A hotline set up for Diddy’s victims was reportedly inundated with 12,000 calls in just 24 hours, as 120 individuals prepare to file lawsuits against the rapper.
Earlier this week, lawyer Tony Buzbee made the hotline public, encouraging Diddy’s victims or anyone with knowledge of his alleged crimes to come forward. Combs was arrested last month in Manhattan following an investigation into his alleged sex trafficking crimes, where he is accused of drugging and raping victims as young as nine years old.
“When I made the announcement that I was going to pursue these cases, the floodgates really opened,” Buzbee told Law & Crime. “The volume of calls has been overwhelming and it’s been kind of shocking.”
Within the first 10 days of the hotline’s activation, Buzbee’s team received around 3,200 calls. However, after the press conference on Tuesday, the number surged to 12,000 calls in just 24 hours.
“Our Herculean task is to try to sift through every one of these calls and make sure that we’re identifying those who are Diddy’s victims and those who are witnesses, while collecting evidence,” Buzbee explained.
Buzbee’s legal team, comprising around 100 people, is preparing to file civil cases within the next 30 days. They’ve already gathered enough evidence to file lawsuits on behalf of 120 victims against the rapper. Of the 120 Diddy’s victims, 25 were underage at the time of the abuse, with the youngest being just 9, 14, and 15 years old. One particularly disturbing case involves a 9-year-old who was taken to an audition at Bad Boy Records in New York City, where he was allegedly sexually abused by Combs and others, with the promise of a record deal to him and his parents.
The claims come from individuals seeking TV or music careers, as well as those who were simply invited to Diddy’s infamous afterparties. Buzbee noted that his team is looking for every potentially liable party, including entities or individuals who were involved, facilitated, or benefited from the abuse. While Buzbee’s team was initially taken aback by the volume of calls, they are now combing through 25 years’ worth of alleged behaviour at album release events, Diddy’s White Parties, and other gatherings.
Some of the upcoming cases will involve names that may shock the public, though Buzbee has refrained from revealing high-profile identities for now. “There was a pattern of behavior at Diddy’s parties, and it was an open secret among Hollywood’s elite,” Buzbee said. He believes people involved are now trying to cover their tracks, but he is confident that they will be identified.
“This is not something that’s going to happen overnight, but I think we’re just at the tip of the iceberg,” he concluded.
