Diddy Wins Dismissal of Racketeering Claims in Lil Rod’s Lawsuit

Sean “Diddy” Combs won a limited legal victory Wednesday, as a New York judge dismissed five charges against him in the $30-million lawsuit filed by producer Rodney Jones aka Lil Rod. 

A year ago, Jones claimed that he was sexually harassed, drugged, and threatened by Combs while working on the rapper’s “Love’ album from September 2022-November 2023.

Jones’ lawsuit claimed that he “witnessed, experienced, and endured many things that went far beyond his role as a producer on the Love album.”

The lawsuit also alleged that Jones was sexually harassed by Combs’ inner circle.  

Over a year after the lawsuit, Jones’ Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act allegation was denied by a judge, who felt that the music producer didn’t provide proof connecting Combs and his enterprise’s alleged racketeering conduct and his claims that he wasn’t paid for his production work on the album. 

The judge said, “The Court cannot identify any such causal link. Defendants' alleged sex, drug, and gun trafficking activities... did not forseeably or naturally preclude Defendants from honoring their recording contract with Jones."

“[Combs’] alleged refusal to honor the contract with Jones is not itself a RICO predicate act, even if the contract breach resulted from Jones’s refusal to participate in Combs’ alleged racketeering scheme,” the judge added.

Moreover, the judge dismissed Jones’ allegations of negligent and intentional infliction of emotional distress as well as breach of contract. 

The judge dismissed a charge that claimed Diddy’s company, Combs Global, violated the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. 

Rodney’s sexual assault and liability claims still stand.

“Extra’s” Mona Kosar Abdi spoke with Brian Buckmire, ABC News legal contributor and host of the 20/20 podcast “Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy,” about the judge’s ruling. 

Buckmire explained, “Rodney Jones’ lawsuit taking a hit had a lot to do with the attorney and the way that he filed the lawsuit and articulated the charges. He couldn’t connect the criminal enterprise that he was alleging Sean Combs had with the actual damages or harm that occurred to him.”

Diddy has denied any wrongdoing. After Jones filed his lawsuit, Combs’ lawyer Erica Wolff told USA Today, “Mr. Jones' lawsuit is pure fiction — a shameless attempt to create media hype and extract a quick settlement. There was no RICO conspiracy and Mr. Jones was not threatened, groomed, assaulted, or trafficked. We look forward to proving — in a court of law — that all of Mr. Jones’s claims are made-up and must be dismissed.”