Diddy‘s gang rape accuser must reveal their identity if their lawsuit is to proceed, the judge overseeing the case has ruled.
A currently anonymous woman accused the Bad Boy boss and two other men — including former label president Harve Pierre — of taking turns raping her in a Manhattan recording studio when she was 17 years old in a lawsuit filed late last year.
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Diddy, who has vehemently denied the allegations, scored a minor victory in the case on Thursday (February 29) when the judge agreed with his legal team that the woman cannot remain anonymous.
According to Billboard, Judge Jessica G. L. Clarke acknowledged that revealing the accuser’s identity “could have a significant impact on her” due to the “graphic and disturbing allegations in this case,” but ultimately decided that she had failed to convince the courts that she should maintain anonymity.
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The judge wrote in her ruling: “While the court does not take plaintiff’s concerns lightly, the Court cannot rely on generalized, uncorroborated claims that disclosure would harm plaintiff to justify her anonymity.”
Clarke referred to past examples in high-profile lawsuits against Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey where accusers could not maintain an anonymous identity throughout the lawsuit.
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The accuser will not have to reveal their name immediately, though, as the judge must first rule on a previously filed motion from Diddy’s attorneys to dismiss the lawsuit.
If the judge rejects the motion, then the woman will have to reveal her identity.
Diddy had previously claimed that the woman had a “public-facing identity.”
The accuser had argued that she should be able to remain anonymous because of the media attention that would be attached to the case, while Puffy’s attorneys claimed that she should have to reveal her identity.
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The rap mogul is currently battling three other sexual assault lawsuits and has strongly denied all of the allegations within them.
The latest lawsuit against him was filed earlier this week by producer Lil Rod, who claims he was sexually harassed by Diddy while working on his album The Love Album: Off the Grid and was witness to him spiking drinks and soliciting underage prostitutes.
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A number of doubts have been cast on the lawsuit, though, including the claim that Diddy forced Rod to watch a video of Bad Boy producer Stevie J having sex with another man. An adult film star has since come forward and said it was him in the clip.
Two women pictured in the lawsuit that were alleged to be underage have also come forward to say that they were in fact in their 30s.
