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LOS ANGELES — R&B vocalist Cassandra Ventura sued Sean "Diddy" Combs in federal court on Thursday (Nov 16), accusing the rapper and hip-hop mogul she once dated and whose music label she signed with of subjecting her to serial physical abuse, sexual slavery and rape.
One of the central allegations against Combs by Ventura, who performs under the stage name Cassie, was that he forced her to engage in sex acts with a succession of male prostitutes he hired while he watched and filmed the encounters for his own pleasure.
The lawsuit, filed in US District Court in Manhattan, also accuses Combs of regularly beating Ventura over the course of a 10-year professional and romantic relationship in which he controlled her through intimidation and by plying her with drugs and alcohol.
Ventura, 37, alleges that Combs raped her near the end of their relationship in 2018 when she broached the idea of leaving him.
Combs' lawyer, Ben Brafman, issued a statement saying his client "vehemently denies these offensive and outrageous allegations".
Brafman said Ventura resorted to filing a lawsuit "riddled with baseless and outrageous lies" after a failed attempt to blackmail Combs into paying her US$30 million (S$40 million) by threatening to write a damaging book about their relationship.
Combs, 54, founder of the landmark label Bad Boy Records, is one of the most influential producers and executives in hip-hop and a hugely successful performer in his own right, as well as the impresario of his own Sean John clothing line.
Forbes magazine ranked him in 2017 as the world's highest-paid musician, then earning an estimated US$130 million a year.
The lawsuit filed Thursday depicted Combs, who has formerly gone by such monikers as P. Diddy, Puff Daddy and Diddy, as an erratic, controlling individual with violent tendencies aimed at Ventura and others.
The lawsuit said he forced Ventura to carry his handgun for him in her purse, once dangled a friend of hers over the balcony of a high-rise hotel suite and blew up a car belonging to rapper Kid Cudi after learning he was interested in Ventura.
According to the lawsuit, Ventura met Combs in late 2005 when she was 19 and he was 37, signed a 10-album recording deal with Bad Boy Records within months and began a romantic relationship with him a few years later.
The lawsuit does not seek a specified amount of monetary damages. Instead, it says Ventura seeks "justice for the decade of her life that Mr. Combs took away from her with threats of violence, excessive use of drugs, physical and psychological abuse and sexual slavery".
The lawsuit cites violations of sex trafficking and human trafficking statutes under federal, New York and California laws.
Combs is the latest high-profile figure in the recording industry to be accused of sexual misconduct in recent lawsuits, among them singer-songwriter Steven Tyler of Aerosmith, record producer L.A. Reid and music executive Neil Portnow, former chairman and CEO of the Recording Academy that hosts the Grammys.
Source: Reuters
肖恩·“迪迪”·库姆斯被指控性交易和强奸歌手卡西
洛杉矶——周四（11 月 16 日），R&B 歌手卡桑德拉·文图拉 (Cassandra Ventura) 在联邦法院起诉肖恩·“迪迪”·库姆斯 (Sean “Diddy” Combs)，指控这位她曾经约会过的说唱歌手和嘻哈大亨以及她所签约的唱片公司对她进行一系列身体虐待、性虐待 奴役和强奸。
文图拉（Ventura）以艺名卡西（Cassie）表演，对库姆斯的主要指控之一是，他强迫她与他雇佣的一系列男妓发生性行为，而他为了自己的快乐而观看和拍摄这些遭遇。
该诉讼向曼哈顿美国地方法院提起，还指控库姆斯在长达 10 年的职业和恋爱关系中经常殴打文图拉，通过恐吓以及向她提供毒品和酒精来控制她。
37 岁的文图拉声称，2018 年，当她提出离开他的想法时，库姆斯在他们的关系即将结束时强奸了她。
库姆斯的律师本·布拉夫曼发表声明称，他的当事人“强烈否认这些令人反感和无耻的指控”。
布拉夫曼表示，文图拉曾试图通过写一本有关他们关系的破坏性书籍来敲诈库姆斯3000万美元（4000万新元），但未成功，因此提起了“充斥着毫无根据和令人发指的谎言”的诉讼。
库姆斯现年 54 岁，是标志性厂牌 Bad Boy Records 的创始人，是嘻哈界最有影响力的制作人和高管之一，也是一位非常成功的表演者，也是他自己的 Sean John 服装系列的经理人。
2017 年，《福布斯》杂志将他评为全球收入最高的音乐家，当时的年收入估计为 1.3 亿美元。
周四提起的诉讼将库姆斯描述为一个反复无常、控制欲强的人，对文图拉和其他人有暴力倾向。库姆斯以前曾被称为“吹牛老爹”、“吹牛老爹”和“吹牛老爹”等绰号。
诉讼称，他强迫文图拉将手枪放在她的钱包里，有一次将她的一个朋友吊在高层酒店套房的阳台上，并在得知说唱歌手基德·库迪对文图拉感兴趣后炸毁了属于他的汽车。
根据诉讼称，文图拉于 2005 年年底认识了库姆斯，当时库姆斯 19 岁，库姆斯 37 岁。几个月内，她与 Bad Boy 唱片公司签署了一份 10 张专辑的唱片合约，并在几年后与他开始了恋爱关系。
该诉讼并未寻求具体金额的金钱赔偿。 相反，文图拉希望“为库姆斯先生通过暴力威胁、过度吸毒、身体和心理虐待以及性奴役夺走她生命的十年伸张正义”。
该诉讼指出，该行为违反了联邦、纽约和加利福尼亚州法律下的性贩运和人口贩运法规。
库姆斯是唱片行业中最新一位在最近的诉讼中被指控性行为不端的知名人士，其中包括史密斯飞船乐队的创作型歌手史蒂文·泰勒、唱片制作人 L.A. 里德以及音乐执行官、唱片学院前董事长兼首席执行官尼尔·波特诺。 举办格莱美颁奖典礼的地方。
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