By Edem Latsu Nukafu

Two more ladies have filed lawsuits against Sean “Diddy” Combs of sexual abuse, one week after the music magnate settled a separate lawsuit with the vocalist Cassie that contained allegations of rape and physical abuse.

Both of the new suits were filed Thursday on the eve of the expiration of the Adult Survivors Act, a New York law permitting victims of sexual abuse a one-year window to file civil action regardless of the statute of limitations.

In the filings, Combs claimed to have committed sexual assault, beatings, and forced drugging in the early 1990s, which were alleged to have been committed by him as a talent director, party promoter, and rising figure in New York City’s hip-hop community.

Joi Dickerson, one of the accusers, recounted that at the age of 19, she agreed to meet Combs at a restaurant in Harlem in 1991. Combs intentionally drugged her after their date, then brought her home and assaulted her, as per the filing.

The suit claims that Combs recorded the assault without her knowledge and then shared it with several friends in the music industry. Dickerson experienced a ‘tailspin’ following the public exposure, which led to severe depression, resulting in hospitalization and dropping out of college, according to the lawsuit.

On Thursday, a woman who was not given a name filed a lawsuit accusing Combs and an R&B singer, Aaron Hall, of sexually assaulting her and a friend, and then beating her several days later.

According to the anonymous woman known as Jane Doe, she and her roommate went to Hall’s house with him and Combs after attending a music industry event in 1990 or 1991. The accuser claimed that she was pressured into having sex with Combs. While she was getting dressed, Hall entered the room, restrained her, and compelled Jane Doe to have sex with him, according to the lawsuit.

The victim learned from her friend, who is not named, that she was forced to have sex with Combs and Hall in another room, as per the suit. “Upon information and belief, when Combs finished with Jane Doe, he and Hall switched, and they commenced assaulting Jane Doe’s friend,” the suit states.

Combs allegedly visited the homes of the two women a few days later to prevent them from speaking out about the abuse. As stated in the suit, he choked the woman identified as Jane Doe until she fell unconscious.

Combs’ spokesperson denied the allegations in an email statement, accusing the two women of exploiting the New York law that temporarily extended the statute of limitations.

An email inquiry to Hall was not returned.

Tyrone Blackburn, an attorney representing the unnamed accuser, reported that her client is currently in the process of obtaining medical documents and witness statements to support her lawsuit, which was filed late Thursday ‘in an attempt to preserve the statute of limitations.’

The victim filed police reports in New York and New Jersey after the abuse, as noted by Dickerson’s suit. The New York City Police Department did not respond to inquiries immediately. It was unclear which other jurisdictions the reports could have been filed in.

Dickerson reported that after the filmed assault, she reached out to her friends in the music industry to verify the existence of the’revenge porn’ tape, but was rebuffed by those who were ‘terrorized’ by Combs’ retaliation and the potential loss of future business and music opportunities.

Unless they come forward publicly, people who say they have been sexually abused are usually not named by the AP, as Dickerson has done.

Following the alleged assaults, Combs, now 54, established his own label, Bad Boys Records, and assisted in the production of Mary J. Blige and Biggie Smalls helped him become one of the most influential hip-hop producers and executives in the genre’s history.

The two lawsuits follow a separate set of explosive allegations made last week by Casandra Ventura, who performs under the name Cassie, who said that Combs subjected her to a pattern of abuse during their years-long relationship, which began in 2005, when she was 19 and he was 37.

Ventura claimed that Combs abused her with drugs, subjected her to’savage’ beatings, and forced her to have sex with male prostitutes while masturbating and filming them. She claims that Combs raped her when she tried to end the relationship in 2018.

An undisclosed sum was used to settle the lawsuit one day after it was filed.

Ventura’s lawyers shared a statement in which she stated her desire to settle this matter with some degree of control.

Diddy indicated : “We have decided to resolve this matter amicably. I wish Cassie and her family all the best. Love.”