Jodeci singer DeVanté Swing is now caught up in a sexual assault lawsuit against Diddy involving a woman who was 16 years old at the time of the alleged incident.
The embattled Bad Boy Records head is facing multiple lawsuits from several different women on top of his federal case for sex trafficking, kidnapping, and racketeering. Earlier this year, Diddy and singer Aaron Hall were sued by Liza Gardner, who claimed that the men sexually assaulted her in the 1990s. That case has been amended to add singer/producer DeVanté Swing to the mix.
In her suit, Gardner claimed that the men took advantage of her after giving her alcohol to drink. She said the alleged assault went down at Hall’s house. According to the amended lawsuit obtained by Rolling Stone, Gardner said that DeVanté Swing was present in the room when the incident took place and didn’t do anything to prevent it.
“Unbeknownst to Ms. Gardner at the time,” the court document stated. “Defendant Swing was in the room when this assault took place and did not take any steps to prevent this abuse from occurring.” According to the victim, the Jodeci singer was present and was “leaning against the wall or furniture or something, watching whatever Puffy was doing to Liza.”
In detailing the allegation, Gardner stated that the R&B singer was the one who brought her to Hall’s home where the alleged assault happened. She said he was her “co-guardian” at the time of the assault since she was a teenager and he was age 21. The damning allegations also chastised Swing as failing his duty to protect a minor he was entrusted with by her parents.
“He trafficked and or coerced the child [to] travel across state lines from North Carolina to New York and New Jersey with the hidden intention of providing the child with alcohol, and marijuana and prostituting the child to his A&R Combs [Diddy],” the court docs read.
DeVanté Swing has not yet reacted to being named in the lawsuit. On the other hand, Diddy’s attorneys have their hands full with several lawsuits for inappropriate behavior and a pending federal trial. The embattled label exec is being held without bond pending trial.
DeVanté was a member of the 1990s R&B group Jodeci with Diddy being credited as the mastermind behind the group’s bad boys of R&B image.
