John Legends long-time manager Ty Stiklorius has recalled a “terrifying situation” she allegedly experienced while attending Diddy’s New Years Eve party.
The 49-year-old wrote a piece titled “The Music Industry Is Toxic. After P. Diddy, We Can Clean It Up” in The New York Times on October 31.
The music executive talked candidly about her alleged experience at one of Combs’ New Year’s Eve yacht parties in St. Barts almost thirty years ago.
“I was a recent college graduate and it was hard not to be overwhelmed by the slew of boldface names onboard. But the sheen of the situation wore off quickly. I thought,” she wrote.
“I was being shown to the disco room when I was directed into a bedroom by a man who seemed to be an associate of the party’s host, Sean ‘Puffy’ Combs.”
“To this day, I can’t remember how I managed to talk my way out of that terrifying situation,” she wrote.
“Perhaps my nervous babbling — ‘My brother’s on this boat, and he’s probably looking for me!’ — convinced him to unlock the bedroom door and let me go.”
In the piece she added that she’s still “not sure of who he was or if he had any connection to Mr. Combs.”
Since she believed it was “just one guy behaving badly at a drunken party,” she didn’t give the matter much thought at the time.
However, she is now aware, though, that other women in the field have probably experienced similar incidents.
“How many other women had early experiences similar to mine and abandoned their ambition to be artists — let alone recording engineers, producers or executives?” she penned.
“How many women were coerced, abused, assaulted and silenced on their way to their dreams — trapped by men who controlled access and who made us believe that the key to the kingdom was a key card to their hotel room?”
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs was arrested on September 16th and charged with racketeering, sex trafficking by force, and transportation to engage in prostitution.
Several further allegations have been made against the 54-year-old since his arrest, including one lawsuit where 120 people accused Diddy of sexual misconduct.
Additionally, the rapper is charged with federal criminal offences related to a conspiracy involving suspected sex trafficking and racketeering.
He has entered a not-guilty plea to those accusations.
Diddy has been accused of running a criminal enterprise that allegedly forced women to “fulfill his sexual desires.”
Court documents have alleged the music mogul “wielded the power” of his status to “lure female victims… to engage in extended sex acts” called “Freak Offs”.
“During Freak Offs, Combs distributed a variety of controlled substances to victims, in part to keep the victims obedient and compliant,” the indictment said.
Back in March, three of the rapper’s properties were searched in connection to a sex trafficking investigation following a string of allegations dating back to the 90s.
According to US prosecutor Damian Williams, officials found firearms, ammunition and more than 1,000 bottles of lubricant during these raids.
Diddy’s defence team has already launched an appeal against the judge’s bail decision, with a hearing set for Wednesday.
His lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, told reporters outside court: “We believe in him wholeheartedly. He didn’t do these things. There’s no coercion and no crime. He’s not afraid of the charges.”
In court documents, the musician is accused of “creating a criminal enterprise” whose members allegedly engaged in sex trafficking, forced labour, kidnapping, arson and bribery.
It has also been claimed that he “abused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct”.
Last November, Diddy was accused of alleged rape and physical abuse by his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura in a lawsuit.
The rapper vehemently denied the allegations, and one day later the pair confirmed that they had settled the lawsuit.