LA Reid, Russell Simmons, Suge Knight face legal battles of their own
Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial date set, could face life in prison
Fox News' Chanley Painter on Combs' trial date set for May 2025 and the lengthy prison time the artist is facing if found guilty.
As media mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs battles federal sex trafficking charges, his legal troubles continue to mount with nearly a dozen new civil lawsuits accusing him of bad behavior, including one filed Monday by a woman who said she was 13 at the time the Bad Boy founder and two other celebrities attacked her in a bedroom at an award show after-party.
The victim leveled her accusations in one of five new lawsuits against Combs, several of his companies and unnamed associates filed Sunday. According to her lawsuit, she felt "woozy and lightheaded" at a party following the Video Music Awards in 2000 and went to find an empty bedroom.
Then, she alleged, Combs came in "with a crazed look in his eyes" and raped her alongside an unnamed male celebrity as a female star, also unnamed, looked on. In another of the new lawsuits, Combs and an unnamed celebrity are accused of sexually assaulting a male fitness instructor after drugging him at another party in 2022.
The billionaire's legal team countered by asking a federal judge for a gag order limiting extrajudicial comments as new accusers continue to come forward in the weeks after his arrest.
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Russell Simmons, left, Steve Stoute, Jay-Z, Sean "Diddy" Combs and Andre Harrell are pictured in 2003. (Dimitrios Kambouris/WireImage for Bad Boy Entertainment)
Federal investigators arrested Combs last month on charges including racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking by force, coercion and transportation to engage in prostitution. He faces a minimum of 15 years behind bars and a maximum sentence of life in prison if found guilty.
The trafficking allegations surround what court documents describe as "freak off" parties so racy that investigators found 1,000 bottles of baby oil and personal lubricant in one of Combs' mansions and that alleged victims and attendees received IV treatments after the drug-fueled gatherings. He allegedly took incriminating recordings of attendees and victims to ensure their silence, according to federal prosecutors.
According to court filings on behalf of Combs' accusers, they reserve the right to add more names to their lawsuits, including "currently unknown celebrities and/or persons of interest" who enabled or conspired with him.
DIDDY ACCUSED OF RAPING 13-YEAR-OLD WHILE CELEBRITIES WATCHED AT VMAs AFTER-PARTY: LAWSUIT
This image repeatedly appears in some of the lawsuits against Sean "Diddy" Combs, described as "an actual exemplary container" allegedly used by Combs and alleged conspirators "to insert GHB into alcoholic drinks." (Southern District of NY)
Here's a list of prominent media moguls in Combs' orbit and where they are today. None have been charged in connection with his alleged sex trafficking or embroiled in the civil litigation against him, although some have had legal troubles of their own.
Antonio ‘L.A.’ Reid
The Grammy-winning music executive stepped down from his role as CEO of Epic Records in 2017 after being accused of sexual harassment.
Last year, allegations of sexual assault emerged in a lawsuit from a former Arista Records executive, Drew Dixon, who accused him of derailing her career after she tried to reject his advances.
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Reid's effort to have her lawsuit thrown out failed over the summer, and the parties are scheduled for a discovery conference this week at a federal courthouse in Manhattan.
Then-CEO of Motown Records Andre Harrell, left, then-CEO of Epic Records L.A. Reid and Sean "Diddy" Combs appear onstage at the closing gala of the Revolt Music Conference at Fontainebleau Miami Beach on Oct. 16, 2015, in Miami Beach, Fla. (John Parra/Getty Images for REVOLT Music Conference)
Reid and Combs share close ties to Usher, whose career took off after he attended an industry insider boot camp with Combs in the 1990s.
Jay-Z
Another 1990s hip-hop mogul who has reached billionaire status, Jay-Z's rise happened around the same time as Combs' in the 1990s.
Since then, he's outperformed his hometown rival to become the world's richest hip-hop star with an estimated net worth of $2.5 billion, according to Forbes, more than double Combs' net worth of just over $1 billion.
Jay-Z, whose real name is Shawn Carter, and Combs have been pictured together at a number of events over the years, including at A-list parties and awards ceremonies.
Sean "Diddy" Combs, left, and Jay-Z attend the pre-GRAMMY Gala and GRAMMY Salute to Industry Icons Honoring Sean "Diddy" Combs on Jan. 25, 2020, in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)
His public silence on the Diddy case prompted repeated attempts from 50 Cent, another rapper turned entrepreneur, to get a rise out of him on Instagram.
He has not been accused of wrongdoing.
DIDDY ACCUSED OF MOLESTING 16-YEAR-OLD BOY AT CELEBRITY-FILLED 'WHITE PARTY'
Kevin Liles
Liles, a longtime music executive with ties to Mariah Carey, Megan Thee Stallion and Young Thug, will reportedly step down from his role as chair and CEO of Warner Music's 300 Elektra Entertainment before the end of the year, according to an internal memo obtained by Billboard.
He co-founded the company in 2012.
He has not been accused of wrongdoing.
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Marion ‘Suge’ Knight
The Death Row Records founder, who was part of a high-profile and deadly hip-hop beef with Combs' Bad Boy Records in the 1990s, is in prison after a 2018 manslaughter conviction involving a dispute in which he struck and killed businessman Terry Carter with a vehicle during a dispute with longtime rival Cle "Bone" Sloan in Los Angeles.
Suge Knight founded Death Row Records and is currently serving a 28-year sentence after pleading no contest to voluntary manslaughter. (David McNew)
Knight was in the car with fellow Combs rival Tupac Shakur during a deadly drive-by shooting on Sept. 7, 1996.
Shakur died, and his case went cold for decades until prosecutors in Las Vegas announced charges against suspected gang member Duane "Keffe D" Davis last year.
Knight, who hosts a podcast from behind bars, has been vocal about Combs' case since federal agents carried out their raids in March.
In an interview with NewsNation in September, he said Combs "was taught from people before him" and turned around and "did it to the younger people after him."
The late Tupac Shakur, left, and Marion "Suge" Knight are pictured in 1996. Knight is currently serving a 28-year prison sentence after pleading no contest to voluntary manslaughter in 2018. (Jeff Kravitz)
The "people before" included record executives Clive Davis, Russell Simmons and the late Andrew Harrell, according to Knight.
A spokesperson for Davis did not immediately respond to a request for comment but previously condemned the suggestion as "a completely fabricated thread that is being trafficked by an incarcerated felon."
Simmons has been accused by a group of women of wrongdoing, but not in connection with the Combs cases. His team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Knight is currently an inmate at the Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility in Los Angeles. He is eligible for parole in October 2034.
DIDDY ACCUSED OF MOLESTING 16-YEAR-OLD BOY AT CELEBRITY-FILLED 'WHITE PARTY'
Clive Davis
A legendary record executive with decades of work signing top artists ranging from Pink Floyd to Whitney Houston, he was a co-founder alongside Combs of Bad Boy Records in 1994, according to his website.
Singer Faith Evans, music producer Clive Davis and rapper/actor Sean Combs attend the world premiere of "Can't Stop, Won't Stop: A Bad Boy Story" co-supported by Deleon Tequila during the Tribeca Film Festival at Beacon Theatre on April 27, 2017, in New York City.
A spokesperson for Davis vehemently denied Knight's accusations, telling the New York Post's Page Six in September that they were "100% false."
"Clive is a mentor to artists and, in keeping with this, never ever condoned any such inappropriate behavior," the rep said.
Davis began his music career as the general counsel for Columbia Records in 1966 and later became the company's president. He later went on to found Arista Records in the 1970s. A decade later, he partnered with L.A. Reid and Babyface to create LaFace Records.
Russell Simmons
Simmons, a Def Jam co-founder, is facing a series of sexual assault allegations himself and allegedly failed to pay $3 million in out-of-court settlements to a trio of accusers, Variety reported last month.
Russell Simmons, left, and then-P. Diddy are shown at a press conference for "Best of Both Worlds" at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City on Jan. 24, 2002. (Theo Wargo/WireImage)
Simmons faced a number of allegations over the years, including a new lawsuit filed in February from another Def Jam executive who accused him of forcible rape and ending her career.
Simmons also faced accusations from Drew Dixon, the former Arista Records executive who sued L.A. Reid.
Dixon, in court documents, accused him of raping her in a New York City apartment in 1995, a year after she started her "dream job" at Def Jam.
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Simmons reportedly moved to Bali in 2018, a year after his accusers began coming forward. While he stepped down from his role as Def Jam's chair, he denied all allegations of wrongdoing and told an interviewer he passed "nine lie detector tests."
"Nine separate – seven from the chairman of the Polygraph Association," he told interviewer Graham Bensinger last year. "One for each … serious accusation."
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Andre Harrell
The Uptown Records founder died in 2020.
Clive Davis, left, Sean "Diddy" Combs and Andre Harrell are pictured at the "Vote or Die" political art exhibition in September 2004. (Johnny Nunez/WireImage)
He helped launch Combs' career when he brought him into the Uptown fold in the early 1990s, before they split and Combs founded Bad Boy.
During his time at Uptown, Combs met Kim Porter.
The on-and-off couple had three children together and Combs adopted her oldest son from a prior relationship before she unexpectedly died in 2018.
Diddy and Kim Porter dated for nearly 13 years. The late supermodel died in 2018 at age 47. (Christopher Polk)
Combs has pleaded not guilty to the criminal charges and has vehemently denied the allegations lobbed against him in civil court.
Fox News' Ashley Papa contributed to this report.
