Sara Rivers, formerly Sara Stokes, has filed a $60 million lawsuit against Bad Boy Records founder Diddy, according to Rolling Stone.
On Friday (February 28), the ex-Da Band member launched legal action against Diddy just before New York City’s Gender Motivated Violence Act window closes. This law allows victims of gender-based violence to file civil suits against both their abusers and organizations that might have enabled the abuse.
According to People, the massive 148-page lawsuit also names over two dozen other defendants, including various Bad Boy executives and Diddy’s mother, Janice Combs. The complaint claims that Rivers, 47, suffered sexual harassment, assault, and was forced to work in “inhumane” conditions, all allegedly orchestrated by Diddy, whose legal name is Sean Combs. The music mogul has been locked up at Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since his arrest last September, and is currently awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking, racketeering, and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
In her complaint, Rivers makes several serious allegations, including that Diddy sexually assaulted her in a hallway where he got close enough to kiss her and touch her breast. The singer also claimed that Diddy made “physical threats to group members,” including threatening to “eat the face of one person and kill another.”
Other examples of alleged “aggressive and abusive behavior” included claims that Diddy controlled Rivers’ eating habits and sleep schedule, while making hurtful comments about her bulimia. The singer also pointed to MTB‘s infamous cheesecake episode as “uncompensated manual labor” and described herself as “the only individual who Defendant Diddy scrutinized in such a sexual and humiliating manner.”
Rivers further accused Diddy of forcing her to sign a $25,000 publishing contract and then blackballing her after Da Band broke up in 2004, just two years after they formed.
A spokesperson for Combs dismissed Rivers’ lawsuit as “yet another example of false claims” being made against their client.
“No matter how many lawsuits are filed, it won’t change the fact that Mr. Combs has never sexually assaulted or sex trafficked anyone—man or woman, adult or minor,” the rep said, according to People.
“We live in a world where anyone can file a lawsuit for any reason. With the deadline for New York’s Gender-Motivated Violence Act expiring tomorrow, it’s clear that opportunists are rushing to file last-minute, meritless claims. Mr. Combs remains confident he will prevail in court.”
The sexual assault allegations against Diddy have been mounting, with multiple lawsuits covering 30 years of alleged misconduct.
