Sara Rivers’ Claims Against Diddy Mostly Axed By Judge

According to reports, Diddy has won a legal victory against former Making The Band singer Sara Rivers, as a judge in New York has ruled that all of the charges save for one be dismissed. In the ruling issued Thursday (Aug. 14), U.S. District Court Judge Jed S. Rakoff ruled that 21 of the 22 charges within the lawsuit, which included racketeering, assault and battery, forced labor, and false imprisonment, be dismissed with prejudice. That means that she will be unable to file a new lawsuit containing those allegations against the Bad Boy Records founder.

Judge Rakoff’s ruling on the final charge read that “the determination of whether to dismiss, with or without prejudice, Count 15 (the Gender-Motivated Violence Protection Act claim) … is hereby stayed pending” a ruling from an appellate court. It leaves the door open to Rivers to file another suit based on that claim.

Rivers was part of the group Da Band who were the focus of the second season of the MTV reality series, and she filed her lawsuit against Diddy, aka Sean Combs, in February. She alleged that she was sexually assaulted by Diddy after visiting his studio, Daddy’s House, to record after being berated by the mogul who claimed that Rivers and her bandmates “lacked drive and initiative” in making their album. She stated that after she left the booth, she ran into Diddy who backed her into a corner and “ran his left hand across her breasts.”

Rivers also made more allegations while appearing in the Peacock documentary Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy released in January, stating that he “touched me in a place that he shouldn’t have” and spoke about how enraged he would be toward her and other members of Da Band. “When he got angry with one of my band members, he said, ‘You make me so mad, I want to eat your flesh,’” she recalled.

Ariel Mitchell, Rivers’ attorney, has stated that she and her client plan to appeal. Diddy is still incarcerated in the Metropolitan Detention Center in New York City, awaiting his sentencing after being convicted on two counts of engaging in transportation with the intent of prostitution in May. He and his legal team are still mounting an offense to release him from jail, including petitioning President Donald Trump for a federal pardon.