American jazz guitarists and former Julliard professor Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones filed a lawsuit against rapper and hip-hop mogul Sean “P Diddy” Combs last week. The lawsuit also includes as defendants Combs’ son, Justin Dior Combs, Combs’ chief of staff Kristen Khorram, and several other individuals and record labels, such as Universal Music Group and Motown Records.
In the filing, Jones stated that he has lived with Combs for “months at a time” at his homes in Los Angeles, New York City, Miami, and spent several weeks on a yacht with Combs in the US Virgin Islands. During this timeframe, Jones states that he “endured many things that went far beyond his role as a Producer on the Love album.”
The lawsuit claims that Combs required Jones to “record him constantly” and that often times, Combs would take Jones phone and record himself. Because of this, Jones claims to have “hundreds of hours of footage and audio recordings” of Combs, his staff, and guests “engaging in serious illegal activity” including the “use and distribution of ecstasy, cocaine, GHB, ketamine, marijuana, and mushrooms” as well as the “displaying and distribution of unregistered illegal firearms.”
It is also alleged that Combs provided “laced alcoholic beverages to minors and sex workers at his homes” and often times, his chief of staff, Kristina Khorram, would task her staff to retrieve these drugs. Jones described Khorram as Combs’ “Ghislaine Maxwell” in the filing.
On September 12, 2022, there was a shooting that was reportedly outside of a Hollywood recording studio, according to KCAL News. However, Jones alleges in the lawsuit that this actually took place in a bathroom and involved Combs, Combs’ son, Justin Combs and his friend known only as “G”. Jones claims that three men got into a heated argument in the studio and eventually moved to a restroom adjacent to the recording studio.
While Jones was standing just a couple feet from the restroom, he stated he heard multiple gunshots and feared he could be shot through the door given his proximity. When the shooting subsided, the two Combs men exited the bathroom. The lawsuit claims that G was “lying on the restroom floor in a fetal position, holding his stomach and bleeding out of his leg/hip area.”
Jones said he was frustrated that no one was doing anything, so he dropped down and began to apply pressure to G’s gunshot wound on his stomach. It was then that Jones states he realized he was also shot in the leg/hip area. Jones sat G up on the toilet and asked someone to call for an ambulance. When the ambulance arrived, Jones brought G out to the front of the studio while the Combs men “disappeared to another part of the studio.”
According to the lawsuit, Combs “gave strict instructions to inform the police that he had nothing to do with the shooting” and told Jones to tell police that G was shot in a drive-by shooting, as reported by the news.
Jones alleges that Love Records, Motown Records, Universal Music Group and Chalice Recording Studios provided security for the “writers camp”, but failed to confiscate guns from both of the Combs.
The lawsuit also alleges that Jones was the “victim of constant unsolicited and unauthorized groping and touching of his anus by Mr. Combs” in several of Combs’ homes and that Jones was “forced” to work in Combs’ bathroom while he walked around naked and showered in a clear shower. Khorram allegedly stated that it was Combs way of “showing that he likes you”.
At one point, Jones claims that Combs showed him a video of DJ Steven Jordan (Stevie J), who has worked with Bad Boy Records, Mariah Carey, Notorious BIG, Jay-Z and others, allegedly having unprotected sex with a Caucasian male. Jones said that Combs told him “this is normal practice in the music industry, look even Stevie J is doing it” in what Jones described as an attempt to “groom and entice” Jones to engage in homosexuality.
The filing included screen shots alleged to come from that video.
On Thanksgiving 2022, Jones claims that rapper Yung Miami and her cousin were at a party in Miami. During this party, Jones believes that Combs sent in Yung Miami’s cousin to “sexually assault” him. Jones pushed her away in the bathroom, however, when he exited, the cousin began to undress and “attempted to straddle him and have sex with him in the presence of Mr. Combs and his staff.”
The filing has some images from this engagement as well.
Jones also claimed that Combs would give him a Bad Boys baseball cap and send him to the Booby Trap, a strip club in Miami. The ball-cap was a “signal” that Combs was in town and that Jones was there to recruit them. Jones states that Combs would use his “power and influence” to intimidate and force him into soliciting and sleeping with these women.
The lawsuit claims that Combs would promise extravagant gifts and prestige in exchange for doing his work, including a Grammy for “Producer of the Year for the Love album”, $250,000 to purchase instruments, and even the ownership of a $20 million property on the prestigious Star Island in Miami.
On the flip side, Combs also allegedly used threats of physical harm including a threat to “eat Mr. Jones face” and “kill his mother, Janice Combs, if he must in order to get what he wants, so he wouldn’t think twice to harm Mr. Jones.”
In July 2023, Jones claimed that there was a “listening party” at one of Combs’ homes that involved sex workers and “at least five women in the crowd that were under the age of sixteen.” Combs allegedly forced all of the women to drink liquor that was laced with what Jones believes to have been ecstasy. Jones said he attempted to leave but Combs took his car keys to prevent it. Jones was forced to drink the laced liquor and said he woke up the next morning at 4am with a “sex worker sleeping next to him.”
The complaint includes photos allegedly from that evening.
Jones also claims that Combs was grooming him to “pass him off to his friends”. This allegedly included Cuba Gooding Jr. while onboard Combs’ yacht one night in a makeshift studio. Jones alleges that Gooding Jr began “touching, groping, and fondling Mr. Jones’ legs, his upper inner thighs near his groin, the small of his back near his buttocks and his shoulders.” Jones said he eventually “forcibly pushed him away”. 
The lawsuit also alleges that Combs was “responsible for the shooting in the nightclub in New York City with rapper Shyne” and that his then-girlfriend, J-Lo (Jennifer Lopez) “carried the gun into the club for him and passed him the gun after he got into an altercation with another individual.”
The filing from February 26th, 2024:
Complaint: Rodney Jones v. … by laurindees
