A former model filed a lawsuit Tuesday, accusing embattled music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs of sexually assaulting her in 2003.
Crystal McKinney, according to a lawsuit obtained by Business Insider, met Combs at a 2003 Men’s Fashion Week event in Manhattan when she was 22. According to the lawsuit, McKinney was introduced to Combs by a fashion designer who believed Combs could “advance her modeling career.”
The suit, filed in New York’s Southern District Court, alleged Combs had been “coming on to plaintiff in a sexually suggestive manner” at the restaurant they were dining at.
“Combs also plied plaintiff with alcohol throughout the dinner as he repeatedly refilled her glass with wine,” the suit said.
According to the lawsuit, McKinney was invited back to Combs’ recording studio and given what she believed to be laced marijuana. The suit alleged that Combs began kissing her nonconsensually and pointed to his crotch, asking that she “suck it.” After she refused, Combs shoved her head down to force her to perform oral sex on him, according to the lawsuit.
According to the lawsuit, she became unconscious and later woke up in a cab.
McKinney is suing Combs under the NYC Victims Of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Act, a city law that allows for civil suits to be filed within a two-year look-back period, and she is asking for a jury trial. She is seeking an unspecified amount of damages for “mental and emotional injury, distress, pain and suffering and injury to her reputation.”
Representatives for Combs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Attorneys for McKinney declined to comment.
Combs faces lawsuits from four other people: a former employee and three women have accused Combs of sexual assault, abuse, drugging, and other acts of sexual misconduct. One woman said in her suit filed in December that Combs “sex trafficked and gang raped” her as a 17-year-old in 2003.
Combs denied the previous allegations on Instagram and declared he would “fight for my name, my family and for the truth.”
“For the last couple of weeks, I have sat silently and watched people try to assassinate my character, destroy my reputation and my legacy,” he said. “Sickening allegations have been made against me by individuals looking for a quick payday.”
A sixth lawsuit, filed in November by Comb’s ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura, accused the mogul of rape and abuse while they were together for over a decade. The two parties settled the lawsuit a day after it was filed, the Associated Press reported.
On Friday, CNN published 2016 surveillance footage that appeared to show Combs assaulting Ventura in a Los Angeles Hotel. Combs later released an apology, calling his actions “inexcusable” — though he didn’t specify which actions he was apologizing for, nor did he mention Ventura’s name.
On March 25, the Department of Homeland Security raided Combs’ Los Angeles and Miami homes. He has not been charged with any crime related to that raid.
In a previous statement to Business Insider, Aaron Dyer, a lawyer for Combs, called the search a “gross overuse of military-level force.”
“There has been no finding of criminal or civil liability with any of these allegations,” Dyer said. “Mr. Combs is innocent and will continue to fight every single day to clear his name.”
