Sara Rivers Sues Diddy for $60 Million, Claims Sexual Harassment During ‘Making the Band’
Sara Rivers, previously Sara Stokes, has sued Bad Boy Records founder Diddy for $60 million, Rolling Stone reports.
On Friday (February 28), the former Da Band member filed a lawsuit against Diddy in anticipation of New York City’s Gender Motivated Violence Act window closing. The statute allows victims of gender-based violence to file civil suits against the organizations that may have aided the abuse, along with their abusers.
According to People, those also listed in the 148-page lawsuit are over two dozen defendants, including other Bad Boy executives and Diddy’s mother, Janice Combs. The complaint alleges that Rivers, 47, was a victim of sexual harassment, assault, and was forced to work under “inhumane” conditions, all orchestrated by Diddy, born Sean Combs. The music mogul has been at Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn since his arrest last September, and is currently awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking, racketeering, and transportation to engage in prostitution. He’s pleaded not guilty to all charges.
In the complaint, Rivers made multiple claims, alleging that Diddy sexually assaulted her in a hallway where he was close enough to kiss her and graze her breast. The singer also claimed that Diddy made “physical threats to group members,” including a threat to “eat the face of one person and kill another.”
Other examples of alleged “aggressive and abusive behavior” were Diddy being said to control Rivers’ eating habits, along with her sleep schedule, and making offensive comments about her bulimia. The singer also cited MTB‘s cheesecake episode as “uncompensated manual labor” and called herself “the only individual who Defendant Diddy scrutinized in such a sexual and humiliating manner.”
Additionally, Rivers accused Diddy of pressuring her to sign a $25,000 publishing contract and blackballing her after Da Band broke up in 2004, two years after their formation.
A rep for Combs called Rivers’ suit “yet another example of false claims” being made against their client.
“No matter how many lawsuits are filed, it won’t change the fact that Mr. Combs has never sexually assaulted or sex trafficked anyone—man or woman, adult or minor,” the rep said, per People.
“We live in a world where anyone can file a lawsuit for any reason. With the deadline for New York’s Gender-Motivated Violence Act expiring tomorrow, it’s clear that opportunists are rushing to file last-minute, meritless claims. Mr. Combs remains confident he will prevail in court.”
The sexual assault claims against Diddy have been numerous, with additional lawsuits spanning 30 years of alleged misconduct.
