By KAREN MATTHEWS | Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — A woman who says Sean “Diddy” Combs subjected her to violence and abuse over several years in the 1990s has filed a lawsuit in New York accusing the rapper of sexual assault, battery and gender-motivated violence.
April Lampros, who met Combs in 1994 when she was a college student, described several “terrifying sexual encounters” with him including being forced to take ecstasy and have sex with Combs’ late former girlfriend Kim Porter.
Lampros’ lawsuit, filed Thursday in state court in Manhattan, is the latest in a series of allegations against the embattled hip-hop mogul. A former model accused Combs of sexually assaulting her at his New York City recording studio in 2003 in a separate lawsuit filed earlier this week.
Lampros, 51, said in the lawsuit that she was a student at New York City’s Fashion Institute of Technology when she met Combs, who showered her with gifts and promised to help her achieve her dream of a career in fashion.
The relationship turned abusive and coercive, according to the lawsuit.
Lampros said Combs raped her in a Manhattan hotel room in 1995. On another occasion, she said, Combs forced her to perform oral sex on him in a parking garage in full view of a worker at the garage.
The coerced sex with Porter happened in Combs’ apartment in 1996, she said. “Ms. Lampros vocally opposed this idea, but Mr. Combs quickly reminded her that she had no control over the situation as he could make her lose her job,” the lawsuit said.
Porter died of pneumonia in 2018. She had three children with Combs before their on-and-off relationship ended for good in 2007.
A message seeking comment on Lampros’ accusations was sent to an attorney for Combs.
The Associated Press does not typically identify victims of sexual assault by name unless they publicly identify themselves, as Lampros has.
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The lawsuits filed by Lampros and the former model come days after CNN aired security video that shows Combs attacking singer Cassie in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in 2016. Combs on Sunday released a video admitting he attacked Cassie in the hotel hallway, saying he was “truly sorry” and his actions were “inexcusable.”
A lawsuit filed by Cassie in November alleging beatings and abuse was settled a day after it was filed. It prompted increased scrutiny of Combs, with additional lawsuits filed in the following months, along with a federal criminal sex-trafficking investigation that led to raids of Combs’ mansions in Los Angeles and Miami.
