A Californian woman has filed a lawsuit accusing Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs of drugging and sexually assaulting her 30 years ago when she was a student.
Joi Dickerson-Neal said she was a psychology student at Syracuse University in 1991 when she met Combs.
She was working as a waitress at Wells’ Restaurant in Harlem – a now-shuttered chicken and waffles spot – and hoping to work in the music industry.
She claims Diddy pressured her for a date, and then slipped something into her drink before taking her to an apartment, sexually assaulting her and filming it.
She alleges he shared the video widely, and says she was told by DeVante Swing, a member of R&B group Jodeci, that ‘everyone’ had seen the footage.
Dickerson-Neal claims she was traumatized by the encounter and dropped out of college, failing to complete her degree and abandoning her music career dreams.
She is seeking unspecified damages.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, pictured in September 2022, is accused in a new lawsuit of drugging and assaulting a woman in 1991
Cassie said the music executive allegedly controlled and abused her for over a decade – as well as plying her with drugs, beating her, and forcing her to have sex with multiple male prostitutes while he watched and recorded
Cassie, seen in December 2018 at the GQ Men of the Year party in LA, settled with Diddy the day after she filed her case
Dickerson-Neal’s case was filed under the Adult Survivors Act, a New York law that provides victims of sexual abuse a one-year window to file a civil lawsuit, even if the statute of limitations had expired.
Thursday is the deadline to file cases under the statute.
She said in her court documents that she was inspired to come forward by Diddy’s ex-girlfriend Cassie, who sued him in federal court on November 16, accusing him of rape and a decade-long pattern of abuse that began when she was 19 years old.
One day after Cassie filed the lawsuit – which was also under the Adult Survivors Act – she settled with Diddy out of court.
Dickerson-Neal, in her suit, says that when she met Diddy she was ‘whip-smart, beautiful, and aware that her good reputation was an important asset to be safeguarded.’
The Harlem-born rapper, now 54, was a talent director at Uptown Records at the time, working with musicians such as Mary J. Blige and Jodeci. In 1993 he would found Bad Boy Records, which would make his billion-dollar fortune.
She says that she had friends and acquaintances in common with Combs, and had appeared briefly in one of his music videos.
She claims that he pressured her to a date, so on January 3, 1991 she agreed to meet him at the restaurant where she worked, Wells’. She said that Combs already had a reputation for womanizing, and Sister Soulja, a rapper from the Bronx, warned her to be cautious.
Combs is seen in 2018 arriving at the Met Gala in New York City
Dickerson-Neal worked at Wells, a restaurant in Harlem operating since the 1930s, which has now closed
Dickerson-Neal said that she chose the restaurant as she knew the staff and felt safe, but alleges that Combs slipped something into her drink, leaving her woozy as they left.
She got into his car, and they went to a record studio and an apartment. While in the car, he pressured her to smoking marijuana with him, she claims.
She alleges that he took her to an apartment, and she passed out: waking the next morning unaware of exactly what had happened but with pain and a sense of shame.
Dickerson-Neal said she did not go to the police, but told her best friend.
‘Shortly thereafter, Davante Swing, a member of R&B group Jodeci, told Plaintiff that Combs had filmed himself sexually assaulting Plaintiff and had shown the video to Swing and others while working at the studio,’ the court documents allege.
‘Plaintiff asked Swing who had seen the video, and he replied: ‘Everyone.’
‘Plaintiff was mortified as she learned that Combs had filmed the assault and knew it would haunt her for the rest of her life and career.
‘Swing told Plaintiff that he wanted to speak up against Combs, but he was fearful that the band would lose their record deal. Jodeci was in the midst of recording their studio album Forever Lady, for which Combs was doing A&R.’
She says that she ‘experienced traumatic flashbacks to the assault, extreme sleeplessness for days on end, social withdrawal, and would recoil at even the most basic physical touch.’
Dickerson-Neal said DeVante Swing of the the group Jodeci – managed by Combs – told her he had seen the video of the alleged assault
Combs is seen in 1990, at the time of the alleged assault
Dickerson-Neal said she became reclusive, and had ‘an inability to focus and concentrate, as her mind constantly replayed Combs’ assault, leading her grades to plummet.’
The documents state: ‘Plaintiff’s mother grew so concerned with Plaintiff’s sudden downturn in her emotional state and her repeated assertions that she no longer wanted to live, thus, Plaintiff’s mother instructed her to go to the Emergency Room.
‘Plaintiff was admitted into a psychiatric unit to treat her emotional trauma and her physicians diagnosed her as experiencing clinical depression.
‘After Plaintiff was discharged, she continued to experience emotional turmoil, as everyday interactions triggered memories of the assault. Plaintiff also became socially isolated as her classmates labeled her ‘crazy’ as they learned of her admission in the psychiatric unit.’
She said she filed police reports in New York and New Jersey, but investigators told her they could not proceed without witnesses or corroboration – and those in the music industry did not want to speak out against him.
Prosecutors declined to press charges.
Combs is seen during the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards in Los Angeles
Dickerson-Neal continued trying to work in the music industry, and found a job with Stress Management, a DJ Management company that represented DJ Funkmaster Flex and others.
She said that at one event Combs confronted her, getting down on his knees and denying assaulting her – ‘insisting that he wanted her to believe him when he said he did not do what she was saying,’ according to the complaint.
She said her supervisor Jessica Rosenblum asked her what was going on, and she simply replied that Combs ‘had wronged her’.
Dickerson-Neal abandoned her work in the music industry, and moved to California.
She said the pandemic gave her time to process what had happened, and re-reading her journals encouraged her to come forward.
‘Combs’ conduct forever changed the trajectory of her career, denying her what might have been a lucrative and successful career in the music industry,’ she claims.
‘Plaintiff is confident she can prove her case through at least a dozen witnesses to testify to her severe emotional distress and harm that she experienced after the assault.’ Combs’ lawyer, Ben Brafman, has not commented on the case.