Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Wins Dismissal Of Lil Rod’s RICO Claims, But Case Moves Forward
The ruling dismissed sweeping accusations under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, but allowed claims of sexual assault and sex trafficking to go on.
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A federal judge has dismissed civil racketeering accusations and other claims filed against Sean “Diddy” Combs by former collaborator Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, though he also allowed parts of the music producer’s sexual abuse lawsuit to move forward.
In a decision issued Monday, Judge J. Paul Oetken ruled that Jones could not sue Diddy and others under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act – the federal “RICO” law often used against the Mafia and the same statute prosecutors are citing in their criminal case against Combs.
The judge said Jones hadn’t shown that the alleged illegal “enterprise” operated by Diddy – the kind of illicit operation outlawed by RICO – had directly caused the star to renege on paying Jones for his work Combs’ Love Album.
“The court cannot identify any such causal link,” Oetken wrote. “Defendants’ alleged sex, drug, and gun trafficking activities — the vast majority of the predicate acts pleaded in the operative complaint — did not foreseeably or naturally preclude defendants from honoring their recording contract with Jones.”
Monday’s ruling dismissed the RICO charge against Combs, his chief of staff Kristina Khorram and his businesses. The judge also dismissed Jones’ breach of contract claim and several claims emotional distress, finding them legally deficient.
But Oetken allowed several other key accusations to proceed, including sex trafficking, sexual assault and the claim that Combs is liable for an alleged assault perpetrated by others at his house. Those claims will now proceed into more litigation and toward an eventual trial.
Reps for the defendants and an attorney for Jones did not immediately return a request for comment. Combs has repeatedly denied all allegations of wrongdoing; Khorram denied the accusations to CNN last week, saying she “never condoned or aided and abetted the sexual assault of anyone.”
Jones sued Combs in March 2024, accusing the rapper of assaulting him while he was working as a producer on the Love Album. But the case went far beyond that, also leveling sweeping allegations about a vast RICO conspiracy involving numerous others, including not just Khorram but also Universal Music Group and CEO Lucian Grainge.
After UMG and Grainge said they would seek penalties over those “recklessly false” allegations, Jones’ attorney Tyrone Blackburn conceded that there had been “no legal basis” for filing them and asked to have them “withdrawn immediately.”
In Monday’s decision, Oetken sharply criticized Blackburn, saying he found the lawyer’s conduct in the case “unsettling.” He noted that court filings had been filled with “insults, misstatements, and exaggerations,” and said Blackburn had leveled “schoolyard taunts” at opposing lawyers.
In one incident, the judge said Blackburn had referenced the criminal case before saying Combs and his companies were “presumed guilty of being a RICO criminal organization” – an obvious inversion of the bedrock “innocent until proven guilty” standard at the heart of American criminal law.
“That any licensed member of the bar would espouse such an absurd understanding of the law is not just disturbing, but shocking,” the judge wrote Monday. “While the court will not hold Blackburn’s antics against Jones at this point, it warns Blackburn that further misconduct may lead to sanctions or to referral for discipline.”
Jones’ lawsuit is just one of dozens filed against Combs over the past year accusing him of serious sexual abuse and other wrongdoing. He’s also facing a criminal trial in May on federal RICO and sex trafficking charges; if convicted, he’s looking at a potential life prison sentence.
