Multiple claims against Sean “Diddy” Combs in a $30 million lawsuit filed by music producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones were dismissed Monday, March 24, per reports.
In a February 2024 lawsuit, Jones accused the music mogul of sexual assault and sexual harassment, as well as drugging and threatening him, for over a year between September 2022 and November 2023. Diddy’s chief of staff, Kristina Khorram, his son Justin and his company, Combs Global, were also named defendants in the suit, among others. (Diddy denied the allegations at the time.)
In a court filing Monday, New York federal judge J. Paul Oetken dismissed five of the nine claims in Jones’ lawsuit, according to Rolling Stone, People and Variety, who obtained the court docs.
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Among the charges dismissed is a RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) claim, which the judge said did not apply to Jones’ claims that he wasn’t paid for his work on Diddy’s 2023 record, The Love Album: Off the Grid. “[Combs’] alleged refusal to honor the contract with Jones is not itself a RICO predicate act, even if the contract breach resulted from Jones’s refusal to participate in Combs’ alleged racketeering scheme,” the judge wrote, per Rolling Stone.
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The judge also dismissed claims of negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress and breach of contract. Diddy’s company, Combs Global, was dismissed from a charge claiming violation of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA). Trafficking claims against Diddy and Khorram were allowed to proceed. Sexual assault and premises liability claims against the defendants will also proceed.
“A win is a win. Playtime is over. Now, it is time for discovery,” Jones’ lawyer, Tyrone Blackburn, told Variety in a statement.
Us Weekly has reached out to Diddy’s representatives for comment.
In the February 2024 lawsuit, Jones alleged that Diddy sexually harassed and assaulted him while he lived with him at his homes in Florida, Los Angeles and New York, as well as on a yacht Diddy rented in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
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According to the court documents, the harassment and assault included “constant unsolicited and unauthorized groping and touching of his anus.”
At the time, Diddy’s attorney, Shawn Holley, denied the accusations against the star. “Lil Rod is nothing more than a liar who filed a $30 million lawsuit, shamelessly looking for an undeserved payday,” Holley said in a statement to Us. “His reckless name-dropping about events that are pure fiction and simply did not happen is nothing more than a transparent attempt to garner headlines.”
Diddy filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit in August 2024, a month before he was indicted on charges of sex trafficking, racketeering, conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution following an arrest in September 2024. He has denied all allegations against him and awaits a trial set for May 5.
For her part, Khorram last week denied claims that she “aided and abetted” Diddy’s alleged crimes. (In his lawsuit, Jones called Khorram the “Ghislaine Maxwell to Sean Combs’ Jeffrey Epstein.”)
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“For months, horrific accusations have been made about me in various lawsuits regarding my former boss,” Khorram said in a statement to Rolling Stone on March 18. “These false allegations of my involvement are causing irreparable and incalculable damage to my reputation and the emotional well-being of myself and my family. I have never condoned or aided and abetted the sexual assault of anyone. Nor have I ever drugged anyone.”
She continued, “The idea that I could be accused of playing a role in — or even being a bystander to — the rape of anyone is beyond upsetting, disturbing and unthinkable. That is not who I am, and my heart goes out to all victims of sexual assault. I am confident that the allegations against me will be proven to be untrue.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
Us Weekly
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