Danity Kane singer sues Sean Combs, alleging threats and groping

Dawn Richard, a singer who came to prominence on the MTV reality show “Making the Band,” filed a lawsuit Tuesday against music mogul Sean Combs, accusing him of threatening her, groping her and flying into “frenzied, unpredictable rages” while he oversaw her career.

A former member of the now-defunct groups Danity Kane and Diddy – Dirty Money, which were both assembled by Combs, Richard detailed a litany of complaints from her time working with him, alleging a culture in which her boss would order her to strip down to her underwear, smack her behind, throw objects such as laptops and food, and at times fail to pay her for her work.

In response to the lawsuit, a lawyer for Combs, Erica Wolff, said in a statement that Richard had “manufactured a series of false claims all in the hopes of trying to get a payday,” noting that the lawsuit came shortly before Richard is slated to release a new album.

In the lawsuit, filed in federal court in New York, Richard detailed several occasions from as far back as 2009 in which she said she witnessed Combs physically abuse his former girlfriend Cassie, whose lawsuit last year prompted a cascade of civil claims against Combs.

Once, the lawsuit said, Richard saw Combs push Cassie, whose full name is Casandra Ventura, against a wall and choke her, then throw a hot pan of eggs at her.

“On many occasions, Ms. Richard tried to intervene, offering Ms. Ventura support and encouragement to leave Mr. Combs,” the lawsuit says. The court papers accuse Combs of responding with threats such as “you want to die today” and “I end people.”

This is the eighth sexual misconduct lawsuit that Combs has faced since Ventura sued last November; the two sides settled in one day. Combs, who is also facing a federal investigation into his conduct, has described the civil suits as “sickening allegations” from people looking for “a quick payday,” and his lawyers have been fighting them in court.

The statement from Combs’ lawyer questioned why Richard continued working for Combs over two decades, including on his most recent album and on a “Making the Band” reboot that has not come to fruition.

“It’s unfortunate that Ms. Richard has cast their 20-year friendship aside to try and get money from him,” Wolff said in the statement, “but Mr. Combs is confidently standing on truth and looks forward to proving that in court.”

Combs, who is known by the nicknames Diddy and Puff Daddy, has acknowledged his history of physical abuse against Cassie, apologizing this year after CNN published hotel surveillance footage that showed Combs striking and dragging her in 2016.

As a founder and leader of Bad Boy Records who helped launch superstars such as the Notorious B.I.G. and Mary J. Blige, Combs’ reputation as a musical kingmaker was spun into the show “Making the Band,” in which singers competed for the chance to be produced by him and his record label. In the show’s third season, Richard was selected to be a part of R&B-pop girl group Danity Kane, which put out a handful of hits but disbanded after Combs fired a couple of the members in front of the cameras.

The MTV show helped solidify Combs’ reputation as a music impresario who pushed his artists to display complete loyalty and commitment. But the lawsuit by Richard alleges that his hard-charging personality as a boss could verge into workplace violations, accusing him of sending his associates to wake the Danity Kane singers up overnight to rehearse and, while she was performing with Dirty Money, threatening her at times if she left the studio to take a break. The court papers describe one encounter in 2010 when Combs reached out and cupped Richard’s breasts, saying that he wanted to gift her a breast augmentation for Christmas.

The suit is the latest against Combs to cite an amendment to a New York City law called the Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Law as a means of reviving claims that fall outside of the statute of limitations. Combs’ lawyers have been mounting a legal challenge to the use of the amendment in court. The complaint also cites labor laws and a California sexual abuse law to seek liability for Combs causing “harmful and sexually offensive contact” to Richard.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.