Hip Hop mogul, Diddy has fired back at record producer Rodney ‘Lil Rod’ Jones, who sued him for constant groping and drug-induced rape.
Jones filed suit in February, accusing Combs of sexual assault and leading a “widespread and dangerous criminal sex trafficking organization,” among other allegations. The suit was filed in federal court in New York’s southern district.
Weeks after the allegations were made, two of Combs’ homes were raided by federal agents amid a sex trafficking probe.
Now, Combs’ legal team is seeking to throw Jones’ credibility into question by unearthing the accuser’s own past interactions with the criminal justice system.
According to Mail Online, Combs’ attorneys pointed out that Jones was convicted of a reckless homicide in 2003, and that he has faced multiple assault charges that were later dismissed.
Shortly after, Jones’ lawyer, Tyrone Blackburn came to his client’s defence, responding to the assault claims by reminding Page Six that ‘a charge is not a conviction.’
He then explained the homicide by saying Jones accidentally ‘totalled’ a car while driving, tragically killing his cousin and ‘best friend,’ who was seated beside him.
Court documents obtained by Page Six indicated that Jones faced a misdemeanour sexual assault charge in 2006, followed by domestic assault charges in 2009 and 2014 – but that in all cases the charges were ultimately dismissed.
Confronted with the information about the assault cases, Blackburn retorted: ‘I am sure you know that a charge is not a conviction.’
With regard to the conviction that did occur, Blackburn said: ‘Mr. Jones’ July 2003 reckless homicide occurred when he was 17 years old.’
Jones’ attorney continued: ‘He was driving a vehicle with his cousin in the passenger seat. The police pulled him over, but he was afraid and drove off. It was pretty typical behaviour for a young black boy in Chicago when pulled over by the police. As a result, he totalled the vehicle, and his cousin, who was his best friend, died.’
Blackburn asserted that Jones pled guilty, being without ‘adequate legal representation,’ and added that his client ‘has to live with the guilt of the death of his best friend and family member for the rest of his life.’
In the lawsuit he filed against Combs in February, Jones claimed he was ordered to recruit prostitutes and have sex with them for the star’s pleasure, and has hundreds of hours of video documenting Combs’s ‘serious illegal activity’.
At that time, the embattled hip-hop star was already facing lawsuits from three women and had lost a host of deals in the wake of the claims.
Jones has named some of the industry’s biggest names as co-defendants in the $30 million suit, claiming record boss Ethiopia Habtemariam dismissed Combs’s groping as ‘friendly horseplay’, and his way of ‘showing that he likes you’.
Combs has denied the existing allegations against him, calling them ‘sickening’, and his lawyer dismissed Jones’s claims as ‘pure fiction’.
‘Lil Rod is nothing more than a liar who filed a $30 billion lawsuit shamelessly looking for an undeserved payday,’ attorney Shawn Holley told TMZ.
‘His reckless name-dropping about events that are pure fiction and simply did not happen is nothing more than a transparent attempt to garner headlines.
‘We have overwhelming, indisputable proof that his claims are complete lies. Our attempts to share this proof with Mr Jones’ attorney, Tyrone Blackburn, have been ignored, as Mr Blackburn refuses to return our calls.’
Combs recruited Jones in August 2022 to produce some of the songs on the R&B album ‘The Love Album: Off the Grid’ which was nominated for a Grammy after its release in September 2023.
‘Mr Jones agreed, and his life has been detrimentally impacted ever since,’ the lawsuit claims.