The list of lawsuits against Sean Combs, the rapper known as Puff Daddy or Diddy, continues to grow. Until September there were 10, when the performer was arrested in New York on charges of sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution. Another swiftly followed, but then no fewer than 120 arrived at the same time and, last Monday, a further six. Now, 11 months after the first lawsuit was filed, Combs faces another: that of a woman named Ashley Parham, who claims that the musician raped her in an apartment in Orinda, a town half an hour from San Francisco, California. According to Parham, this took place in March 2018 and was an act of revenge after she linked Combs to the death of Tupac Shakur, who was shot dead in Las Vegas in September 1996, a crime that almost 30 years later has still not been fully solved.
According to the lawsuit filed by Parham in the Northern District of California, it all began 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 at a bar and, as far as is understood, he must have been a friend or associate of Combs, since he was on a video call with the rapper. Parham joined the conversation and said that she was “not impressed” to be presented to Combs because she believed that “he had something to do with the murder of Tupac Shakur.” Combs told her that she would “pay” for that comment.
The story picks up a month later, according to the suit, when Parham was at the other defendant’s apartment. He had invited her to his home to allegedly ask for help with his cancer medication, in what the victim believes was a setup. Combs then arrived with some of his co-workers, including another defendant: the singer’s agent, Kristina Khorram. According to the suit, the two begin threatening Parham. While Khorram assured her that they could put her on a boat and send her anywhere on the planet and she would never see her family again, Combs, armed with a knife, threatened to cut her face. The musician then sprayed her with lubricant, removed her clothes and raped her with a remote control. He also threatened her, saying that he had “her life in his hands,” the lawsuit states, adding that she required hospital treatment.
When the incident occurred six and a half years ago, Parham reported it to the Contra Costa County sheriff’s department, an area that includes Orinda, although she refused to name her attacker for fear of not being believed. Now, she accuses Combs of sexual assault, mistreatment, false imprisonment, and kidnapping.
The charges against Combs will be heard at a trial that is scheduled to begin on May 5, 2025, in New York and which, according to the prosecution, could last up to three weeks. In addition, there may be further lawsuits that cause the charges to be altered or increased.
The first complaint against Combs came from his former girlfriend, singer Casandra Ventura, whose stage name is Cassie. She accused him of beatings, rape, stalking, threats, and violence against her over a period of several years. That lawsuit was filed in November 2023 and, although Ventura withdrew it the next day after reaching an out-of-court settlement, it laid the groundwork for dozens of people, most of them women (and at least 25 minors), to sue Combs over the past 11 months.
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