The list of lawsuits against Sean Combs, the rapper known as Puff Daddy or Diddy, continues to grow, unstoppable. If until September there were 10, when he was arrested in New York to be accused of sex trafficking, illicit association and transportation to practice prostitution, then there was another one, but then no less than 120 arrived at the same time and, last Monday, another six. Now, just 11 months after the first lawsuit, Combs faces another: that of a woman named Ashley Parham, who claims that the musician raped her in an apartment in Orinda, a town about half an hour from San Francisco, California. According to Parham, that occurred in March 2018 and was an act of revenge after she linked him to the death of rapper Tupac Shakur, who was murdered in Las Vegas in September 1996 in a crime that, almost 30 years later, was not has been able to clarify.
According to the lawsuit filed by Ashley Parham in the Northern California district court, it all started in February 2018, when she was with another man whose name has not been made public but who is also one of the defendants. She met him in a bar and, from what is understood, he must have been a friend or partner of Sean Combs, since he was making a video call with the rapper. Parham joined the conversation and then said that she was “not impressed” to have Combs in front of her, because she believed that “he had something to do with the murder of rapper Tupac Shakur.” Combs then told him he would “pay” for that comment.
The story continues a month later, according to the lawsuit. It is March 2018 and Parham, a California resident, is in the other defendant’s apartment. He has invited her to his house to supposedly ask her for help regarding his cancer medication, in what the victim believes was a setup. Then, Combs arrives there with some of his collaborators, including another of those sued by Parham: the singer’s agent, Kristina Khorram. According to the complaint, both begin to threaten Parham. While Khorram assures her that they could put her on a ship and send her to any point on the planet and she would never see her people again, Combs, armed with a knife, approaches her face and threatens to cut her. Afterwards, the musician sprayed her with lubricant, took off her clothes and raped her with a remote control. He also threatened her, assuring her that he had “her life in his hands.”
When the events occurred, six and a half years ago, Ashley Parham reported them to the sheriff of Contra Costa County, to which Orinda belongs, although she avoided giving the name of the attacker for fear of not being believed. Now, he accuses him of sexual assault, ill-treatment, illegal detention and kidnapping. She was also treated at the hospital.
Sean Combs faces charges of sex trafficking, conspiracy and transportation for prostitution that will lead to trial. This will be held on May 5 in New York and, according to the prosecutor’s office, it can last up to three weeks. Additionally, there may be new lawsuits that cause the charges to change or increase.
The first complaint against Combs comes from his ex-girlfriend, singer Casandra Ventura, known as Cassie. She accused him of beatings, rapes, persecutions, threats and of using violence against her for years. That lawsuit arrived in November 2023 and, although she withdrew it the next day after reaching an out-of-court agreement, it laid the foundation for dozens of people, most of them women (and, at least 25, minors), have denounced Combs throughout these 11 months.
