The latest woman to come forward with disturbing sexual assault allegations against music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs claims she kept her unwashed clothing from the night he allegedly assaulted her wrapped in a plastic bag for more than two decades.
Crystal McKinney, a former model and TV star from Georgia, alleges that she was drugged and sexually assaulted by Combs in 2003, according to the suit, filed in the Southern District of New York.
McKinney, who first rose to prominence after winning MTV’s inaugural “Model Mission” beauty pageant show in 1998 when she was 17, was an up-and-coming model when she was invited to attend a Men’s Fashion Week event in New York in 2003.
The then-22-year-old was told by a person referred only to as “the Designer” in the filing that Combs could help “advance her modeling career” and arranged for a meeting.
The designer made sure McKinney got her roots touched up to look “platinum blonde,” arranged for her to get hair extensions and decked her out in a revealing outfit so she’d look attractive to the rapper, according to the lawsuit.
McKinney was dressed in “a black leather coat with a fur hood, a translucent chiffon beige v-cut shirt, fur-lined handbag, and jewel-encrusted jeans,” the suit said.
“Due to the traumatic events to occur later, Plaintiff saved the unwashed clothing from that night in her closet where they remain in a plastic wrap,” the filing states.
McKinney was taken to see the rapper at Cipriani Downtown where Combs, the designer and others were eating and drinking.
“Once seated, Combs made a very public display of coming on to Plaintiff in a sexually suggestive manner which continued throughout the dinner,” the suit claims.
He told her she was “beautiful” and even whispered to her at one point that she “was going to make it big” as a model, according to the filing.
Combs explained that he had significant pull in the fashion world and the two exchanged numbers.
Throughout the dinner, Combs was “flirtatious, bordering on leering” with McKinney and continually refilled her glass of wine. When the meal ended, Combs said he wanted to get to know her better and told her to call him later.
They met up later that night at his studio on West 44th Street in Midtown, where she found Combs and other men drinking and smoking weed. When offered the liquor and pot, she accepted — but after she said she didn’t want any more, Combs pressured McKinney to keep drinking and smoking.
Noticing her heavily intoxicated state where she said she felt like she was “floating,” McKinney alleges he pulled her into a back room and began to forcibly kiss her, according to the suit.
The mogul then forced her to perform oral sex on him despite her protests.
“As she was being assaulted, Plaintiff felt panicked and physically sick,” her lawyers said.
Combs led her back to the studio where she lost consciousness. She later came to inside a taxi heading back to the designer’s apartment and realized she had been sexually abused.
McKinney, who attempted suicide in 2004 when her modeling career “began to dwindle and evaporated entirely” after she believes Combs “blackballed” her, has demanded a trial by jury.
Since November, Combs has been slapped with several other lawsuits accusing him of rape, sexual misconduct and other crimes, including on suit filed by his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura.
Video released last week showed Combs attacking Ventura in the hallway of a Los Angeles hotel in 2016. He posted an emotional apology video on Sunday, which Ventura’s lawyers later blasted for being “more about himself than the many people he has hurt.”
In April, federal agents raided the mogul’s California and Florida mansions as part of an investigation by the Department of Homeland Security team that deals with human trafficking.
He has not been charged with any crimes and has denied the allegations against him.
