obligation” to come forward with her story after Ventura and four others accused Combs of sexual misconduct.
After the alleged sexual assault, McKinney said, she was “shut out” of the modeling industry, experienced anxiety and depression and, in 2004, attempted suicide.
“Combs' attack has altered the trajectory of [McKinney’s] race,” the lawsuit states. “For this day, [McKinney] “She faces bouts of depression, anxiety, body image issues, feelings of worthlessness, and intimacy issues due to Combs' assault.”
The lawsuit also names Combs' companies, Bad Boy Records and Sean John Clothing, and music label Universal Music, as defendants, saying they had enabled Combs' alleged behavior.
