Who Are the Celebrities Named in the Diddy Lawsuit?

Across Sean “Diddy” Combs’ federal criminal trial and the wave of civil suits filed against him, the celebrities named in the Diddy lawsuit fall into very different categories. A handful were sued as co-defendants. Several testified as witnesses. Many more simply came up in text messages, exhibits, or a pretrial screening list, without any accusation attached. The distinction matters, because being mentioned in a courtroom is not the same as being accused of anything.

Celebrities Accused or Named as Co-Defendants in Civil Suits

More than 50 civil lawsuits have been filed against Combs, many by anonymous plaintiffs. Several of those complaints named other public figures.¹

Cuba Gooding Jr.

Music producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones sued Combs in February 2024 for $30 million and named Gooding as a co-defendant, alleging Gooding groped him on Combs’ yacht in January 2023.² Gooding was also mentioned in yacht stewardess Grace O’Marcaigh’s April 2024 complaint as a guest who allegedly behaved inappropriately toward Jones.³ Combs dismissed the Jones allegations as “pure fiction.”⁴

Jacob Arabov (“Jacob the Jeweler”)

Former adult film performer Adria English filed a July 2024 suit naming Arabov as a co-defendant, alleging she was forced into a sexual encounter with him following one of Combs’ parties and paid $1,000.⁵ Combs’ attorney denied the allegations.⁶

Christian “King” Combs

Diddy’s son was sued by O’Marcaigh in April 2024, accused of drugging and sexually assaulting her aboard a chartered yacht in December 2022. Sean Combs was named as a co-defendant for allegedly fostering the environment that enabled the assault.⁷ A family attorney called the claims “lewd and meritless.”⁸

Harve Pierre

The former Bad Boy Entertainment president was named as a co-defendant in a Jane Doe suit alleging he facilitated the rape of a 17-year-old in 2003, and faces a separate suit by a former assistant alleging sexual harassment and assault between 2016 and 2017.⁹

Aaron Hall

The singer was named as a co-defendant in a suit by Liza Gardner, who alleged that Combs and Hall sexually assaulted her when she was 16.

Jay-Z

Houston attorney Tony Buzbee, who represents more than 120 plaintiffs against Combs, filed a suit that identified Jay-Z (Shawn Carter) as “Celebrity A,” alleged to have been involved in a rape of a 13-year-old at one of Combs’ parties.¹⁰ That particular suit was withdrawn in February 2025.¹¹

Yung Miami

The rapper was mentioned in a Jane Doe suit as having allegedly harassed a plaintiff into having an abortion, and was also referenced in O’Marcaigh’s yacht complaint.

Named but Not Accused

Some public figures appeared in civil complaints without any accusation against them. The Jones suit named Universal Music Group CEO Lucian Grainge and former Motown Records chief Ethiopia Habtemariam, alleging they ignored red flags about Combs’ behavior, and referenced Prince Harry as a high-profile figure who associated with Combs.² French Montana was mentioned in the O’Marcaigh complaint as a yacht passenger.³ Jennifer Lopez was referenced in the April Lampros suit as Combs’ partner during incidents that allegedly occurred in the late 1990s. No allegations were made against Lopez, Harry, Grainge, Habtemariam, or Montana.

Combs’ legal team has called the civil suits “fabricated attempts to extort windfall payments.” All of the civil cases remain pending as of 2026.¹

Celebrities Who Testified at the Criminal Trial

The federal criminal trial was a separate matter, and no celebrity was a defendant. Several took the witness stand.

Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, Combs’ former girlfriend, was the prosecution’s star witness. She testified over multiple days about years of alleged physical and sexual abuse, including forced participation in drug-fueled sexual performances Combs called “freak offs.” She placed one alleged assault at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival premiere of Brad Pitt’s Killing Them Softly, and said Combs threatened to blow up Kid Cudi’s car after learning she was dating the rapper.¹² She also told jurors she compared Combs’ treatment of her to Ike Turner’s abuse of Tina Turner, and that she once performed at Prince’s home in secret.¹³

Kid Cudi (Scott Mescudi) testified on May 22, 2025, after being subpoenaed by prosecutors. He described a 2011 break-in at his Hollywood Hills home and a January 2012 incident in which his car was destroyed by a Molotov cocktail, saying he believed Combs was responsible. He told the court he “hated every minute” of testifying but did so to support Ventura.¹⁴

Dawn Richard, a former member of Danity Kane and Diddy–Dirty Money, testified that she repeatedly witnessed Combs physically abuse Ventura, including punching her in the stomach at a West Hollywood restaurant around 2010. Richard said Combs later threatened to “make her disappear” if she told anyone.¹⁵

Celebrities Named in Testimony Without Any Accusation

A much larger group of famous names surfaced only because a witness happened to mention them. None of these people were accused of misconduct in the criminal case.

Usher and Ne-Yo. Dawn Richard testified they were present at the West Hollywood restaurant dinner where she saw Combs punch Ventura.¹⁵

Leonardo DiCaprio, Mick Jagger, Chadwick Boseman, R. Kelly, Mike Myers, Georgina Chapman, and Madonna. All were mentioned by a former assistant testifying under the pseudonym “Mia.” Her text messages and a recorded birthday greeting were read or played in court: an underground poker game where DiCaprio allegedly grabbed her phone, a rejected offer from Jagger to take her home, a James Brown biopic role Boseman won over Combs, and a dream in which Combs rescued her from R. Kelly. Mia said she had previously worked for Myers and Chapman before joining Combs, and worked for Madonna for eight months afterward.¹³¹⁶

Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant, and Shaquille O’Neal. An anonymous witness identified only as “Jane” testified that she, Combs, and a male escort assigned themselves NBA-inspired nicknames during their encounters: Combs was “Jordan,” she was “Kobe Bryant,” and the escort was “Shaquille O’Neal.” The athletes themselves had no involvement.¹⁷

Barack Obama. Former assistant David James testified that Combs carried ecstasy pills shaped like Obama’s face.¹⁸

Jennifer Lopez and Rihanna. Makeup artist Mylah Morales mentioned them as clients she had worked with.¹³

Ray J. Witness Bryana Bongolan testified about a drug dealer she knew as “Ray J” but told jurors she did not believe this person was the famous singer of the same name.¹³

Beyoncé. Defense attorney Marc Agnifilo invoked her in closing arguments as a rhetorical comparison, arguing that Combs’ employees were no more members of a criminal enterprise than Beyoncé’s would be.¹²

The Jury Selection List

When jury selection began on May 5, 2025, prospective jurors received a list of at least 190 names of people and places that might come up during trial. Inclusion was a screening tool, meant only to flag potential juror connections. Being on the list did not mean a person would testify or be accused of anything.¹⁹

The list included Michael B. Jordan, Kanye West, Mike Myers, Michelle Williams of Destiny’s Child, Lauren London, Dawn Richard, and Dallas Austin.²⁰ A source confirmed Michael B. Jordan would not be a witness; his name appeared because he had briefly dated Ventura in 2015, a relationship that allegedly angered Combs.²¹ Attorneys gave no official explanation for other names, though Combs’ long history of hosting high-profile parties made his social orbit unusually large.²² Kanye West did appear at the courthouse on June 13, 2025, sitting in an overflow room and telling reporters he was there to support Combs. He never entered the main courtroom.²³

Usher’s Long-Standing Connection

Usher was neither a defendant nor a witness, but his name came up repeatedly because of a long-known history. As a teenager in the mid-1990s, he was sent to live with Combs in New York to work on his debut album. In a 2004 Rolling Stone interview, Usher said Combs introduced him to “a totally different set of s***—sex, specifically,” and described seeing an orgy at the house. On The Howard Stern Show in 2016, he called it “pretty wild” and said he would not send his own child to such an environment.²⁴

During the trial, Dawn Richard placed Usher at the West Hollywood restaurant where she said Combs punched Ventura.²⁴ In a March 2026 Forbes interview, Usher defended Combs as a “mentor” and “really, really hard teacher,” saying his own experience “was not what the world has seen.”²⁵

1
New York Times. Sean Combs Diddy Civil Lawsuits
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Los Angeles Times. Cuba Gooding Jr Diddy Lawsuit Lil Rod Sean Combs Sexual Assault
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Deadline. Combs Conformed Suit
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New York Daily News. Sean Diddy Combs Slams Accuser Information Seeking Cuba Gooding Jr
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Pitchfork. Sean Diddy Combs Sued for Alleged Sex Trafficking at Parties
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Vanity Fair. Sean Combs Grand Jury Adria English
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Rolling Stone. Sean Combs Son Christian Combs Sued Sexual Assault
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NBC News. Sean Diddy Combs Son Christian Combs Sexual Assault Lawsuit Yacht
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Rolling Stone. Bad Boy Harve Pierre Sued Sexual Assault Negligence
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BBC. Tony Buzbee Diddy Lawsuits
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Click2Houston. Houston Attorney Tony Buzbee Expands Lawsuits Against Sean Diddy Combs
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USA Today. Diddy Trial Celebrities Court
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NewsNation. Diddy Trial Celebrities Named in Court
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NBC News. Kid Cudi Hated Testifying Diddy Trial
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PBS NewsHour. Singer Dawn Richard Says Sean Combs Threatened to Make Her Disappear
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USA Today. Diddy Trial R Kelly Mia Text Messages
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People. Diddy Ex Sex Worker Trifecta NBA Nicknames
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Fox News. Diddy Prosecution Nears Close
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Newsweek. Diddy Trial Celebrities Mentioned Jury Selection
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Variety. Diddy Trial Celebrities Named Michael B Jordan Kanye West
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People. Diddy Trial Jurors Asked to Recognize Michael B Jordan
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E! Online. Diddy Trial Michael B Jordan Kanye West Name Dropped
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CBS News. Kanye West Attends Trial of Sean Diddy Combs
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Grazia Daily. Will Usher Testify in Diddy Trial
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Yahoo Entertainment. Usher Speaks Diddy Relationship Misrepresented