Some big-name celebrities are quietly paying off victims to avoid being publicly named in lawsuits related to the Diddy sex assault case, according to a lawyer.
Attorney Tony Buzbee — who is representing more than 120 of Sean “Diddy” Combs’ alleged victims — told TMZ that huge stars are about to be sued by his firm and he’s giving them a chance to settle up before the claims hit public court.
Some celebrities have opted to settle, he said.
“In every single case, especially cases like this… because it’s in the best interests of the victim, we attempt to resolve these matters without the filing of a public lawsuit and we’ve done that already with a handful of individuals, many of which you’re heard of before,” Buzbee said, according to a report by the Daily Mail.
Buzbee will separately be lodging a slew of lawsuits – including on behalf of 25 minors – beginning this month. He has first sent out demand letters notifying others who will be sued in addition to Combs.
In fact, Buzbee said he’ll be “aggressively” going after anyone who saw the alleged abuse occurring and failed to act to protect victims.
“If you were there in the room, participated, watched it happen and didn’t say anything or helped cover it up, in my view, you have a problem,” the plaintiff lawyer said.
“A lot of people saw this activity going on, a lot of people allowed it to go on, said nothing, didn’t intervene… all of these individuals and entities have exposure.”
But the unveiling of notable names won’t start coming out this week, Buzbee said.
“Everyone is focused on what other celebrities were involved, who is going to be named, who is going to be outed. I don’t expect that to happen this week,” he said.
“We want to make sure if we name individuals beyond Mr. Combs that we have done our homework because it is going to create a firestorm, and we understand that.”
Combs, 54, has been behind bars since his Sept. 16 arrest on allegations he forced women to participate in drug-fueled “freak off” sex-sessions with male prostitutes that sometimes lasted days long.
The feds claim Combs carried out the abuse for more than a decade, often using violence or threats of violence to get his alleged victims to comply with his twisted wishes.
