Prosecutors Claim Texts Show Diddy's Pattern of Sex Abuse: 'I'm Not a Rag Doll. I’m Someone’s Child'

Mar. 15, 2025

Marc Agnifilo, left, and Sean “Diddy” Combs, right.Photo:Elizabeth Williams via AP

Elizabeth Williams via AP

Federal prosecutors usedSean “Diddy” Combs’s own words – and the words of the women they say the rapper sexually abused – against him in federal court this week to help ensure heremains behind barsuntil his trial oncharges of racketeering and sex crimes.

“I’m not a rag doll. I’m someone’s child,” Assistant United States Attorney Emily A. Johnson said, quoting an unnamed woman’s message from a lectern in Manhattan’s federal court Wednesday, Sept. 18.

Combs – whopleaded not guiltyto the three-count indictment at his arraignment Tuesday – sat silently between his defense lawyers dressed in a black long-sleeve shirt and striped gray sweatpants during Wednesday’s detention hearing in which he wasdenied bail for the second time.

Sean Combs (center) beside his defense lawyer, Marc Agnifilo (left) at Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse in New York, Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2024.Elizabeth Williams via AP

“There is a longstanding pattern of abuse here,” Johnson told the judge Wednesday.

Johnson read from messages in which a woman claimed to be “heavily drugged” during a sexual encounter with the singer. Prosecutors alleged in an indictment that multiple women said Combs had used recordings of those encounters as blackmail.

In a message Johnson attributed to Combs, he allegedly directed an associate to “make sure” a woman’s rent was “paid on time” in what Johnson alleged was a pay-off.

Sean Combs with Dawn Richard and Kalenna Harper in London, England on Thursday, Jan. 20, 2011. In September, Richard filed a civil suit alleging that Combs sexually abused her.Dave Hogan/Getty

Dave Hogan/Getty

Much of the rapper’s federal case centers on singerCassie Ventura, who dated Combs for a decade.

Sean “Diddy” Combs.Shareif Ziyadat/Getty

Shareif Ziyadat/Getty

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Shortly after that attack – which Combsapologizedfor after the released video went viral, calling his behavior “inexcusable” in an Instagram video in May that has since been deleted – Ventura allegedly messaged the rapper, detailing her injuries.

“I have a black eye and a fat lip,” Johnson read from Ventura’s message. “You are sick to think it’s okay what you’ve done.”

Cassie Ventura and Sean “Diddy” Combs at at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, May 2, 2015.Ethan Miller/Getty

Ethan Miller/Getty

Johnson clarified for the court that Combs’ reference to a police response was not necessarily accurate but, she said, illustrated his fear that he would be held criminally responsible for his actions. (No charges were filed against the singer in 2016.)

On November 16, 2023Ventura filed a civil lawsuitagainst Combs in Manhattan’s U.S. District Court in which she alleged years of sexual abuse.

Three days later, Johnson told the court, another woman texted the rapper about the suit, telling him: “I feel like I’m reading my own sexual trauma. It makes me sick,” and adding that she saw mirrored Ventura’s alleged experience: “my anguish.”

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go torainn.org.

source: people.com