A man suing as ‘John Doe’ has filed a complaint at Los Angeles Superior Court alleging that, while interning and seeking a break in the music business in late 2014, he was taken to an after-party in Val Verde where he was drugged, woke with injuries, and months later learned he had contracted HIV.
The claim, set out in the new complaint and reported exclusively by outlets including TMZ, says the plaintiff does not identify Combs as the person who sexually assaulted him but says the attack occurred ‘under [Combs’s] watch’.
The filing arrives amid a cascade of civil suits and a recent criminal conviction that has already seen Combs jailed and fined — a context that lawyers on both sides say will shape discovery, anonymity fights, and any future trial.
Allegations Detailed in New Lawsuit
According to the complaint described by TMZ, the plaintiff says he travelled to a house in Val Verde for a music-video shoot that became an after-party attended by Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs.
The suit alleges the residence brimmed with drugs and alcohol, and that after two to three drinks, the intern started to feel ‘off’, blacked out, and next remembered being anally sodomised by an unknown person before losing consciousness again.
The suit says the plaintiff sought medical testing immediately after the episode; initial sexually transmitted infection screens were negative, but months later, he was retested and told he had contracted HIV.
The complaint claims the diagnosis has inflicted ‘severe emotional and psychological distress’ and seeks damages for sexual assault, sexual battery, and related causes of action. The Los Angeles filing, as reported, lists the plaintiff as ‘John Doe’ and does not identify the alleged assailant by name.
Legal Context and Primary Evidence
Civil complaints and on-camera testimony lodged in the past 18 months give this new filing immediate resonance. Multiple John Doe and Jane Doe complaints, some filed in federal courts in New York and elsewhere, have set out parallel allegations of drugging, coercion, and sexual assault linked to Combs’ social gatherings; one such complaint, made public earlier in 2025, is available in full via court filings and shows the level of detail plaintiffs’ lawyers have been bringing to court.
One of the anonymous male accusers spoke on camera to CNN in December 2024, describing a sequence of drinks, disorientation, and an alleged physical assault; an interview that remains a key primary source for reporters and lawyers trying to piece together dates, locations, and contemporaneous responses. That interview is preserved in the CNN transcript and was aired as part of the network’s coverage of the growing wave of civil suits.
Civil lawyers familiar with large-scale, multi-claim litigation say the pattern of multiple, sometimes anonymised complaints can complicate early litigation: judges frequently weigh the plaintiff’s desire for privacy against the defendant’s right to confront accusers, and earlier cases against Combs have been dismissed where courts ordered plaintiffs to reveal their names and they did not. Those rulings form part of the practical backdrop to how this new Los Angeles claim may be litigated.
Defence, Sentencing and What Comes Next
Combs’ legal team responded to the new complaint by characterising many of the post-trial filings as ‘publicity stunts’ and saying ‘in court, the truth will prevail: that Mr. Combs never sexually assaulted or trafficked anyone: man or woman, adult or minor’. That statement, given to TMZ, mirrors earlier denials issued by his counsel.
Separately, Combs was sentenced on 3 Oct 2025 to 50 months in federal prison and ordered to pay a £371,000 ($500,000) fine after convictions on two counts related to transporting individuals for prostitution-related conduct; he plans to appeal.
A legal storm that began with Jane Doe and John Doe complaints has now added another, harrowing allegation — and the courts will decide what the public record ultimately proves.
Originally published on IBTimes UK
