Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones Jr. has made more wild claims against Sean “Diddy” Combs in a sworn declaration to the court.
Jones, once an insider in the world of the Bad Boy Records mogul has recently offered the court a recording purportedly of Combs bragging about engaging in violent and illegal activities throughout his storied career.
Jones, a producer who collaborated with Combs on The Love Album: Off the Grid, claims to have firsthand knowledge and evidence of Combs’ illicit actions, including physical assault, tax evasion and, more disturbingly, the shooting of a woman.
“He shared how he would get things by force,” Lil Rod explained. “This included record deals, signatures on contracts, sex acts from women and men, as well as the women of his enemies.”
Jones alleges that Combs’ boasts on the recording encompass a wide variety of criminal activities—from coercing individuals into record deals and sexual acts to physically assaulting industry executives and evading taxes through offshore accounts.
Among the startling accusations Jones makes in his $30 million lawsuit against Combs, he asserts that he took pleasure in recounting his influence over celebrities and artists, particularly in manipulating circumstances to his favor.
Jones also recounts Combs admitting to involving Jennifer Lopez in potentially illegal activities, leveraging his position to have Shyne take the fall for a nightclub shooting in return for a record deal with Arista Records courtesy of L.A. Reid.
“He bragged about departed attorney Johnny Cochran’s savvy legal skills and ability to pay off the witnesses through private investigators and other third parties,” Jones claimed, explaining how Combs supposedly avoided conviction.
Jones also claimed Combs still reveled in aggressively handling record executive Steve Stoute over a business dispute over Nas’ “Hate Me Now” video. The assault left Stoute with a broken jaw and arm.
“Mr. Combs bragged about the power he has and the fact that he beat up record executive Steve Stoute’s ‘a##,'” Jones told the court. “He laughed uncontrollably as he talked about busting him in the head with a bottle of champagne and a chair. On another occasion, Mr. Combs bragged about beating up Gerard Rechnitzer outside of a nightclub in Hollywood.”
The lawsuit paints a picture of a man with considerable sway over the industry’s legal and financial machinations and claims Combs maintained control through investments in shell companies and the strategic movement of money to untraceable accounts overseas.
“Mr. Combs also informed me that only poor people pay taxes,” Jones claimed. “He shared that it is a common practice in the music industry to wire money from anonymous accounts overseas. This way, if there is ever a need to take care of a problem, it would never be traced back to him. These accounts were in Germany.”
Combs has already dismissed Jones’ lawsuit as “pure fiction” through his lawyer Shawn Holley, who slammed Jones and his lawyer Tyrone Blackburn for launching a lawsuit that was “nothing more than a transparent attempt to garner headlines.”
In addition to Jones’ legal action, Combs is being scrutinized by Homeland Security. The federal organization recently raided his mansions and Los Angeles, New York and Miami over alleged ties to a sex trafficking ring.
