Diddy and his former bodyguard, Joseph Sherman, are facing new sexual assault allegations as detailed in a lawsuit filed on Tuesday, September 24, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York. The lawsuit, obtained by PEOPLE, was brought forth by a woman named Thalia Graves, who claims that Combs and Sherman brutally raped her vaginally and anally in the summer of 2001 at the Bad Boy Records studio in New York City before selling the footage as pornography.
According to the complaint, Graves alleges that the assault was recorded on video, and she has since struggled with suicidal thoughts. Graves, who was 25 at the time and dating one of Combs’ employees, says that Combs exploited her relationship to lure her into a private meeting with him and Sherman. Once isolated, the two allegedly gave her a drink that was “likely laced with a drug,” causing her to lose consciousness, reports PEOPLE. When she awoke, she found herself bound and restrained and alleges that she was raped both anally and vaginally by Combs and Sherman.
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Graves claims she did not report the incident due to fear of retaliation and says she’s suffered for years from depression and anxiety, and states her trauma intensified in November 2023 when she discovered that the assault had been recorded and allegedly shared by Combs and Sherman over the years, possibly sold as pornography. The lawsuit further alleges that during the assault, when Graves regained consciousness and screamed, Sherman violently slammed her face down onto what appeared to be a pool table, reports PEOPLE.
TMZ reports that Graves is going after Diddy, Sherman and Bad Boy for damages and she’s being repped by Gloria Allred, who held a press conference with Graves. During the press conference, an emotional Graves described the alleged incident as a “pain that enters the very core of who you are.”
“Some of the hardest parts of this pain are the shame and the guilt that I have experienced,” said the accuser.
As previously reported, Diddy is already being held at the federal Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn after being arrested on September 16, where he was charged with sex trafficking, racketeering, and transportation to engage in prostitution. Despite pleading not guilty, he has been denied bail twice.
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