Houston: A team of lawyers has announced it would be filing more than 100 sexual assault lawsuits against Sean Combs, a massive legal action that appears to have few if any precedents in the #MeToo era.

The lawsuits would exponentially increase the number of sexual abuse accusations against the embattled music producer, commonly known by his stage name Diddy.

“The biggest secret in the entertainment industry, that really wasn’t a secret at all, has finally been revealed to the world,” said Tony Buzbee, one of the lead attorneys, at a news conference in Houston on Tuesday (Wednesday AEST). “The wall of silence has now been broken.”

Plaintiffs will also be represented by Andrew Van Arsdale, who previously represented hundreds of victims in a sexual abuse lawsuit against the Boy Scouts of America. He called the forthcoming filings “unprecedented in scope” in an interview with The Washington Post.

Van Arsdale said Combs’ alleged victims include a roughly equal number of men and women, who ranged in age from nine to 38 at the time of the attacks. The alleged assaults span a 20-year period in the 2000s and 2010s, when Combs was at the height of his celebrity. The victims felt compelled to come forward after Combs was arrested and denied bond last month, Van Arsdale said, saying that the criminal charges validated their experiences after many victims spent years blaming themselves.

Loading

Van Arsdale said 120 individual lawsuits will be filed in New York, California and Florida, beginning within the next month.

Erica Wolff, a lawyer for Combs, denied the allegations in a statement. “As Mr Combs’ legal team has emphasised, he cannot address every meritless allegation in what has become a reckless media circus. That said, Mr Combs emphatically and categorically denies as false and defamatory any claim that he sexually abused anyone, including minors. He looks forward to proving his innocence and vindicating himself in court, where the truth will be established based on evidence, not speculation.”

The alleged assaults happened primarily in New York – either in Manhattan or the Hamptons – as well as Los Angeles and Miami, Buzbee said at the news conference. They allegedly took place at well-known venues, hotels and private residences, including holiday parties and album release celebrations. Assaults were also alleged to have occurred at auditions and Combs’ famous and well-attended White Parties, which he held regularly in the early 2000s.