Diddy Requests Disclosure of Names of Alleged Victims in Ongoing Case

As Sean “Diddy” Combs faces more sexual assault lawsuits, his attorneys want the court to order his alleged victims to be identified.

Four men and two women sued Combs, 54, for sexual assault and rape on Monday, Oct. 14. They filed the complaints as John and Jane Does via their attorney Tony Buzbee, who says he is representing 120 unidentified accusers who have similar allegations against the Bad Boy Records founder.

On Tuesday, Oct. 15, Combs’ legal team filed new court documents obtained by PEOPLE, asking the court to “require the government to identify its alleged victims” so that Combs “can prepare for trial.”

Combs’ lawyers note that the case “is unique” due to his “celebrity status, wealth, and the publicity of his previously settled lawsuit,” as well as the alleged “grand jury leaks and false inflammatory statements” they allege have been made throughout the legal battle. Last week, his attorneys accused the government of leaking evidence, including the 2016 surveillance footage of Combs physically assaulting his then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura, 38, to taint his image.

In Tuesday’s filing, his attorneys allege that the added lawsuits have created “a pervasive ripple effect,” leading accusers to file claims that range from “false” to “outright absurd.”

Addressing Monday’s lawsuits, which Combs’ lawyers called a “publicity stunt,” the legal team noted that it came after dozens of similar complaints had been made against Combs, “several of which have already been discredited but only after irreparably damaging Mr. Combs’ character and reputation.”

“These swirling allegations have created a hysterical media circus that, if left unchecked, will irreparably deprive Mr. Combs of a fair trial, if they haven’t already.”

The lawyers cited the “number and anonymity of accusers,” to ask for the government to name the alleged victims.

They pointed out that in prosecutors’ 14-page indictment against Combs — which was unsealed the day after he was arrested for sex trafficking, racketeering and prostitution-related charges, on Sept. 16 — “broadly alleges” that Combs “abused, threatened, and coerced” undisclosed and unidentified “women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires.”

The attorneys claim in their filing that the ambiguity could call into question Combs’ “entire sexual history over the past sixteen years as part of the alleged conspiracy.”

They argue that “without clarity” of the accusers’ names, there’s no way for Combs to know who the accusers are. He also believes that the discovery will include “voluminous evidence of consensual sexual activity — making it all the more difficult for Mr. Combs to ascertain which of his prior sexual partners now claim, years later, that they felt coerced.”

His attorneys also pointed to the attention surrounding Combs’ case, which they say undermines his “right to a fair trial.”

Combs was arrested at a Manhattan hotel on Sept. 16 at 8:52 p.m. He is currently being held in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center after being denied bail twice.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.