Attorney Tony Buzbee, who launched more than 150 lawsuits against Sean “Diddy” Combs, has been sued by a “high-profile” male celebrity who claims he’s a victim of extortion.
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The public figure, identified anonymously as “John Doe,” filed his lawsuit against Buzbee on Monday with USA Today and ABC News reporting that he is accusing the lawyer of “shamelessly attempting to extort exorbitant sums from him or else publicly file wildly false horrific allegations against him.”
The lawsuit alleges that Buzbee and his firm have “threatened to unleash entirely fabricated and malicious allegations of sexual assault — including multiple instances of rape of a minor, both male and female — against Plaintiff if he refuses to comply with their demands” to reach a monetary settlement.
“These baseless accusations are nothing more than a weapon in a calculated plot to destroy Plaintiff’s high-profile reputation for profit, despite the complete absence of any factual basis for such claims,” the lawsuit said.
The plaintiff claims that Buzbee tried to pressure Doe “to resolve the matters … for money” otherwise his team would “immediately file” a “public lawsuit.”
Doe’s attorneys called Buzbee’s legal filings “nothing more than a weapon in a calculated plot to destroy (his) high-profile reputation for profit, despite the complete absence of any factual basis for such claims.”
The mystery A-lister “presently faces a gun to his head — either repeatedly pay an exorbitant sum of money to stop defendants from the wide publication of wildly false allegations of sexual assault … or else face the threat of an untold number of civil suits and financial and personal ruin.”
They likened Buzbee’s alleged behaviour to “textbook extortion.”
In an emailed statement to USA Today, Buzbee called Doe’s complaint a “frivolous lawsuit”
“We won’t allow the powerful and their high-dollar lawyers to intimidate or silence sexual assault survivors,” he said.
Last month, Buzbee — who is representing more than 150 of Combs’ alleged victims — told TMZ that “big celebrities … are going to be sued for allegedly helping him carry out and cover up sexual assaults, unless they settle out of court.”
Buzbee told the outlet that his firm is set to sue several famous names “everyone has heard of.” To avoid a trial and public embarrassment, Buzbee has sent out letters and is giving these A-listers the chance to settle quietly, and he says some already have.
“In every single case, especially cases like this … because it’s in the best interests of the victim, we attempt to resolve these matters without the filing of a public lawsuit and we’ve done that already with a handful of individuals, many of which you’re heard of before,” Buzbee said, according to a report published by the Daily Mail.
After numerous allegations from women accusing him of sexual assault, Combs, 55, was arrested on Sept. 16 in Manhattan and charged with racketeering conspiracy, transportation to engage in prostitution and sex trafficking, with the accusations stretching back decades.
The federal indictment accuses Combs of silencing victims through blackmail and violence, including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings.
In his Houston press conference, Buzbee promised to “aggressively” pursue cases against any offender who witnessed alleged abuse that occurred and stood idly by.
“If you were there in the room, participated, watched it happen and didn’t say anything or helped cover it up, in my view, you have a problem,” he said. “A lot of people saw this activity going on, a lot of people allowed it to go on, said nothing, didn’t intervene … all of these individuals and entities have exposure.”
Earlier this month, R&B singer Ray J, who was friends with the disgraced rap mogul, alleged in TMZ’s The Downfall of Diddy documentary that some high profile names paid off Combs’ accusers to avoid being named in any upcoming lawsuits.
“I’m hearing about artists paying victims to keep their names out of it,” the musical artist, who once appeared in a sex tape with Kim Kardashian, said. “Here’s what I do know, people do catch and kills all day … for the regular world, somebody has a truth, somebody pays you to keep it quiet and hopefully that money you got paid secures your happiness while you watch the lie continue to succeed.”
Since his arrest, Combs has been hit with a series of lawsuits, including one from a woman who claims he drugged and raped her when she was 13 years old as an unnamed “male celebrity” and “female celebrity” participated.
In the lawsuit obtained by Variety, Deadline and NBC News last month, a Jane Doe claims she was assaulted after attending a party that followed the MTV Video Music Awards in 2000 when she was 13.
In September, Thalia Graves held a news conference in which she asserted Combs and his bodyguard drugged and assaulted her in 2001, filming the attack.
In another legal claim, a personal trainer accused Combs of passing him “around like a party favour” at an awards show afterparty in June 2022.
Combs is also accused of drugging and sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy in a New York City hotel room in 2005 and assaulting a 17-year-old would-be contestant on the reality television series Making the Band in 2008.
In the days after Combs’ arrest, photos emerged on social media showing such notable names as Jennifer Lopez (who dated the musician for two years), Leonardo DiCaprio, Jay-Z, Ashton Kutcher and others attending his “White Parties.”
Celebrity PR expert Eric Schiffer says that celebrities are staying quiet about Combs’ bashes to preserve their own standing in Hollywood.
“Celebrities are silent because they are scared to death of their brands bleeding out with fans over ties to Diddy, and fear if they cross him, things could turn bad. Most are still best served by staying dark,” Schiffer, CEO of Reputation Management Consultants, told Postmedia.
On Monday, lawyers for Combs accused prosecutors of engaging in “outrageous government conduct” by using materials seized from his jail cell to try to keep him incarcerated before a May trial.
Meanwhile, prosecutors have claimed that Combs has reached out to witnesses through third parties and has tried “to publicly leak materials he views are helpful to his case.”
Combs has pleaded not guilty to the charges and is looking to be released from custody as part of $50 million bail package.