Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
A former employee of Sean “Diddy” Combs has filed a lawsuit against the producer and businessman, accusing him of sexual assault, sexual harassment and “grooming.”
Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, a former producer and videographer for Combs, filed his civil complaint in New York federal court on Monday. He states he worked for and travelled with Combs between 2022 - 2023, while collaborating with Combs on his most recent album, “Love.”
Among other allegations, Jones claims that Combs did not compensate him for his music producing work, forced him to procure and interact with sex workers, threatened him and served alcoholic beverages laced with drugs to guests at parties at his homes. Combs’ chief of staff, Kristina Khorram; Universal Music Group CEO Sir Lucian Grainge; former Motown CEO Ethiopia Habtemariam; and Combs’ adult son, Justin, are also named as defendants.
Justin Combs is accused of soliciting prostitutes and underage girls to attend parties at his father’s homes. Khorram allegedly ordered prostitutes and illicit drugs for Combs and his guests and according to the lawsuit, Jones believed Khorram “aided and abetted” Combs’ sexual assault. Grainge and Habtemarian, according to the lawsuit, “sponsored and attended several” listening parties for the “Love” album at Combs’ Los Angeles home, and “knew or should have known that Mr. Combs was drugging the attendees through laced bottles of DeLeon Tequila, and Ciroc Vodka.” As sponsors of these events, the lawsuit states Grainge and Habtemarian “had a duty and obligation to ensure that sex workers and underaged girls were not present, and that Mr. Combs was not spiking the alcohol with date rape drugs.”
Jones is seeking US$30 million.
Shawn Holley, Sean Combs’ attorney, denied the allegations in a statement to CNN, calling Jones “a liar.”
“His reckless name-dropping about events that are pure fiction and simply did not happen is nothing more than a transparent attempt to garner headlines. We have overwhelming, indisputable proof that his claims are complete lies,” Holley said in the statement. “Our attempts to share this proof with Mr. Jones’ attorney, Tyrone Blackburn, have been ignored, as Mr. Blackburn refuses to return our calls. We will address these outlandish allegations in court and take all appropriate action against those who make them.”
A representative for Justin Combs told CNN in a statement: “Justin Combs categorically denies these absurd allegations. They are all lies! This is a a clear example of a desperate person taking desperate measures in hopes of a pay day. There will be legal consequences for ALL defamatory statements made about the Combs family.”
CNN has reached out to an attorney for Jones for comment on their statements. Representatives for Khorram, Grainge and Habtemariam were not immediately available for comment.
According to the complaint, obtained by CNN, Jones claims that “Throughout his time living with Mr. Combs, Mr. Jones was the victim of constant unsolicited and unauthorized groping and touching of his anus.”
When Jones raised concerns about the alleged harassment to Khorram, the lawsuit states she dismissed it as “friendly horseplay.”
Jones described Combs as “forceful and demanding” in the lawsuit, claiming that Combs displayed firearms, talked about getting away with shooting people, and intimidated Jones with his influence in the music industry.
As his videographer, Jones alleges that he “has secured HUNDREDS of hours of footage and audio recordings of Mr. Combs, his staff, and his guests engaging in serious illegal activity.”
Sean 'Diddy' Combs as host of the Billboard Music Awards in 2022. (Chris Pizzello / Invision / AP via CNN Newsource)
Citing as an example of alleged grooming he experienced by Combs, Jones claims that Combs encouraged him to watch producer and reality TV personality Steven ‘Stevie J’ Jordan, someone who Combs allegedly knew Jones admired professionally, engage in sex with another man.
“This was done to ease Mr. Jones’ anxiety concerning homosexuality,” the suit alleges. “According to Mr. Combs, ‘this is a normal practice in the music industry, look even Stevie J is doing it.’”
Stevie J is not accused of wrongdoing and is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit. In a statement to CNN, he called Jones’ allegations “false.”
“My lawyer will be handling this going forward,” Stevie J added.
Jones also alleges in the suit that Combs is liable for a sexual assault he says he experienced by Oscar-winning actor Cuba Gooding, Jr., which allegedly took place “on a yacht rented by Mr. Combs in the US Virgin Islands in January 2023.”
“Mr. Combs was present while Mr. Jones was being assaulted by Cuba Gooding Jr.,” the suit alleges. “Mr. Jones was legally on the premises as a guest and invitee of Mr. Combs. Cuba Gooding Jr. was legally on the premises as a guest and invitee of Mr. Combs.”
Gooding, Jr. has not publicly commented on the complaint and his representatives have not yet returned CNN’s request for comment. He is not named as a defendant in the lawsuit.
In November 2023, Combs settled a suit brought by his former girlfriend, singer Casandra Ventura, who alleged she was raped and subjected to years of repeated physical and other abuses by Combs.
“A decision to settle a lawsuit, especially in 2023, is in no way an admission of wrongdoing,” Ben Brafman, an attorney for Combs, told CNN in a statement at the time. “Mr. Combs‘ decision to settle the lawsuit does not in any way undermine his flat-out denial of the claims. He is happy they got to a mutual settlement and wishes Ms. Ventura the best.”
Weeks later, at least two other civil lawsuits were filed against Combs with allegations of sexual assault.
“I have sat silently and watched people try to assassinate my character, destroy my reputation and my legacy,” Combs said in a statement in December. “Sickening allegations have been made against me by individuals looking for a quick payday. Let me be absolutely clear: I did not do any of the awful things being alleged. I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth.”
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.