A week after the R&B singer Cassie sued rapper and producer Sean “Diddy” Combs for rape and years of abuse (and settled a day later), another accuser filed a lawsuit against the mogul, alleging he drugged and raped her in 1991 when she was a college student.
The woman filed her complaint Thursday in Manhattan Supreme Court—just before the expiration of the Adult Survivors Act, which for the past year has allowed people to pursue claims against alleged abusers regardless of the statute of limitations.
On Thursday night, the woman was identified to The Daily Beast by her lawyers as Joi Dickerson-Neal, who alleges Combs “videotaped his crime and distributed the tape to others in the music industry, causing severe harm to Ms. Dickerson-Neal’s reputation, career prospects, and emotional well-being.” Dickerson-Neal knew Combs through mutual friends, her lawyers said, adding she also appeared alongside him in the 1990 music video for “Straight From The Soul,” by Finesse and Synquis.
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“We are privileged to assist our client, Ms. Dickerson-Neal, as she courageously steps forward in an effort to hold Mr. Combs to account,” Dickerson-Neal’s attorney Michelle Caiola said. “Everyone deserves to be heard and Combs should not be immune from liability because of his wealth and public stature.”
Joi Dickerson-Neal and Sean Combs in the “Straight From The Soul” music video.
Phillips & AssociatesBad Boy Records and Combs Enterprises are also listed as defendants in the suit, which alleges Combs sexually abused Dickerson-Neal and “made a video recording of the ‘revenge porn’ which he distributed throughout New York state—all without her consent.”
A spokesperson for Combs told The Daily Beast in a statement: “This last-minute lawsuit is an example of how a well-intentioned law can be turned on its head. Ms. Dickerson’s 32-year-old story is made up and not credible. Mr. Combs never assaulted her, and she implicates companies that did not exist. This is purely a money grab and nothing more.”
The accusations stem from an era before the billionaire—previously known as Puffy and Puff Daddy—became famous and a mainstay of the late 1990s hip-hop scene. At the time, the legal filing points out, Combs was working at Uptown Records.
According to the complaint, the accuser was a Syracuse University student who “reluctantly agreed to an early dinner with” Combs in January 1991 while she was on holiday break in the Big Apple. “They had many friends and acquaintances in common and she had appeared with Combs in a few clips of a music video,” the lawsuit alleges.
Dickerson-Neal accompanied Combs to Harlem’s Wells Restaurant and he allegedly “pushed” her to tag along on his other stops in the city. “Getting into Combs’ car that day was something [she] would come to regret forever,” the lawsuit says.
“During their date, Combs had intentionally drugged [her], resulting in her being in a physical state where she could not independently stand or walk,” the legal filing continues. “Driving first to a music studio where she could not get out of the car, Combs proceeded to a place he was staying to sexually assault her.” The complaint says that it was Combs’ “practice” to capture footage of the alleged assault.
The complaint says Dickerson-Neal didn’t go to police or the hospital right away but told her best friend what happened the next day. Soon after, DeVante Swing, a member of the R&B group Jodeci, allegedly told her days later that he and other men saw her “sex tape” at the studio. When she asked how many people viewed the video, he replied, “Everyone.”
Swing also told her that he was afraid of speaking out against Combs because Jodeci could lose their record deal.
The episode led to Dickerson-Neal being admitted into a hospital for severe depression and suicidal ideation and dropping out of college, the lawsuit alleges.
“As Combs’ success and wealth rose quickly, she tried to block his existence out,” the complaint says, adding that she’s working on finishing her degree and caring for her emotional health. “Seeking accountability from Combs under the law is one more step in that journey.”
Still, Dickerson-Neal’s suit alleges that she later filed police reports in New York and New Jersey and spoke to several prosecutors, but possible witnesses “were afraid of Combs’ wrath” and declined to participate in her case.
As The Daily Beast reported, Combs has faced a slew of controversies over the years, with one ex-girlfriend, Gina Huynh, claiming in 2019 that he “mentally, emotionally and physically” abused her, and his former chef Cindy Rueda suing him in 2017 for sexual harassment and creating a hostile work environment. (The case was settled two years later.)
The new lawsuit says Dickerson-Neal was working as a server at Wells Restaurant to pay for her schooling and “looking to make a foothold in the music industry.”
Combs repeatedly pursued her, the complaint alleges, but she had heard of the rapper’s “history of treating women badly” and rejected his overtures.
“In fact, Sister Soulja, a rapper from the Bronx, pointedly asked Plaintiff why she and Combs had been featured together in the music video for ‘Straight From The Soul’ by Finesse and Synquis. Plaintiff understood that Sister Soulja was warning her to stay away from Combs given his infamous reputation,” the lawsuit states.
Dickerson-Neal did eventually agree to meet Combs at her restaurant, and her lawsuit notes that she left her drink unattended at one point to use the restroom. After they got in Combs’ car, he goaded her taking a hit off his blunt. “From that point on, Plaintiff’s memory is incomplete,” the complaint says.
Dickerson-Neal says she was unable to stand after exiting the vehicle, and that she remembers being outside of a residence while Combs rang the doorbell. A man answered the door and allowed them inside, where Combs sexually assaulted her, the filing alleges.
According to the suit—which includes claims for assault and battery, sex trafficking and revenge porn—Combs tried to discourage her from speaking out about him while she worked as a personal assistant for a management company that represented DJ Funkmaster Flex.
During a party thrown by her supervisor, Combs confronted her and “dramatically got down on his knees, before insisting that he wanted her to believe him when he said he did not do what she was saying,” the complaint says.
Dickerson-Neal spent years trying to escape the trauma she experienced, the filing continues, and ended up leaving the music industry and moving to California.
“It was the filing of the lawsuit about his abuse of Cassie Venture on November 16, 2023, that forced her to face his assault again,” the lawsuit alleges.
