A bodyguard named in a September lawsuit that accused him and Sean “Diddy” Combs of “viciously raping” a woman in 2001 is now suing the accuser for defamation and emotional distress.
Joseph Sherman filed the defamation suit against Thalia Graves in New York federal court on Friday, with his attorneys calling Graves’ allegations “utterly false and untrue,” according to USA Today. Sherman’s legal team asserted that he worked with Combs only in 1999, years before the events alleged in Graves’ lawsuit.
In the filing, Sherman’s attorneys claim that Graves and her legal team are attempting to “blackmail” him, alleging that they “made outrageous, disgusting, and life-altering statements … without any regard for the truth.” The attorneys added: “Joseph Sherman has never met Thalia Graves, let alone raped her.”
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Sherman claims he continues to suffer “severe reputational harm, emotional distress, and financial damages” as a result of Graves’ lawsuit. He also alleges that Graves messaged him, asking for “false testimony against Sean Combs” in exchange for leaving him out of legal proceedings.
A lawyer for Graves declined to comment.
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According to court documents, Graves filed her lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York in September. In her complaint, she alleged that she was dating one of Combs’ employees in 2001, and claimed that Combs and Sherman drugged, bound, and raped her at the Bad Boy Records studio in New York City that summer. She is seeking relief for gender-motivated violence and alleged violations of New York law for recording and sharing footage of the assault.
Following the filing, Graves held a press conference with her attorney, Gloria Allred. In an emotional statement, Graves expressed the depth of her trauma, saying, “The internal pain after being sexually assaulted has been incredibly deep and hard to put into words.”
In November 2023, Graves reportedly discovered that Combs and Sherman had recorded the alleged assault and had shown it to “multiple men,” aiming to publicly degrade and humiliate her and her boyfriend. She claims the footage was also sold as pornography. Graves alleges she tried to contact Sherman to have the tape destroyed or returned to her, but received no response.
Graves seeks compensatory and punitive damages, along with a court order requiring Combs and Sherman to destroy all copies and images of the alleged assault video and prohibiting its further distribution.
Her lawsuit is one of approximately 30 civil cases filed over the past year that accuse Combs of sexual and physical assault, sex trafficking, battery, and gender discrimination, among other allegations. Combs has maintained his innocence and, in September, pleaded not guilty to criminal charges of racketeering, sex trafficking, and prostitution-related offenses.
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