A legal rep for Sean “Diddy” Combs says there’s no truth to claims the music mogul dangled a woman over the 17th-floor balcony of his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura’s apartment.
Fashion designer Bryana “Bana” Bongolan filed a lawsuit against Combs in Los Angeles, alleging sexual battery, infliction of emotional distress, and false imprisonment.
According to the court documents obtained by Rolling Stone, Bongolan alleges she had previously witnessed Combs physically abuse Ventura, which set him off when they came face-to-face in Ventura’s apartment.
Per the complaint, the aspiring fashion designer and her girlfriend were sleeping over at Ventura’s apartment on the night of Sept. 26, 2016, when Combs arrived in the early morning hours and began “violently” shouting and banging on Ventura’s front door.
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Bongolan says she was frightened and told her girlfriend to hide in a bathroom. A short time later, the complaint says Combs approached Bongolan, who was on the apartment’s balcony.
At that point, the fashion designer says there was a confrontation and Combs allegedly groped her breasts. The complaint says the mogul then grabbed Bongolan by her armpits, “lifted her up on the banister of the 17th floor balcony, and repeatedly yelled: ‘Do you know what the f–k you did? Do you know what the f–k you did?’”
The lawsuit says Bongolan tried to fight back, but Combs “immediately lifted her up higher and higher over the 17th floor balcony of Ms. Ventura’s apartment with only Combs’ grip keeping her from falling to her death.”
The complaint claims Diddy wanted to “terrorize” Bongolan.
“The only purpose of dangling someone over a balcony is to actually kill them or to intentionally terrorize them and rob them of any concept of dominion over their own bodily autonomy and safety,” reads the lawsuit, filed by attorney James R. Nikraftar of Los Angeles law firm Miller Barondess.
The complaint says Ventura locked herself in her bedroom, but ran to the balcony and “screamed” at Combs to stop.
“Recognizing the threat of so many witnesses to his assault, [Combs] pulled Ms. Bongolan back over the balcony,” the lawsuit claims. “But he did not release her. In a last fit of violence, he slammed Ms. Bongolan onto the balcony’s patio furniture, including a table.”
The fashion designer is seeking $10 million in damages for the emotional distress she says she suffered.
A legal representative for Combs released a statement over the weekend, denying the allegations in the lawsuit.
“Anyone has the right to file a lawsuit, regardless of the evidence they may or may not have. Since last year, Ms. Bongolan has expressed an intention to sue Mr. Combs and has sought legal representation to pursue her claims,” the rep said. “Mr. Combs firmly denies these serious allegations.
Ventura mentioned the incident in her November 2023 lawsuit against Combs, and said the balcony incident happened after she had returned home from a “freak-off.”
The 35-page complaint says: “Ms. Ventura and her friends were scared by Mr. Combs’s erratic behavior, but Ms. Ventura was heavily sedated because of the drugs she took to participate in the FO, and therefore was unable to respond to Mr. Combs’s terrifying behavior.”
Combs settled Ventura’s lawsuit the day after it was filed, but said the settlement was not an “admission of wrongdoing.”
The embattled mogul is currently jailed at Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
He was arrested on Sept. 16 and charged with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution. He denies wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty to all counts.
Combs has been denied bail by three different federal judges. He is scheduled to go on trial in May 2025.
