Sean "Diddy" Combs accused of rape, recording alleged attack in newly filed lawsuit

Sean "Diddy" Combs has been accused of raping a woman at a New York City recording studio with his bodyguard at the time and recording the alleged attack over 20 years ago in a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

The litigation comes about a week after Combs, 54, was indicted on federal charges alleging he used his business empire as a criminal enterprise, with prosecutors accusing him of sexually and physically abusing women through so-called "freak offs." He faces charges including sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution. 

He was denied bail twice after pleading not guilty in federal court in New York City.

The lawsuit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, accuses him of raping Thalia Graves in 2001, when she was 25 and dating one of his employees. CBS News Los Angeles does not typically identify potential victims of sexual assault but Graves identified herself publicly Tuesday, speaking to reporters at a news conference in L.A. Tuesday alongside her attorney, Gloria Allred.

In court filings, the lawsuit alleges Combs and another man, described in the suit as his bodyguard and head of security at the time, allegedly gave her a drink "likely laced with a drug that eventually caused her briefly to lose consciousness" at a Bad Boy Records studio.

"She awoke to find herself bound and restrained," the lawsuit alleges, saying Combs "mercilessly raped her."

Two attorneys for Combs did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.

According to the lawsuit, Graves first learned that the alleged assault had been video-recorded on Nov. 27, 2023, and that Combs and the other man had allegedly shown the video to multiple other men — "seeking to publicly degrade and humiliate" both her and her boyfriend. That same month, Combs had reached a settlement agreement with singer Cassie Ventura.

It was reached just a day after Ventura filed a lawsuit accusing him of raping and physically abusing her over a period spanning years. At the time, Combs denied the allegations through an attorney.

"Just so we're clear, a decision to settle a lawsuit, especially in 2023, is in no way an admission of wrongdoing," Ben Brafman, an attorney for Combs, said in a statement to CBS News.

As she spoke to reporters Tuesday, Graves said the alleged attack — and recording of it — have left her "emotionally scarred" as she deals with conditions including PTSD, depression and anxiety as a result. 

"It's a pain that reaches into your very core of who you are," she said through tears. "Being blamed, questioned and threatened has often made me feel worthless, isolated and sometimes responsible for what happened to me."

The lawsuit alleges she has faced multiple threats that made her stay silent in the years since.

"For decades, she remained silent and did not report the crime out of fear that Defendants would use their power to ruin her life, as they had repeatedly, explicitly threatened to do," the lawsuit states, adding that she "still lives in fear of Defendants."  

"On information and belief, Defendants continued to show the video of the rape to others over the years and through to the present and/or sold the video as pornography," the lawsuit later alleges.

When Combs was indicted last week, federal prosecutors said his alleged crimes date back to 2008 and were part of a broader criminal enterprise that involved multiple other people.

"The indictment alleges that between at least 2008 and the present, Combs abused, threatened and coerced victims to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation and conceal his conduct," U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams told reporters last week. "As alleged in the indictment, to carry out this conduct, Sean Combs led and participated in a racketeering conspiracy that used the business empire he controlled to carry out criminal activity."

Williams said that federal agents raided Combs' homes in Los Angeles and Miami earlier this year and discovered firearms, ammunition and other evidence. Combs has been accused of crimes such as trafficking, kidnapping and obstruction of justice.

Federal prosecutors have alleged he threatened victims and accused him of using recordings of alleged attacks as "collateral."

"He used the embarrassing and sensitive recordings he made of the 'freak offs' as collateral against the victims, and the indictment alleges that he maintained control over the victims in several ways, including by giving them drugs, by giving and threatening to take away financial support or housing, by promising them career opportunities, by monitoring their whereabouts and even by dictating their physical appearance," Williams said.