Sean “Diddy” Combs is facing a new civil abuse lawsuit from his longtime stylist Deonte Nash, months after the ex-employee testified against the hip hop mogul at his criminal trial.
In a case submitted Wednesday in a Los Angeles court, Deonte Nash accuses Combs of assault, sexual battery and other wrongdoing – the latest of dozens of such lawsuits filed against Diddy since abuse claims first surfaced in 2023.
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The case from Nash, who also served as a stylist to Combs’ longtime girlfriend and alleged abuse victim Cassie Ventura, comes after he testified at the star’s blockbuster criminal trial in May, and less than two weeks before the star will be sentenced for his convictions on prostitution charges.
“Though defendants have silenced him for years, Mr. Nash is no longer willing to give in to this fear for his life and is now standing up to demand justice,” his lawyers write in the court filings.
In his lengthy complaint, Nash says Combs turned his dream of working as a celebrity stylist “into a nightmare that he was forced to endure nearly every single day” for the ten years he worked for the star from 2008 to 2018.
“Combs … subjected Mr. Nash to a decade of sexual and physical assault, sexual and verbal harassment, trafficking, degradation and humiliation, threats to his life and well-being, stalking, control, and psychological manipulation,” his lawyers write. “Combs used his power and threats of harm to compel Mr. Nash to do his bidding and prevent him from leaving defendants’ control.”
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At a party in “2013 or 2014,” Nash says the star exposed his penis and moved closer to him until the stylist told him to stop. During another alleged incident in 2016, Nash says Diddy grabbed his hand and forced him to touch his penis. In yet another incident in 2018, he says the star “grinded” on his genitals in a “sexually-charged” way: “Mr. Nash felt violated and offended by this unwanted sexual touching.”
The lawsuit also claims Diddy subjected Nash to physical violence, as well as “unreasonable demands and expectations” as his stylist. He says he eventually had “no other choice” but to resign in 2018, but that Combs then “continued to threaten Mr. Nash after his employment ended.”
In a statement to Billboard on Wednesday, Diddy’s attorney Erica Wolff called Nash “another opportunist looking to profit off his proximity to celebrity” who had filed a lawsuit that was “riddled with falsehoods.”
“Mr. Nash’s tabloid-style accusations are insulting not only to Mr. Combs but also to the countless individuals who worked honorably and professionally within his companies,” Wolff said. “In court, the truth will prevail, as it did in his criminal trial: that Mr. Combs has never sexually assaulted anyone—adult or minor, man or woman. Mr. Combs looks forward to clearing his name again in a court of law where truth matters.”
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Combs was arrested and charged in September 2024 with racketeering (RICO) and sex trafficking violations over accusations that he ran a sprawling criminal operation aimed at facilitating freak-offs — elaborate events in which he allegedly forced Ventura and other women to have sex with male escorts while he watched and masturbated.
At his blockbuster trial this spring, Nash took the witness stand for the prosecution, telling jurors he had seen Diddy physically abuse Ventura and threaten to release sex tapes of her if she didn’t do what he demanded.
But when the verdict was handed down, jurors largely cleared Combs, acquitting him on the core RICO and sex trafficking charges that could have seen him sentenced to prison for life. He was convicted only on two lesser counts of transporting Ventura and others across state lines for prostitution.
Combs is set for sentencing on those convictions on Oct. 3. His lawyers asked the judge Monday to sentence him to 14 months in prison — a sentence that would see him released almost immediately on time served.
But even if he’s released quickly, Diddy is facing dozens of cases like Nash’s, accusing him of rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment and various other forms of sexual abuse. Several have been dismissed in recent months, including one case filed by Making the Band 2 contestant Sara Rivers and another case by a John Doe plaintiff, but many others remain pending.