Woman Claims Jodeci’s DeVanté Swing Witnessed Diddy and Aaron Hall’s Rape

A lawsuit — alleging that Sean “Diddy” Combs and R&B singer Aaron Hall took turns sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl in 1990 — now names Jodeci’s DeVanté Swing as a witness.

In a newly amended complaint filed in a New Jersey federal court, plaintiff Liza Gardner alleges that the R&B singer was present at Hall’s New Jersey residence when Diddy allegedly raped her, leaving her “shocked and traumatized.”

According to the ‘suit discovered by Rolling stoneMs. Gardner was “unbeknownst” at the time that Swing was present during her alleged assault. She claims she was alerted to his presence through her friend, Monica Case, who says she saw the then 20 or 21-year-old “leaning against the wall or a piece of furniture and watching what Puffy was doing to Liza.”

Case — who claims she was also underage at the time — says the “Come & Talk To Me” crooner “took no action to stop the abuse.”

Ms. Gardner, who was 16 at the time, claims she traveled with Swing and others from North Carolina to his NJ residence, which was allegedly “subsidized” by Jodeci’s label, Uptown Records, a subsidiary of MCA. Diddy was A&R manager at Uptown at the time and was developing the R&B trio.

Gardner claims that during that time she met the novice music director at an MCA event and later traveled back to Hall’s residence with him, Hall, Swing and a friend of hers. According to the amended lawsuit, Gardner was allegedly raped by Diddy and then Hall, who she said “barged into the room and held her down.” A photo was also reportedly included in her suit, showing her in a kitchen with a then 26-year-old Hall as he draped his arm over her shoulder.

Diddy and Hall are both accused of sexual assault and battery, while Swing is accused of “aiding and abetting” the alleged rape. The amended complaint alleges that Swing was Gardner’s “co-guardian at the time” because he invited her on a trip to New Jersey.

“He had a duty to protect the child as her parents entrusted him with her safety. “He trafficked and/or coerced the child to travel across state lines from North Carolina to New York and New Jersey with the hid intent to supply the child with alcohol and marijuana and to prostitute the child at his A&R Combs,” the lawsuit alleges .

Last November, Diddy’s legal team stated that “this is nothing but a money grab” and Hall has not responded to the allegations against him. UMG Recordings filed a motion to dismiss in April, arguing that the lawsuit exceeded the statute of limitations in New York and that there is no evidence that MCA could have predicted the alleged conduct. Gardner then refiled the lawsuit in New Jersey after her friend informed her of Swing’s alleged presence.

“Ms. Gardner is eager to have her day in court and finally get justice after thirty years of suffering the pain of what happened to her when she was just 16 years old,” Gardner’s attorney Tyrone Blackburn said. RS.

Blackburn also represents Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, the music producer who is suing Diddy for sexual assault and harassment, and April Lampros, a former Arista Records intern who alleged the father of seven sexually assaulted her three times, starting in 1995 and another time in 2001. .

As allegations mount against the disgraced star, Diddy remains behind bars in Brooklyn on federal racketeering and sex trafficking charges.

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