**Sean "Diddy" Combs Faces New Civil Lawsuits Alleging Sexual Assault and Rape**

Sean "Diddy" Combs, the prominent music mogul, is now contending with a new wave of civil lawsuits launched in federal court on Monday. According to NBC News, five complaints were filed in the Southern District of New York by three males and two females, whose identities have been withheld. The incidents described in these legal actions range from 1995 to 2021, encompassing accusations of sexual assault and rape. One particular case involves a woman who alleges that Combs sexually assaulted and raped her in a Manhattan hotel room when she was a 19-year-old college student.

These lawsuits have been spearheaded by Texas-based attorney Tony Buzbee, who invoked the Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Act—a statute allowing victims a two-year window, expiring in March 2025, to file older claims. Buzbee stated in an interview with NBC News, "We're going to just try to file cases that we feel are credible and legitimate." The lawsuits not only name Combs but also his various business entities as defendants, seeking unspecified damages.

In an interview ahead of the filings, Buzbee remarked, "There's an overarching theme here, as you probably can see, which is basically Sean Combs feels like he can do whatever he wants, whenever he wants to do it." These legal actions add to Combs' current legal predicament—he's already embroiled in pre-trial detention on federal racketeering and sex trafficking charges. The newly filed lawsuits paint a grim picture of drug-laden parties interspersed with violence, resonating with some aspects of his recent criminal indictment by prosecutors in the Southern District of New York.

These additional lawsuits follow a significant development: a New York judge has set a May 5 trial date for Combs' criminal case. Combs is presently held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, with federal prosecutors sifting through data from over 90 devices seized from his properties earlier this year and during his arrest. Despite being denied bail twice by separate judges, Combs is making efforts to overturn these decisions and has filed a bail appeal in New York's federal appeals court.

Adding complexity to the case, CNN had published a surveillance video in May showing Combs assaulting Ventura in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in 2016. While Combs did apologize for the incident, describing it as a one-time occurrence and asserting that he had sought therapy, his legal team has since accused the government of leaking the video and other sensitive information to the media. A hearing last week saw Combs' attorneys filing a petition to challenge these leaks, seeking an evidentiary hearing on the matter.

Since Ventura’s lawsuit, other accusations have surfaced. Notably, Dawn Richard, a former member of the girl group Danity Kane, has also come forward, alleging that Combs groped, assaulted, and imprisoned her, further stating that he threatened her life. The judge in Combs' case has hinted at imposing a reciprocal gag order to restrict both sides from communicating with the media.