Rianna Croxford
Appearances
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
Do you feel like anyone in the office believed that you might be capable of that?
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
So that's really one of the threads that we pulled out over the last few months. And why specifically focusing on the 90s? So there have been so many allegations against Sean Combs. And more than a dozen of those claims do date back to the 90s. In that era, we really see the creation and invention of Sean Combs, who back then was known as Puff Daddy.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
Yeah, so Daniel isn't the only former staffer to tell me that they walked in on Sean Combs having sex. So I've also spoken with a woman called Felicia Newsome. She was the studio manager of Daddy's House, Bad Boys recording studio, back in the 90s. She opened the studio and ran it for six years. And she told me about an incident where she was called by...
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
a studio worker in the middle of the night who was complaining that Sean Combs was in his underwear in the mailroom asking them to get him condoms because he was just about to have sex with a model and another woman. And this staffer was feeling really uncomfortable. So Felicia says she gets this phone call. She goes straight to the recording studio.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
Diddy is still there, only this time he's a little bit more dressed up. And she basically has a go at him. She's like, don't you ever ask any of my employees at this studio to get you condoms again. And Felicia, for context, is a little bit older than the others. She's in her 30s. At the time, Diddy's in his 20s.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
And she says he kind of responds quite humbly being like, I'm sorry, Ma, you know, I'll never do it again. And she said that he never did do it again. But what I found quite interesting speaking with Felicia was that she sort of came across as quite a strong female influence. She kind of called Diddy out on some of his behaviour.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
And she talked, for instance, about when the studio was first opening in 1995. Diddy was really uncomfortable and hated the way that the countertops looked. So he basically starts insulting her and berating her in front of all of the studio workers because he's really upset about the look of these countertops.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
And Felicia gets so annoyed that she demands a public apology from Diddy and also temporarily shuts down the studio. She's like, you know what, if you're going to disrespect me, I'm going to lock up this studio until I get an apology. And Diddy does apologise and doesn't do it again. So she talked about how... He could be reasonable if you pushed back and challenged his behaviour.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
But she described as a comparison that Bad Boy Records was like a crazy house in that a lot of the newer employees who came in, many of them didn't want to challenge Diddy or push back at him because at that point he was so successful. He was a multi-millionaire and the label really was reaching new heights.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
Yeah, exposing young people to that kind of culture. And you're right, you know, I have spoken with people who, you know, I've put some of these claims to them and they've said, sex in the studio? Well, that was a dream state, a goal state for many people in the industry. I mean, why would you not do that? Why would you not enjoy all the trappings of being a high net worth celebrity?
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
People want to hang out with you. You know, they talked about there being lots of groupies back in the day around that as well. But... I think in the view of some people, it does cross the line when you're bringing other employees into that atmosphere.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
We see him at the start of the decade go from this up and coming rising star at Uptown Records. And by the end of it, he's running his own Grammy award-winning music label, bringing in millions and millions of dollars. We also start to see the development of many of his personas.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
Well, I think for some people it was like, as you said earlier, this is just what happens. You know, he's really rich. And, you know, I heard, for instance, that, you know, it wasn't unusual, according to a former assistant of Sean Combs, for him to request for women to be flown in to meet with him as well.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
So if he was travelling and out and about, you know, his assistants would be asked, you know, can you fly in this woman who I'm, quote, messing around with and put her up in this hotel so that I can see her? People just saw that as part of the lifestyle.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
No, I mean, my colleague and I have contacted more than 350 people as part of this investigation. Some people were open to talking. You know, a lot of people are still fearful about speaking out against someone like Sean Combs, but also just more broadly worried about tarnishing the legacy of the label, especially people who... got their starts there.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
But, you know, I've met with Daniel quite a few times. I was out in New York for quite some time working on a different project. So, you know, we would meet up a few times and sort of talk about his experiences. And after some time, yeah, he did feel comfortable kind of going on camera and sharing his own story and his own experience about being at the label.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
That's right. We wrote to his legal team and they've given us this statement saying that the BBC has failed to provide them with any substantive details about these accusations. And they say that these allegations lack context and credibility.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
They said it was impossible for Mr Combs to present any facts and counter what they described as fabricated accusations, saying that this story is clearly designed to push a one-sided prejudicial narrative. They also said that Mr Combs cannot dignify every publicity stunt or absurd claim with a response, and they said he has full confidence in the judicial process where the truth will prevail.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
saying that these accusations are pure fiction.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
Absolutely. And we also don't go in with an agenda. You know, we've contacted more than 350 people. We've spoken to about 20 to 30 people about their experiences. And we asked really open questions. And of course, you ask people what they make of the allegations. And people have lots of different responses to that.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
So, you know, everything that we do has to be fact-checked, has to be corroborated. So while Daniel Evans, Felicia Newsom and others are on the record about their experiences, there are plenty of people we've spoken to behind the scenes. We've put these claims to get their view on what was going on. And we have had these claims corroborated.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
At the beginning of the 90s, he's this brash and bold music promoter. And by the end, he's got this reputation as a party king.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
That's right. He says he's got about 10 new lawsuits that he's going to be filing in the coming days.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
Well, Sean Combs, his legal team sent this statement overnight. They said they can't respond to every new claim, but they have full confidence in the facts and the integrity of the judicial process. So in court, they said the truth will prevail, that Mr. Combs never sexually assaulted or trafficked anyone, man or woman, adult or minor.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
I think something else to pick up on, we have spoken to people who really do love Sean Combs. I've spoken with some of his close friends who worked with him at the label back in the 90s. Someone like Geoffrey Walker, who was a producer for the original production team. making beats with Diddy.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
And, you know, he says many people in Diddy's inner circle are totally shocked by these allegations that they've never witnessed any misconduct, that they've been to studio sessions, that they've never seen anything like this going on. So there are a lot of people who are devastated by what's happened. I think that's also because...
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
He's such a cultural icon, especially also in the black community. And just in general, you know, Bad Boy Records over the past 30 years and Bad Boy Entertainment, it had dozens of interns. Like we're talking like hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of interns. And a lot of people I've spoken with more broadly are just devastated that they're now scrubbing their CVs.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
They can't mention that they worked at this company or that they worked for him. And for a lot of people who got their start there, that's been quite devastating, seeing this legacy, the legacy of this label, be tarnished and sort of crumble along with Diddy's own reputation.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
People are scared and I think also people are worried that they don't want to kind of come in and accuse people of being, you know, money grabbers or having false allegations. So I think they've been finding it difficult to reconcile what they've been hearing with the man that they knew and sort of piecing those two bits together.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
A lot of people are worried that he might not have a fair trial just because there have been so many lawsuits and so many allegations out there about him. And they're worried about what that means. And even Daniel Evans, for instance, you know, he was sceptical about some of the initial allegations, didn't want to believe it. Yes, he believed that Puffy had a temper or Sean Combs had a temper.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
Yes, he'd seen him make violent threats. But he said to me, you know, it wasn't until he saw that video of Cassie back in 2016 in that hotel in LA being brutally beaten by Sean Combs that he sort of sat there and thought, my God, that's really hard to watch. That's really hard to see. But I think what I found most interesting as well is there was this really...
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
He's throwing these massive celebrity bashes at New York nightclubs, on the beaches of Cancun, Mexico, but also in the Hamptons, his infamous all-white parties. It's also a decade where he has quite a few highs and lows. The label's really successful. It's... having all of these number one hits on the Billboard charts.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
great quote from a guy called Jimmy Maines, who worked with Sean Combs back at Uptown Records in the early 90s, was one of his colleagues. And he also grew up with Combs as well in Mount Vernon, New York. And he said to me something that feels really fitting. He was like, one could see Sean Combs as a monster. He's like, that's not how I see him. That's not the Puffy that I knew.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
Or he said, you know, somebody could say, this is what money does to you. And maybe money just gives you the freedom to be who you really are. And he was that guy all along. So it's been quite interesting hearing about how money and power influenced and shaped him in those early days.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
If you die on the mountain, you stay on the mountain.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
But he's also dealing with losses like the death of his friend, Biggie Smalls, who was the biggest star at the label back in the 90s.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
So there are lots of these challenges and it really is quite a career and character defining era.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
So we heard a lot about the makings of Diddy and how he changed, namely how money and power changed him. But we also spoke with a lot of insiders who worked at Bad Boy Records at the very beginning. And a lot of them described a culture back then of violent threats, of sex and also of impunity. I had an exclusive interview with this man called Daniel Evans.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
Now, he was one of only a handful of original employees at Bad Boy Records in the early 90s. He was very much the money man. So he worked at the company from 1994 to 1997. And basically his role was to manage business contracts, budgets and general expenditure.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
I know you described at the beginning a sort of, like, hookup culture. Was that also happening with interns?
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
Yeah. How common do you think it was back then for things like this to go on?
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
So Daniel talked a lot about how there are actually quite a number of women at this label back in the 90s and He said it wasn't uncommon for people to be hooking up with women. And he himself said that he walked in on his boss, Sean Diddy Combs, back in the early 90s, with a young woman in the recording studio.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
And you said that this young woman seemed quite quiet. Did that change at all? Or was she still quite quiet in the moment?
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
And so you're saying that she was quite quiet when she arrived, but when you walked in on them, she also still seemed quite quiet then?
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
And what do you mean by that, just so I'm clear?
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
And how do you feel looking back on it now in light of some of the allegations that we've been hearing about?
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
Right, so Daniel also says as part of his job, and he knows this because he was the finance man, other artists and executives at the label would request for women across the States to be flown into the studio for sex.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
So it wasn't uncommon to fly women in to have sex in the studio?
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
It's kind of like- Because the label was making so much money back then.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
I mean, how much money do you think was spent on these flights, on bringing people in?
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
So I've been following the story since November 2023, when we all saw those headlines about Cassie Ventura. And then it wasn't really until he was arrested in September when my colleague and I started saying, should we do something about this? And one of the questions we had was, were there potential signs about his alleged conduct all the way back in the 90s when he first started his career?
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
I mean, what would you even expense it under? Travel. Under travel? Yeah.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
There was this broader corporate culture where it wasn't unusual for employees to be asking for women to be flown to New York for sex. And that was really striking. That's something that we haven't heard to date. I think it raises a lot of questions about how that company was being run and the sort of standards in place and the culture around that.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
And he described some of the things that he said had troubled him back during his time at the company. So he talked, for instance, about this hookup culture with interns and said he'd had his own uncomfortable experience when he says he was propositioned by a 14-year-old at the company. He said he was sort of taken aback. They had been working late at night.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
And she sort of turned to him and said, do you want to kind of let loose and kick it after work? And yeah, he said he was totally taken aback. He was 24 at the time. She then told him that she was 14. And he said he basically told her to go home, to not come back to work. But two weeks later, she was back working in the mailroom.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
It was a general culture. I haven't heard any specific allegations about... Diddy hanging out with interns in that way but a number of staff have said and confirmed that there was a hook-up culture there more broadly and they said they were all sort of young 20-somethings and nobody was asking about ages back then.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
Absolutely. I mean, think back to the 90s. At the beginning, Diddy was an intern at another record label. Two years later, you know, after he gets fired from Uptown Records, he starts Bad Boy and becomes an overnight millionaire. And that's in 1993. Now, Daniel Evans describes an incident in 1997 when he says Diddy is getting really annoyed at an employee in the Bad Boy offices in New York.
Diddy On Trial
BBC exclusive: ‘Women flown in for sex’
How do you feel that sudden rise and all of the money that was coming in, did it have an impact on Puffy, on Sean as a person? Do you feel like he changed during that time? Like over the first few years of the company?
Diddy On Trial
Breaking: Jay Z denies civil suit allegation
Now, she says, back when she was 13, going to the Video Music Awards was on her bucket list. Und so sagt sie, ein Freund hat sie am Radio-Musik-City-Hall in New York verlassen, das war damals ein Publikum, um es zu besuchen. Aber sie hatte kein Ticket und konnte also nicht rein.
Diddy On Trial
Breaking: Jay Z denies civil suit allegation
Also sagt sie, sie beginnt, mit vielen verschiedenen Limousinen-Drohungen zu sprechen, hofft, es in ein Afterparty zu machen, wenn nicht, sich selbst ein Ticket zu bekommen. Und sie sagt, sie spricht mit einem Limo-Driver, der sagt, er arbeitet für P. Diddy. Und sagt, dass sie nur das ist, was Diddy sucht. Und dass sie zu einem Nachmittagsparty mit ihm gehen kann.
Diddy On Trial
Breaking: Jay Z denies civil suit allegation
Also wartet sie herum und sagt, am Ende des Wettbewerbs, sie wurde von diesem Limo-Driver gekriegt, der sie zu dem, was sie beschreibt, als einer großen weißen Wohnung bringt. Als sie sie kriegt, sagt sie, dass sie einen Vertrag zu signen hat, den sie glaubt, ein Non-Disclosure-Verein ist. Und dann sagt sie, sie geht in diese Party und es gibt viele Celebritäten.
Diddy On Trial
Breaking: Jay Z denies civil suit allegation
Jeder trinkt, die Leute machen Drogen. Und sie sagt, sie hat eine Trinktasche von einem Waiter gegeben. Nach einer Sitzung, sagt sie, fühlt sie sich ein bisschen wütend. And so goes into a back room to lie down. At which point she claims that P. Diddy and Jay-Z come into the room along with a third unnamed female celebrity. And she claims that Jay-Z and P. Diddy take it in turns to assault her.
Diddy On Trial
Breaking: Jay Z denies civil suit allegation
Sie sagt, sie ist nur able to escape after she punches P. Diddy in the neck, at which point she's barely got any clothes on. She says she runs out of the room, leaves the house and starts trying to retrace the steps and the route that the car had taken. She finds herself at a gas station There's a woman there, a female clerk, who allows her to take a call.
Diddy On Trial
Breaking: Jay Z denies civil suit allegation
She calls up her father, who comes to collect her, and says ever since she suffered from depression and experienced PTSD. So those are the allegations. And she basically says nobody intervened, including this third unnamed celebrity, who she says was in the room at the time of the alleged assault.
Diddy On Trial
Breaking: Jay Z denies civil suit allegation
There isn't, but as you know, there has been a lot of speculation on social media for months. Ever since Tony Busby, one of the main lawyers, spoke out, he said that there would be more names coming forward. And now we're seeing that in the past 24 hours with the naming of Jay-Z. But there's no indication of who this third unnamed celebrity is. All we know is that they're female.
Diddy On Trial
Breaking: Jay Z denies civil suit allegation
And at the moment they're going by the pseudonym Celebrity B. But I'm not going to add fuel to the fire in terms of all the speculation going around. So we'll have to wait and see if in time this complaint is yet again amended to include their name.
Diddy On Trial
Breaking: Jay Z denies civil suit allegation
Jay-Z... hat durch sein Legal Team und in einem Statement gesagt, dass er, nachdem dieser Beurteilung im Oktober geöffnet wurde, eine Anfrage bekommen hat, die er als Blackmail-Attemptung genannt hat. Von Tony Busby, dem Arbeiter, der diese Frau repräsentiert, der vorgekommen ist, basically calling for a mediation.
Diddy On Trial
Breaking: Jay Z denies civil suit allegation
He was saying that they were trying to push for a financial settlement to stop these allegations from becoming public. But he said he refused. He pushed back. And he said that he wouldn't pay what he called one single red penny towards these allegations, which he claims are false.
Diddy On Trial
Breaking: Jay Z denies civil suit allegation
So, he also makes the point that Er denkt, dass jeder, der daran verurteilt wird, einen kriminellen Anruf machen sollte und nicht einen zivilen Anruf. Und natürlich wissen wir, dass die große Unterschiede mit dem ist, dass mit einem zivilen Anruf manchmal der Remedien ein finanzielles Verhältnis ist. Du bekommst Kompensation.
Diddy On Trial
Breaking: Jay Z denies civil suit allegation
Und mit einem kriminellen Anruf, das natürlich zu einem Trial oder einer Vergewaltigung führen könnte. if the FBI and the police investigate. Now, he's saying he's in a very uncomfortable position, that he's heartbroken for his family. His daughter, Blue Ivy, is at an age where, of course, she's on social media seeing these allegations.
Diddy On Trial
Breaking: Jay Z denies civil suit allegation
And so he's having to have very difficult conversations, he said, with his family in the wake of this.
Diddy On Trial
Breaking: Jay Z denies civil suit allegation
So Jay-Z has said in a statement to NBC News, and I'm just going to read from it now, that these allegations are so heinous in nature that I implore you to file a criminal complaint, not a civil one. So that's what he told NBC News. And he said, these alleged victims would deserve real justice if that were the case.
Diddy On Trial
Breaking: Jay Z denies civil suit allegation
But he's basically lashed out again, criticizing Tony Busby, the lawyer who's brought this lawsuit, calling him an ambulance chaser in a cheap suit.
Diddy On Trial
Breaking: Jay Z denies civil suit allegation
He has. So he's pushed back, saying that his client initially didn't ask for compensation. She asked for what he calls a mediation, a kind of private confidential discussion between both parties to see if they could... um diese Begründung zu lösen.
Diddy On Trial
Breaking: Jay Z denies civil suit allegation
Und er sagt, seitdem er Jay-Zs Firmen kontaktiert hat, Jay-Zs, ähm, Jay-Zs, äh, Entschuldigung, seitdem er Jay-Zs Geräte kontaktiert hat, antworteten sie ihm, aber auch, ähm, verhandelten ihn und seine Familie als Resultat dieser Begründung. Er sagt also, er hat viel Intimidierung, wie auch sein Klient, seitdem er Jay-Z kontaktiert hat, über diese Begründungen.
Diddy On Trial
Breaking: Jay Z denies civil suit allegation
He hasn't, but he has put out some statements on social media. And if you recall, a few weeks ago, Tony Busby did make an Instagram post where he said an anonymous celebrity had sued him as a result of some of these allegations. But only just now have we learned that that person was Jay-Z.
Diddy On Trial
Breaking: Jay Z denies civil suit allegation
Ich meine, es werden so viele Megafans sein, die es einfach nicht glauben wollen. Ich meine, auch jetzt, ich habe meine eigene Investition in das Thema gemacht. Ich habe viele Leute gesprochen, die P. Diddy kannten. Und auch jetzt, mit mehr als zwei Dutzend Anrufen, die rausgekommen sind,
Diddy On Trial
Breaking: Jay Z denies civil suit allegation
sie können die Angelegenheiten immer noch nicht mit einer Person, die sie kennen und die sie wussten, verabschieden. Und wir sehen das auch mit Jay-Z. Viele von seinen Fans kommen raus und sagen, dass die Leute Geldhändler sind. Viele unbegründete und grundsätzliche Angelegenheiten darüber, was passiert ist. Viele Leute wollen das einfach nicht glauben. Und das ist ein riesiger Deal.
Diddy On Trial
Breaking: Jay Z denies civil suit allegation
Jay-Z wird als einer der Könige des Hip-Hop gesehen. Letztes Jahr hat Billboard ihn als den größten Rapper aller Zeiten genannt. Er hat einen Wert von mehr als 2 Billionen Dollar. Das wird Wälder machen. Und ich denke, dass so viele Leute auf Social Media gefragt haben, wer die Namen sind, wer die anderen Leute sind, die an diesen Partien sind.
Diddy On Trial
Breaking: Jay Z denies civil suit allegation
I think people are going to think maybe more names might start coming out of the woodworks now. But also, as I said, people just don't want to believe it. You just don't want to believe that the person you grew up listening to could be at the center of allegations like these.
Diddy On Trial
Breaking: Jay Z denies civil suit allegation
They have. They said that this lawsuit is the latest in what they call a series of shameless publicity stunts, designed to extract payment from celebrities who fear having lies spread about them. So just like Jay-Z, they're saying this is an extortion attempt basically to come after wealthy people.
Diddy On Trial
Breaking: Jay Z denies civil suit allegation
Und wenn man sich auf das, was du da gesagt hast, anschaut, dann ist das auch so ein großes Problem, weil, ich meine, auch Jay-Z, er spricht von sich selbst, als hätte er den amerikanischen Traum personifiziert. Ein Kerl, der aus Brooklyn kam, der auf den Topf der Hip-Hop-Welt gestiegen ist.
Diddy On Trial
Breaking: Jay Z denies civil suit allegation
Jemand, der nicht nur Billionen von Musik, von Fashion Labels gemacht hat, sondern er ist auch ein großer Philanthropist und hat viel zurückgegeben an die Gemeinschaft. Ich denke, es gibt viele Leute, die es schwierig finden, diese Person zu zerstören, die so eine inspirierende Figur ist. In the community, you know, having now been accused of something just like this.
Diddy On Trial
Breaking: Jay Z denies civil suit allegation
Some really shocking allegations. So this lawsuit was originally filed in October. But then it was updated just yesterday to include the name of Jay-Z as a defendant. Now, a woman has come forward saying, when she was 13, she was drugged and raped by P. Diddy and Jay-Z, also known as Sean Carter, at an after party following the VMA Awards in 2000.