At a dinner Combs hosted around late 2009 to celebrate an eight-figure distribution deal between Interscope Records and Bad Boy, the music executive punched his girlfriend Cassie in the stomach, “causing her to double over in visible pain, crying,” according to an account in Richard’s lawsuit.
The assault took place in front of Interscope co-founder Jimmy Iovine and singers Ne-Yo and Usher, the complaint states. Yet the “Bad Boy-Interscope deal took place and remained in effect, providing Mr. Combs with immense financial rewards and enabling him to commit further acts of violence without fear of repercussions.”
Those executives had reason to keep Combs’ actions secret, Richard alleges in her suit.
“Defendants Harve Pierre, Interscope Records, and Bad Boy Records have financially and otherwise benefited from these acts and omissions by keeping Mr. Combs, the volatile and explosive owner of Bad Boy Records, satisfied, and benefited from facilitating his behavior.”
It is truly mind-boggling how many people participated in or facilitated his depravity, or simply looked the other way for financial gain. Lock them all up.
ETA: Including his own mother:
"Combs also allegedly phoned his mother to help convince the woman to take the money and not go to the police. The woman told Combs’ mother that he had raped her, the suit says; Combs’ mother was “unphased,” the lawsuit says."
That's a real Mother of the Year candidate.