A former employee of the musician and fashion designer formerly known as Kanye West accused the rapper of drugging and sexually assaulting her at a party he hosted alongside Sean “Diddy” Combs, alongside a litany of other serious offenses including sex trafficking.
Lauren Pisciotta, who served as an assistant for the musician between 2021 and 2022, alleged that the incident occured years prior at an unspecified date.
In an amended lawsuit filed on October 8 in Los Angeles court, Pisciotta alleges that she was invited to a gathering at a Santa Monica recording studio co-hosted with Combs, alongside a female music artist she was working with at the time.
At the studio, according to legal documents obtained by The Independent, guests were told “everybody had to drink” beverages being served or they would have to leave. The suit describes the drinks as “poured at the direction” of West. The suit does not accuse Combs of wrongdoing.
Pisciotta says that soon after taking a drink at the party, she began to “slip into an altered and highly impaired state,” then woke up the following day feeling “physically ill and confused.” The music artist she attended the gathering with “could not bring herself to speak about what she herself endured,” per the suit.
The former assistant, who sued West in June, alleging wrongful termination and other instances of sexual assault, added in the amended complaint that she only became aware of the alleged assault in Santa Monica years later, once she was working for West, who legally changed his name to Ye in 2021.
The alleged revelation only came years later, according to the suit. Pisciotta claims that during her employment, West vented about how an unnamed woman refered to as West’s ex-wife, a reference to Kim Kardashian, made a negative comment suggesting the rapper and Pisciotta had been intimate.
In the suit, Pisciotta claims she wanted to send a message to Kardashian saying this was untrue.
Then, West allegedly claimed, “We did kind of hook up a little one time,” and recounted the alleged Santa Monica party.
When Pisciotta said she couldn’t recall what happened that night, Ye allegedly responded, “Women love to say they don’t remember.”
The suit also accuses Ye of failing to pay Pisciotta an alleged salary of $4 million, engaging in sex trafficking, repeatedly badgering Pisciotta for intercourse, forcing himself on top of her naked in a hotel room, locking her in a private jet’s bedroom while he masturbated, and offering Pisciotta as a sexual “gift” to an associate.
“She could not stomach the fact that she worked for the man who had sexually assaulted her against her will while she was drugged, who then successfully lured her back into his orbit by way of a job oopproutnity to sexually assault her all over again,” reads the suit, which accuses West of leaving Pisciotta with anxiety and PTSD.
The complaint also alleges West made Pisciotta cancel her lucrative OnlyFans page “so that she would be entirely dependent on him and the salary he provided,” part of a pattern of West allegedly using resources from his Yeezy fashion empire to send lavish gifts to partners and maintain control of those around him.
The Independent has contacted representatives for West and Combs for comment.
In response to the initial June suit, representatives for Ye accused Pisciotta of blackmail.
“In response to these baseless allegations, Ye will be filing a lawsuit against Ms. Pisciotta, who actively pursued him sexually to coerce employment and other material benefits, then engaged in blackmail and extortion when her advances were rejected,” a legal represenative for the rapper toldThe Independent at the time.
West’s team said she was terminated for being unqualified for the position and demanding unreasonable sums of money, allegedly asking for a $4 million annual salary. They also accused her of “lascivious, unhinged conduct.”
The rapper’s team also said she had “demanded money and material items, namely Hermes Birkin bags, a Lamborghini and an endless quest for plastic surgery.”
Combs is facing misconduct allegations of his own.
He was arrested in September on federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges, and faces scores of lawsuits accusing the mogul of sexual abuse and exploitation.
Combs, 54, has strongly denied all of the allegations against him.