A hotline established for victims of Sean “Diddy” Combs has reportedly been inundated with 12,000 calls in just 24 hours, as 120 individuals prepare to sue the rapper.
This initiative was launched earlier this week by lawyer Tony Buzbee, who urged anyone who has been a victim of the 54-year-old rapper or who has information about his alleged cr!mes to come forward.
Combs was arrested last month in Manhattan following an investigation into accusations of s*x traff!cking, including allegations of drvgging and rap!ng victims as young as nine.
“When I announced my intention to pursue these cases, the floodgates really opened,” Buzbee told Law & Crime. “The volume of calls has been overwhelming and quite shocking.”
In the first 10 days after the hotline became operational, Buzbee’s team received around 3,200 calls. However, after a press conference on Tuesday, the number surged to 12,000 within just one day.
“Our Herculean task now is to sift through every one of these calls to identify victims and witnesses and collect evidence,” he added.
Buzbee, who has assembled a team of around 100 people for this effort, anticipates filing civil cases within the next 30 days.
So far, his team has gathered enough evidence to support lawsuits from 120 vict!ms, with 25 of those being underage at the time of the alleged abuse. The youngest vict!ms were just 9, 14, and 15 years old.
Buzbee detailed a particularly harrowing case, stating, “This individual, who was 9 years old at the time, was taken to an audition in New York City with Bad Boy Records. This individual was allegedly sexually abused by Sean Combs and several others at the studio, with promises made to both his parents and to him about securing a record deal.”
Many of the claims are from individuals who were seeking careers in music or television and were lured by promises of stardom, as well as from those invited to Diddy’s afterparties, according to Buzbee.
The attorney has not yet filed any claims, as he is working to identify “every potentially liable party” to include in the lawsuits.
“We’re looking at any entities or individuals who were involved, participated, facilitated, or profited from this,” he said.
Though initially taken aback by the influx of calls, Buzbee noted that his team is reviewing 25 years of alleged misconduct by Diddy, which reportedly occurred at various events, including album release parties and his famous White Parties.
Buzbee hinted that some of the cases to be filed might involve names that would shock the public, although he refrained from disclosing any specifics.
“We want to be very careful about who we name,” he stated. “I don’t want to smear anyone without justification.”
He remarked on a “pattern” of behavior at Diddy’s parties, which he claims is an open secret among Hollywood elites.
“I have no doubt that there are individuals out there who know they were somehow involved in this, who are now scrubbing their social media, deleting texts, and trying to distance themselves from it,” he added. “We know who they are, or we will find out.”
“This is not something that will be resolved overnight, but I believe we are just at the tip of the iceberg.”