In naming additional defendants,the court papers assert that others who worked with Combs had helped him to control Ventura,at times by threatening her with retribution — like suppressing her music if she did not obey his orders — or by helping to conceal his behaviour. The suit,which names Combs and a number of his associated companies as defendants,seeks unspecified damages.
According to Ventura’s suit,she was swept into Combs’ jet-set lifestyle not long after meeting him and signing with Bad Boy,which released her debut album in 2006.
But,the suit says,he soon began to assert an extraordinary level of command over her life. In addition to controlling her career,he paid for her car,apartments and clothing,and even had access to her personal medical records. According to the suit,the results from an MRI scan she had — for memory loss,possibly caused by drug use or by a beating she said she suffered from Combs — went directly to Combs.
In one incident described in the court papers,Ventura says that in early 2012,Combs grew so angry about her dating rapper Kid Cudi that he said he would blow up the rapper’s car. “Around that time,” the suit says,“Kid Cudi’s car exploded in his driveway.”
Through a spokesperson,Kid Cudi confirmed Ventura’s account. “This is all true,” he said.
A few years into Ventura’s relationship with Combs,the suit says,he began coercing her “to engage in a fantasy of his called ‘voyeurism,‘” in which she was directed to have sex with a succession of male prostitutes,while Combs watched,masturbated,took pictures and shot video.
According to the suit,Combs called these encounters “freak offs,” which involved costumes,like masquerade masks and lingerie. They continued for years,taking place at high-end hotels across the United States and in Combs’ homes. The suit says that he instructed Ventura to search the websites of escort services to procure male sex workers.
Drugs were supplied at these events,which Ventura’s suit says she took because they “allowed her to disassociate during these horrific encounters.”
According to the suit,Ventura would delete videos from these incidents that had been shot on her phone,but Combs told her he still had access to those videos and on a flight once made her watch a video she thought she had deleted.
Loading
The suit says that as a result of these sexual encounters in different cities,Ventura was a victim of sex trafficking. The suit also accuses Combs of sexual battery,sexual assault and violations of New York City’s gender-motivated violence law.
Ventura’s suit includes several accounts of her unsuccessful attempts to escape Combs’ control.
In one example,the suit says that during a “freak off” at a Los Angeles hotel in 2016,an intoxicated Combs punched Ventura in the face,giving her a black eye. He fell asleep,and she tried to leave the room,but Combs woke up and followed her into the hallway,where he threw glass vases at her,sending glass shattering throughout the corridor,according to the court filing. The hotel’s security cameras captured that incident,but the suit says Combs paid the hotel $50,000 for the footage.
The court filing says that in 2018,after Combs and Ventura met for dinner,he forced himself into her apartment and raped her while she “repeatedly said ‘no’ and tried to push him away.” After that,the suit says,she left him for good. Ventura married Alex Fine,a personal trainer,the following year and now has two young children. According to the complaint,her association with Bad Boy ended in 2019.
Ventura’s case,like other recent sexual assault lawsuits,is being brought under the Adult Survivors Act,a New York law that allows people who say they were victims of sexual abuse to file civil suits after the statute of limitations has expired. The one-year window to bring cases under this law ends next week.
This article originally appeared inThe New York Times.
Find out the next TV,streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees.Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday.