Diddy wins dismissal of civil racketeering claims in Lil Rod suit
A federal judge has dismissed civil racketeering and breach of contract claims against Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs in a lawsuit filed by former producer Rodney ‘Lil Rod’ Jones.
unbranded – Entertainment
Sean “Diddy” Combs scored a partial legal win Monday when a New York judge agreed to dismiss racketeering and breach of contract charges brought against him by music producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones.
The order, filed by Judge J. Paul Oetken, dismissed only part of Jones’ larger lawsuit, ruling that the bulk of it could proceed, but trimming off RICO, breach of contract and infliction of emotional distress charges.
Jones, who worked as the producer on Combs’ 2023 “The Love Album: Off the Grid,” brought the sprawling suit in February 2024. In it, he alleges Combs coerced him into various sex acts, dangling money and high-power industry connections to keep him quiet and ensnare him in a web of misconduct. Then, Jones alleges, he was never paid.
Oetken allowed for Jones’ sex trafficking claims − brought against Combs, his business enterprise and his chief of staff, Kristina Khorram − to continue but issued a stark warning to the producer’s lawyer Tyrone Blackburn, calling his conduct “unsettling.”
Blackburn said he respects the judge’s “order and opinion” in a statement to USA TODAY Tuesday. “We view this as a win,” Blackburn said. “Defendants wanted a total dismissal and they failed to get it.” Blackburn claimed Combs and Khorram do “not want me to do discovery,” because “I know where all of the bodies are buried and I have a HUGE shovel. Time to start digging!”
USA TODAY has reached out to Combs’ and Khorram’s lawyers for comment.
The judge criticized Blackburn’s use of separate legal claims filed against Combs as evidence of his presumed guilt. Though Combs faces an increasingly apocalyptic set of legal challenges, including a federal racketeering and sex trafficking case and a torrent of civil suits, none of that can be used as evidence of his presumed guilt, Oetken warned.
“That any licensed member of the bar would espouse such an absurd understanding of the law is not just disturbing, but shocking,” he wrote. The judge also chided Blackburn for unnecessarily insulting Combs’ legal team in his filings and hurling “schoolyard taunts.”
The racketeering or RICO charges − designed to target organized criminal organizations with a pattern of breaking the law − were dropped by Oetken because they did not demonstrate a clear enough connection between the “criminal enterprise” and the failure of Combs to pay Jones for his work.
Additionally, Jones’ breach of contract claim lacked standing, the judge wrote, because the contract took longer than a year and was not in writing, a requirement under New York law.
While the judge accepted Jones’ portrayal of Combs as a sexual predator who issued various threats throughout their working relationship, he dismissed charges of emotional distress, arguing that they lacked specific details.
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