A day after a judge ruled Sean “Diddy” Combs liable for $100m in a default judgment for a sexual assault case, Dawn Richard, a singer in the former girl group Danity Kane, has sued the rapper and music mogul for sexual assault and inhumane treatment.
Richard, who was formerly signed to Combs’s Bad Boy Records label, also alleges that she witnessed Combs physically and sexually abuse his ex-girlfriend Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura on multiple occasions.
Richard, who joined Danity Kane in 2005 through Combs’s reality show Making the Band, alleges in court documents obtained by Page Six that Combs subjected her to verbal abuse, calling contestants “fat”, “ugly”, “bitches” and “hoes”, and forced her to work for 48 hours straight. As a result of overworking, the singer, 41, says she lost a substantial amount of weight, became dehydrated and developed rashes.
Richard further claims that between 2009 and 2011, when she joined Combs in the group Diddy – Dirty Money, Combs sexually assaulted her on multiple occasions by touching her near her breasts and rear while she undressed in a changing room.
“Mr Combs frequently smacked Ms Richard’s bare buttocks and often commented on her body, noting that although she was ‘too skinny,’ she had an ‘ass’,” the lawsuit reads.
The singer also attests to witnessing many instances of Combs abuse of other women. In 2009, she allegedly saw Combs throw Ventura against a wall, choke her and drag her up a flight of stairs at his Los Angeles home. Richard also alleges that she saw Combs throw a “scalding” pan of eggs on the Me & U singer, punch her in the face and attempt to strangle her.
The rapper settled Ventura’s own $100m suit accusing him of sustained abuse just a day after she filed it last November. The lawsuit kicked off a wave of legal issues for the father of seven, including multiple lawsuits alleging rape, sexual assaults, other instances of physical violence and distribution of “revenge porn”. In March, federal agents raided Combs’s properties in Los Angeles and Miami as part of a sex trafficking investigation.
Combs initially denied all allegations and pledged to “fight” to clear his name. But in May, CNN released video footage of Combs hitting and kicking Ventura multiple times at a hotel in 2016. Combs then released a video apology, saying he was “truly sorry” and that his actions were “inexcusable”.
“I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I was disgusted then when I did it. I’m disgusted now,” he said.
In her lawsuit, Richard is seeking compensatory damages for mental pain, anguish and emotional distress, as well as punitive and exemplary damages and money for her attorneys’ fees.