According to Rolling Stone, it has only been a week since Sean “Diddy” Combs was accused of rape and sex trafficking by R&B singer Cassie.
Now a longtime executive at his company Bad Boy Entertainment is being sued for allegedly grooming and sexually assaulting his assistant.
Harve Pierre, the former president of Bad Boy who met Diddy when they were students together at Howard University, is accused of preying on the Jane Doe plaintiff “on multiple occasions in New York City and other locations throughout the country,” the complaint filed in New York County Supreme Court and obtained by Rolling Stone reads.
“Pierre used his position of authority as plaintiff’s boss to groom, exploit, and sexually assault her,” the filing alleges. “Pierre engaged in a year-long pattern of grooming plaintiff, leading to sexual harassment of plaintiff, and sexual assault.”
The anonymous assistant alleges Pierre sexually assaulted her on multiple occasions from 2016 to 2017, and as a result she suffered physical, emotional, and psychological injuries, along with pain and suffering.
The woman is asking for damages that will “fully and fairly compensate” her. (Pierre did not immediately reply to a request for comment.)
The lawsuit also names Bad Boy Entertainment, Bad Boy Records, and Combs Enterprises as co-defendants, accusing the companies of negligence and gender violence.
“Defendants knew or should have known that Pierre was unfit to be in a position of authority before Pierre sexually assaulted plaintiff,” the lawsuit states. It claims the companies failed to “properly supervise” Pierre, especially considering his access to “individuals like plaintiff.”
A Bad Boy spokesperson tells Rolling Stone that
“we have recently become aware of a lawsuit filed in New York by a former employee.
The allegations are from many years ago that were never brought to the attention of the company. Neither the plaintiff nor the executive are current employees of the company.
We are now investigating the allegations, and our top priority is the safety and well-being of our employees.”
Pierre started at Bad Boy in 1992, according to his LinkedIn profile, working his way up from an intern and Combs’ assistant to a director-level position before leaving the company in 1995. Pierre eventually returned to become its president until December 2017. He now calls himself a “partial owner” of the company that helped launch the careers of Notorious B.I.G., Craig Mack, Ma$e and Faith Evans.
The suit was filed as a consequence to the Adult Survivors Act, which allowed a one-year window for those in New York to bring civil lawsuits alleging sexual abuse even if the statute of limitations had passed. It’s set to expire on Friday, November 24, 2023. According to the Associated Press, the legislation led to more than 2,500 lawsuits, with many – including Cassie’s suit against Diddy and a Jane Doe lawsuit against Russell Brand – being filed in the final days leading up to the deadline.
