Sean “Diddy” Combs Accused Of Rape For The 11th Time
Warning: This article contains graphic details of sexual assault.
A woman named Thalia Graves has come forward as the 11th person to accuse Sean Combs, known as “Diddy,” of rape.
In a newly filed lawsuit from Tuesday (Sept. 24), Graves claims Combs and his former bodyguard, Joseph Sherman aka Big Joe, “drugged, bound, and raped her” in Combs’ notorious Daddy’s House recording studio in New York City in 2001. She later was made aware that the alleged rape was filmed and allegedly sold as pornography.
The alleged victim met Combs in late 1999 through her then-boyfriend, who was an executive at Bad Boy Records. He wasn’t named in the filing. Graves frequently attended events hosted at Combs’ homes because of her boyfriend’s role in the company and often visited him at the Daddy’s House studio. However, things worsened when she allegedly received a call from Combs directly, who wanted to meet and “discuss her boyfriend’s supposed performance issues.”
In an effort to help her boyfriend, she agreed to meet Combs. The lawsuit reads, “It was evidently a sick and twisted way of using his ownership of and title at Bad Boy and its affiliate entities to abuse Plaintiff and also show his power and ability to humiliate her boyfriend, his executive.”
Combs arrived at her home to drive her to the studio and offered her a glass of wine, while en route, that immediately made her feel “lightheaded, dizzy, and physically weak.” By the time they arrived, Graves claims she had difficulty walking and later lost consciousness.
“In retrospect, it is clear that Combs had caused a drug to be put into Plaintiff’s drink, as a few sips of wine had never impacted her that way,” the lawsuit continued. When she regained consciousness, Graves claims she was “naked with her hands tied behind her back with what felt like a plastic grocery bag.” She shouted for help and Sherman allegedly slammed her face down into a pool table.
The lawsuit read, “Shortly thereafter, Combs entered the room naked. He then bent [Graves] over the table causing her feet to dangle above the floor, forcefully held her down, and anally penetrated her without her consent … [Graves] was unable to move, totally overpowered physically, in addition to being drugged and bound.” She claimed she screamed out in pain, but was ignored and Combs continued the assault. Graves lost consciousness again and awoken to Sherman allegedly slapping her multiple times to force her to perform oral sex.”
Graves later allegedly woke up on a couch, naked and alone. She was in “intense pain and [had] burning sensations in her vagina and anus” with bruising on her face and wrists. She was driven to the hospital by a family friend, who “tried to convince her to report the rape and get a rape kit, but she was unable to leave the car, ‘shaking and crying hysterically’ and terrified of what Combs would do to her and her family if she reported him,” the lawsuit added.
Her then-boyfriend discouraged her from reporting the assault, allegedly “telling her that it could negatively impact his own career.” In the years that followed, Graves has moved several times and claims that both Combs and Sherman threatened her to remain silent.
A few days after Cassie filed her sex trafficking and sexual abuse lawsuit against Combs back in November, Graves said that her ex-boyfriend told her Combs and Sherman filmed the alleged rape and had shown it to others. “He disclosed that Combs and Sherman had a pattern and practice of non-consensually recording women engaging in sexual acts and making those videos available to the public, including by selling tapes as pornography,” the lawsuit states.
After suffering from PTSD, severe depression, “suicidal ideation and intrusive thoughts, and [suicide attempts],” Graves is suing Combs, Sherman and eight of Combs’ companies under the New York City’s Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Act, as well as a state civil rights law for the alleged secret recording and distribution of the sex tape.
Graves’ lawsuit comes a week after Combs was arrested in New York and charged with sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy.