A bodyguard at the center of a trial for sexual assault against Sean “Diddy” Combs sued the accuser and her attorney, Gloria Allred, for defamation, denying that he was the man who assaulted her and filmed the alleged assault.

Joseph Sherman sued Thalia Graves in New York federal court on Friday. after she filed suit against him and Combs in late Septemberalleging that the two drugged, bound and violently raped her at the Bad Boy Entertainment founder’s recording studio, Daddy’s House, in 2001.

Graves claimed years of trauma compounded when she learned in late November 2023 — days after Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura filed a bombshell sex-trafficking lawsuit against Combs — that, according to the lawsuit , “Combs and Sherman videotaped horrific rape over 20 years. two years before and showed the video to several men.” Graves claimed she learned about the tape from an ex-boyfriend, who also allegedly told her the video was being sold as pornography.

However, Sherman claims everything in Graves’ suit is “completely and completely false,” saying he stopped working for Combs in 1999 and never even met Graves. “The plaintiff never met the defendant, never engaged (in) any non-consensual sexual or physical interaction with her, and did not participate in the events alleged,” the countersuit alleges. “Simply put, there is no possible way that plaintiff Joseph Sherman could have touched, recorded, or had anything to do with Thalia Graves.”

As part of his lawsuit, Sherman included 12 pages of screenshots he claimed were between himself and Graves on November 29, 2023, where Graves allegedly “sought to get Joseph Sherman to serve as a witness against Mr. Combs “.

In the messages purporting to be from Graves, the sender begins by asking if Sherman worked for Combs and directs Sherman to call their number. “If you will be my witness against Diddy, then my lawyers will leave you out of any proceedings,” one alleged message from Graves read. “I’ll make sure the state doesn’t get charges or rape charges against you.”

Sherman claims to have suffered reputational and financial damages from the allegations and is suing Graves, Allred and others on multiple counts, including defamation, emotional distress, negligence and abuse of process, among others. (Allred and Graves did not immediately respond to Rolling Stonehis request for comment.)

Graves is among nearly 30 people who have sued Combs and some of his associates for sexual abuse after Ventura started the domino effect last November. Sherman is the first defendant to contradict an accuser.

combs, 55, was arrested in Manhattan on Sept. 16 on charges of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution. In a 14-page indictment, prosecutors for the Southern District of New York said Combs ran a criminal enterprise that engaged in “unlawful acts of violence, including sexual violence,” interstate transportation for prostitution, narcotics distribution, arson, bribery, kidnapping and obstruction of justice.

Prosecutors said a primary function of the alleged enterprise was to “draw female victims into Combs’ orbit, often under the guise of a romantic relationship,” and then use “force, threats of force, and coercion” to make them on victims to engage in “elaborate enterprises”. and produced sexual performances,” which Combs called “crazy.”