Woman Claims Jodeci’s DeVanté Swing Witnessed Diddy And Aaron Hall Rape
A lawsuit—claiming that Sean “Diddy” Combs and R&B singer Aaron Hall took turns sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl in 1990—now names DeVanté Swing of Jodeci as a witness.
In a newly amended complaint submitted to a federal court in New Jersey, plaintiff Liza Gardner claims the R&B singer was present at Hall’s New Jersey residence when Diddy allegedly raped her, leaving her “shocked and traumatized.”
According to the ‘suit uncovered by Rolling Stone, it was “unbeknownst” to Ms. Gardner at the time that Swing was present during her alleged attack. She claims she was made aware of his presence per her friend, Monica Case, who says she saw the then 20 or 21-year-old “leaning against the wall or some furniture, watching whatever Puffy was doing to Liza.”
Case—who claims she was also a minor at the time—says that the “Come & Talk To Me” crooner “took no action to stop the abuse.”
Ms. Gardner, who was 16 at the time, alleges she traveled with Swing and others from North Carolina to his N.J. residence, which was allegedly “subsidized” by Jodeci’s label, Uptown Records, a subsidiary of MCA. At the time, Diddy was an A&R executive at Uptown and was developing the R&B trio.
Gardner alleges that during that time she met the budding music exec at an MCA event and later traveled back to Hall’s residence with him, Hall, Swing, and a friend of hers. According to the amended lawsuit, Gardner was allegedly raped by Diddy and then Hall whom she says, “barged into the room, pinned her down.” A photo is also reportedly included in her suit showing her in a kitchen with a then 26-year-old Hall, draping his arm on her shoulder.
Diddy and Hall are both accused of sexual assault and battery, while Swing is accused of “aiding and abetting” the alleged rape. The amended suit claims Swing was Gardner’s “co-guardian at the time” because he invited her on the trip to New Jersey.
“He had a duty to protect the child as her parents entrusted him with her safety. He trafficked and or coerced the child [to] travel across state lines from North Carolina to New York and New Jersey with the hidden intention of providing the child with alcohol, and marijuana and prostituting the child to his A&R Combs,” the lawsuit claims.
Last November, Diddy’s legal team stated “this is nothing but a money grab” and Hall has not responded to the allegations against him. UMG Recordings filed a motion for dismissal in April, arguing the lawsuit was beyond the statute of limitations in New York and asserting there’s no evidence that MCA could have predicted the alleged conduct. Gardner then re-filed the lawsuit in New Jersey after her friend enlightened her of Swing’s alleged presence.
“Ms. Gardner is very eager to have her day in court and to finally get justice after suffering for three decades with the pain from what happened to her when she was only 16 years old,” Gardner’s lawyer, Tyrone Blackburn, told RS.
Blackburn also represents Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, the music producer suing Diddy for sexual assault and harassment, and April Lampros, a former Arista Records intern who alleged the father of seven sexually assaulted her on three occasions starting in 1995 and another time in 2001.
As more allegations pour in about the disgraced star, Diddy remains behind bars in Brooklyn on federal racketeering and sex trafficking charges.
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