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Harris Co. woman accuses Diddy of rape: NEWS CONFERENCE
Thalia Graves, who now lives in Harris County, has filed a lawsuit against Sean "Diddy" Combs for allegedly recording her assault and selling it as pornography. The incident allegedly happened in 2001 and accuses Combs and his bodyguard in the incident.
HARRIS COUNTY, Texas - A Harris County woman has filed a lawsuit against rapper Sean "Diddy" Combs, for sexual abuse and rape back in 2001 in New York City.
Thalia Graves came forward to file the 26-page complaint through her attorney's against Combs and Joseph "Big Joe" Sherman, who was employed by Combs at the time of the assault as a bodyguard.
According to the lawsuit, in the summer of 2001, Graves was living in New York and her then-boyfriend at the time was an executive at Combs' Bad Boy studio. Graves would often visit her boyfriend at his job and met Combs through him.
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Combs called Graves saying he had concerns about her boyfriend's employment and Graves agreed to meet with him in order to help her boyfriend's career. She was picked up by Sherman and Combs, who offered her a glass of wine, which soon made her feel lighthearted, dizzy, and weak. The lawsuit claims Combs possibly put a drug in her drink.
The lawsuit goes on to say once they made it to Bad Boy studio in Manhattan, Graves felt odd and "did her best to act normal" as she went into the building with Sherman and Combs. She was led to a couch in a room she later learned was Combs' personal lounge and office. Graves lost consciousness soon after.
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Court documents state Graves woke up naked and with her hands tied behind her back with what felt like a grocery bag. Sherman lifted Graves up and slammed her onto what appeared to be a pool table, records say.
The complaint goes on to describe a graphic and violent assault by Combs and Sherman against Graves in the office, in which at one point, she passed out and woke up to being assaulted.
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Graves lost consciousness again and woke up alone inside the office. She got dressed while still feeling weak and dizzy, and left the room out of fear the two men would soon return. She called a driver to pick her up from outside the studio, who took her to the hospital. According to the lawsuit, she was "suffering agonizing pain" and "shaking and crying hysterically". Court records state the driver tried to convince Graves to report the rape, but she was unable to leave the car and was scared of what Combs would do to her and her family. She was also afraid she would lose custody of her child.
Following the assault, Graves says she suffered serious physical injuries and emotional distress. When she told her boyfriend at the time about the assault, he discouraged her from speaking about the assault because he felt it would negatively impact his job.
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She was contacted by Combs and Sherman, threatening her to stay quiet, the lawsuit said. Afraid of staying in New York City, Graves reportedly left to live in Pennsylvania and relocated to other cities to stay away from Combs.
Graves suffers from depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, panic attacks, and suicidal ideation, according to documents.
In the lawsuit, it says Graves later learned in 2023 that Combs and Sherman recorded and published the video of the assault. Many other men who were employed at Combs' companies and other entities, were shown the video, according to records.
A Bad Boy artist later confirmed that Sherman "'use[d] to sell porn of him doing this to chix' and that Sherman 'did that to a lot of women.'," the court document claims.
"I want to continue on this journey towards recovery and healing. I am glad that he is locked up, but that is a temporary feeling of relief," Graves said in a news conference on Tuesday.