Among legal filings in the criminal and civil complaints against hip hop performer and music executive Sean “P. Diddy” Combs are allegations involving a yacht excursion that took place in the U.S. Virgin Islands during the Christmas holiday in late 2022 and early 2023. Most of those allegations are found in a 98-page civil complaint filed by music producer and former business partner Rodney Jones prior to Combs’ arrest by federal authorities last month.
An indictment filed by the U.S. Attorney Damian Williams on Sept. 17 in the District Court for the Southern District of New York charged Combs with sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy. He is being held in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn pending trial. Civil lawsuits involving dozens of complainants preceded the criminal case.
Jones filed a $30 million lawsuit in February in Manhattan federal court against Combs and nine others, including his son Justin Dior Combs, actor Cuba Gooding Jr., and John and Jane Does 1-10. An amended complaint, filed in April, describes incidents involving sex abuse, threats and coercion.
“This litigation arises from or relates to the tortious activities the defendants visited upon Plaintiff Jones in New York, California, Florida, Saint Barthelemy, and the United States Virgin Islands. This tortious conduct violated United States Federal Rico Laws and the United States Victims (‘USVI’) of the Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 (‘TVPA’),” court documents say.
According to Jones’s complaint, the yacht trip involved copious amounts of illegal drugs, sex workers, drinks laced with drugs served to minors, and alleges that he was sexually assaulted by Gooding in January 2023 on the yacht rented by Combs in the USVI.
“Mr. Combs was present while Cuba Gooding Jr. was assaulting Mr. Jones. Mr. Jones was legally on the premises as a guest and invitee of Mr. Combs. Cuba Gooding Jr was legally on the premises as a guest and invitee of Mr. Combs. Mr. Combs owned (through renting) the premises and had dominion and control over the premises where Mr. Jones was harmed. Mr. Combs had dominion and control over the actions of Cuba Gooding Jr and failed to step in and stop Cuba Gooding Jr from sexually assaulting Mr. Jones,” the suit alleges.
As a result of that incident and others detailed in the suit that are alleged to have occurred on the mainland, Jones said he “has suffered and continues to suffer harm, including severe emotional distress, anxiety, and other consequential damages, for which he is entitled to an award of monetary damages and other relief,” the complaint states.
“In addition to violation of laws in the United States territory, Defendants Sean Combs, Love Records, Combs Enterprises, Justin Combs, Kristina Khorram, through her direct reports Frankie Santella, Moy Baun, and Brendan Paul’s actions, may have violated the laws of Saint-Barthélemy,” it says.
An incident with a similar description is also included in a lawsuit filed by a yacht crew member who accused one of Combs’s sons of sexually assaulting her while he was on board with his father and several guests in late 2022.
The suit also briefly mentions the Jeffrey Epstein criminal case, noting that Combs’s handlers and business partners “should have taken a que [sic]” from the multimillionaire’s arrest on sex trafficking charges in July 2019 — for crimes that also took place, in part, in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein maintained his primary residence.
Combs has filed a motion to dismiss the suit, which Jones has opposed. The defendants have until Oct. 18 to respond.
