Sean “Diddy” Combs Faces $20 Million Trafficking Lawsuit as Claims Move Forward

A federal judge has allowed Clayton Howard’s $20 million civil human‑trafficking lawsuit against music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs to proceed. Howard alleges that, over a decade, he was drugged, isolated in hotel suites and shuttled between cities on Combs’s expenses, seeking damages for physical harm, lost income and a claimed STD transmitted by Cassie Ventura.

The court kept the federal and California trafficking counts alive but dismissed other claims, including a RICO charge and a Florida trafficking count that fell outside the filing window. Claims against Cassie Ventura were dismissed with leave to amend; Howard has 14 days to refile more specific allegations or risk losing that portion of the case. Judge Anne Hwang issued the ruling, and the lawsuit remains pending with no trial date set.