Racketeering claims against Sean Combs dismissed in producer's sexual assault lawsuit
A federal judge in New York has dismissed racketeering allegations against Sean Combs in a $30 million sexual assault and harassment lawsuit brought by a producer who worked on his most recent album.
In the lawsuit, filed last year in U.S. District Court in Manhattan, Rodney 'Lil Rod' Jones accused Combs of making unwanted sexual contact and forcing him to hire sex workers and participate in sex acts with them. In an amended complaint, Jones accused Combs of being part of a racketeering and conspiracy enterprise involving sex trafficking.
Jones said in the lawsuit that Combs drugged and threatened him when he lived and traveled with the music mogul from September 2022 to November 2023.
The lengthy suit contained graphic details and photographs and alleged Jones was not properly paid for his work as a producer on Combs' Grammy-nominated 'The Love Album: Off the Grid.'
Combs has denied the allegations and last year filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit, saying it was overrun with 'legally meaningless allegations,' 'lurid theatrics' and 'blatant falsehoods.'
'Running to nearly 100 pages, it includes countless tall tales, shameless celebrity namedrops, and irrelevant images,' he said in the motion.
In a 31-page opinion, on Monday U.S. District Judge J. Paul Oetken dismissed the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act allegation against Combs, his company Combs Global and his former chief of staff, Kristina Khorram, who was named as a defendant in Jones' suit.
Oetken said Jones had not proven an 'injury to business or property' caused by a violation of the RICO Act, which describes such enterprise as one in which people or groups work to violate the act intended to target organized crime.
'In sum, whether or not Jones has adequately alleged the existence of a RICO enterprise, he has not tied the activities of that enterprise to Defendants' breach of contract or any other 'business or property' harm incurred by Jones,' Oetken wrote.
Oetken also dismissed allegations involving infliction of emotional distress and breach of contract. But he ruled that allegations of sex trafficking against Combs and Khorram could proceed.
Oetken declined to dismiss sexual assault and liability claims, and he admonished Jones' lawyer, Tyrone Blackburn, for his 'unsettling' conduct in response to Combs' motion to dismiss.
'Blackburn's filings are replete with inaccurate statements of law, conclusory accusations, and inappropriate ad hominem attacks on opposing counsel,' the judge said in his order.
'While the Court will not hold Blackburn's antics against Jones at this point, it warns Blackburn that further misconduct may lead to sanctions or to referral for discipline,' Oetken said in the order.
Blackburn told NBC News in response: 'A win is a win. We look forward to discovery.'
Khorram, who has been named in a couple of other sexual assault and misconduct lawsuits filed against Combs, denied any wrongdoing in a statement last week to Rolling Stone magazine.
'For months, horrific accusations have been made about me in various lawsuits regarding my former boss,' Khorram said in the statement. 'These false allegations of my involvement are causing irreparable and incalculable damage to my reputation and the emotional well-being of myself and my family. I have never condoned or aided and abetted the sexual assault of anyone. Nor have I ever drugged anyone.'
Combs, 55, is detained in Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center awaiting trial. He has pleaded not guilty and has denied any wrongdoing in the dozens of civil lawsuits men and women filed against him. His trial is scheduled to begin in May.
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