Content advisory: This article contains descriptions of intimate partner violence and sexual abuse. Please take care while reading.
April Lampros filed the 7th lawsuit to date against Sean “Diddy“ Combs in New York County Supreme Court on Thursday, May, 23, accusing the hip-hop mogul of battery and sexual assault. Lampros’ suit was just one of many recent legal actions against Combs with similar allegations.
As well as battery and sexual assault, Combs is charged with assault, negligent infliction of emotional distress, and gender-motivated violence. The suit said Lampros suffered harm, “including physical injury, severe emotional distress, humiliation, anxiety, and other consequential damages for which she is entitled to an award of monetary damages and other relief.”
According to Lampros’ lawsuit, she was an intern at Arista Records when the assaults happened, and Arista along with Sony Music Entertainment and Bad Boy Records, Combs’ company, are listed as co-defendants in the case.
April Lampros met Diddy in 1995
According to April Lampros, she met Diddy in 1995 while a student at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology. Between the mid-1990s and the early 2000s, Lampros said she had “four terrifying sexual encounters” with Diddy, some involving substances she was forced to take, and that she only found out a few years ago that he tape-recorded one of the sexual encounters without her knowledge, and that he had shared the footage.
At first, Lampros said, Diddy was affectionate and attentive. But before long it became an “aggressive, coercive, and abusive relationship based on sex,” Lampros said. According to Lampros, one incident happened while Diddy was in a relationship with Jennifer Lopez, and another involved Diddy’s ex, Kim Porter, who died in 2018.
And when Lampros tried to break things off, he continued to harass her and threatened to “blacklist” her in the music industry, according to TMZ. It was widely reported that Diddy and his legal team had not commented on Lampros’ accusations.
The Lampros’ suit was the second Diddy suit that week
The April Lampros lawsuit was the second lawsuit filed against Diddy that week. A few days prior, former model Crystal McKinney filed a lawsuit accusing Diddy of drugging and sexually assaulting her in the early 2000s, USA Today reported. Like Lampros, McKinney also said Diddy offered to help her career but later threatened to have “blackballed” in modeling.
McKinney and Lampros suits are just two of many legal actions taken against the embattled rap star. They were filed a few weeks after federal agents raided Diddy’s California home in connection to a human trafficking investigation. A graphic video from 2016 had also been released showing Diddy assaulting his then-girlfriend, Cassie, on hotel surveillance footage. In November 2023, Cassie was the first of many women to file lawsuits against Diddy accusing him of sexual assault and other charges.
When the Cassie footage went public, Diddy shared a statement on Instagram. “I was disgusted then when I did it. I’m disgusted now. I went and I sought out professional help. I got into going to therapy, going to rehab. I had to ask God for his mercy and grace. I’m so sorry. But I’m committed to be a better man each and every day. I’m not asking for forgiveness. I’m truly sorry,” Diddy said.
If you are experiencing domestic abuse, or if you believe someone you know is being abused, contact The National Domestic Violence Hotline. The hotline can be reached at 1-800-799-SAFE or spoken with online via the hotline’s website. Mobile phone owners can also text “START” to the number 88788.
