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Diddy accuser reveals she held onto clothes she was wearing on night of alleged sexual assault

Crystal McKinney says the clothes have been wrapped in plastic and stored inside her closet for the last two decades

Amelia Neath
Thursday 23 May 2024 16:40 BST
Related video: Diddy apologises after video emerged showing him attacking ex-girlfriend Cassie

A model who has accused Diddy of drugging and sexually assaulting her back in 2003 has revealed that she held onto the clothes she was wearing on the night of the alleged attack.

Crystal McKinney filed a lawsuit against Sean “Diddy” Combs in New York on Tuesday, claiming that he invited her to his New York studio and plied her with alcohol and marijuana until she became intoxicated.

In the complaint, filed under New York’s Victims of Gender Motivated Violence Act, she alleges that Diddy then forced her to perform oral sex on him.

The suit marks just the latest in a string of allegations made against the rapper and comes days after shocking footage surfaced showing him attacking his then-girlfriend Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura in a hotel hallway in 2016.

It also comes less than two months after federal agents with US Homeland Security raided two of the rapper’s houses in Los Angeles and Miami as part of a sex trafficking probe.

In Ms McKinney’s suit, she says that she still has her unwashed clothing from the night she was allegedly sexually assaulted.

She says that the clothes have been wrapped in plastic and stored inside her closet for the last two decades.

Model Crystal McKinney says Diddy sexually assaulted her at his recording studio in New York City in 2003
Model Crystal McKinney says Diddy sexually assaulted her at his recording studio in New York City in 2003 (FilmMagic/Getty)

That night, the model was dressed in a black leather coat with a fur hood, a translucent chiffon beige v-cut shirt, a fur-lined handbag, and jewel-encrusted jeans, the suit alleges.

“Due to the traumatic events to occur later, Plaintiff saved the unwashed clothing from that night in her closet where they remain in a plastic wrap,” the lawsuit writes.

At the time of the alleged attack, Ms McKinney was an up-and-coming model and a fashion designer, not identified in the documents, introduced her to Diddy at a Men’s Fashion Week event, the suit states.

The designer allegedly “began to direct Plaintiff’s appearance, as he sought to ensure Combs found her attractive.”

After the event, Ms McKinney claims that Diddy made suggestive displays towards her, offered to help her with her career and “plied her with alcohol”.

After being invited back to his studio that night, Ms McKinney alleges Diddy was drinking and smoking joints with several other men.

One man allegedly told her “you’ve never had weed like this before,” which the model  “later came to understand” was laced with a narcotic or intoxicating substance, the lawsuit says.

She alleges that after becoming “very intoxicated,” Diddy led her to the bathroom, where she was forced to perform oral sex on him.

“As she was being assaulted, Plaintiff felt panicked and physically sick,” the suit alleges.

Diddy is facing a string of allegations from multiple accusers
Diddy is facing a string of allegations from multiple accusers (Getty Images)

She lost consciousness afterwards and “awakened in shock to find herself in a taxicab heading back to the designer’s apartment,” feeling “humiliated and traumatized and without recourse”, the suit claims.

Ms McKinney said that her modelling opportunities began to dwindle for her after the alleged assault – saying she believes Diddy used his influence to “blackball” her in the industry.

In a “tailspin of anxiety and depression”, Ms McKinney says she attempted suicide in or about 2004.

Ms McKinney says that she is filing the suit now to seek “justice for herself and for any of other Combs’ victims”.

The complaint also names Diddy’s Bad Boy Entertainment music company, his clothing label Sean John and Universal Music Group.

The Independent has contacted Ms McKinney’s and Diddy’s representatives and Universal for comment.

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