The “Fire Breathing Texas Trial Lawyer” who files all those Diddy lawsuits

As federal prosecutors continue their sex trafficking and racketeering case against Sean “Diddy” Combs, an enterprising personal injury lawyer is filing more and more civil lawsuits against the music mogul. More than a dozen anonymous claims – many filed by individuals who claim they were victimized when they were minors, including in in one case a 10-year-old boy – to claim sexual assault and rape over a period of decades. Combs has issued a sweeping denialdismissing the ‘sickening’ statements as motivated by a ‘quick payday’.

But Tony Buzbee, who currently claims to represent more than 150 Combs plaintiffs through his eponymous Houston firm, claims he’s just getting started. “We expect to file cases naming Mr. Combs and others as defendants on a weekly basis as we continue to gather evidence and prepare case files,” he said in an Oct. 27 statement.

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Buzbee is an outsized figure in the Lone Star legal world with a national reputation. More than ten years ago The New York Times described him as ‘a big, mean, ambitious, tenacious, fire-breathing trial lawyer from Texas.” He is known locally for his spending $10 million of his own money on a failed Houston mayoral bid and riling the neighborhood homeowners association in the upscale River Oaks enclave by parking a lot Sherman M4A4 tank he won at an auction for his property.

He made his fortune suing and often settling cases against gas giants, chemical companies and transportation companies. Prior to the Diddy role, he helped a significant group of women reach out-of-court deals NFL quarterback Deshaun Watson over allegations of sexual misconduct. He has also been in the news in recent years defend successfully former governor rick perry against charges of abuse of power and defend in vain Los Angeles socialite Rebecca Grossman, who was convicted of manslaughter.

Buzbee discussed his legal crusade against Combs during an Oct. 1 news conference in the conference room of his office on the 73rd floor, near the top of the JPMorgan Chase Tower, the tallest building in Texas. Standing in front of a step-and-repeat displaying a hotline number for potential sexual assault clients to call, Buzbee vowed that “we will follow this evidence wherever it takes us. We will find the silent accomplices. We will expose the factors that enabled this behavior behind closed doors.”

He claimed that by then his team had already been contacted by more than 3,000 people about Combs and that an investigation was underway by a task force that included a former detective from the Houston Police Department’s Major Offenders Division.

Buzbee’s press conference, hotline and coordinated social media posts run counter to a statement on his company’s website, which claims that “we do not advertise business.” His office previously announced it was looking for it potential Astroworld claimants the day after the deadly tragedy at Travis Scott’s concert.

Buzbee provided details on the demographics of his alleged cohort of Combs accusers, which by his count then totaled 120 people. He noted that more than 20 individuals were minors when the alleged misconduct occurred and that the group is evenly gendered. He also noted that the accusers are mostly black and mostly from California, New York, Georgia and Florida — states where the alleged outrages took place, mostly at parties and auditions, in hotels and in private homes.

Buzbee explained that many of his new clients had police reports, medical records and other evidence to support their claims, including photos and videos, and that while each case is different, patterns have emerged, including the apparent use of Xylazine, or ‘tranq, a tranquilizer for horses. He pushed back against skepticism about the sheer size of the number of accusers by noting that “we’re talking about more than 25 years of this kind of behavior,” and urged more people to come forward, citing “great strength in numbers.”

“Usually the victim is lured into a situation where he or she is given something to drink,” he said at the news conference. “Normally that drink, as reported by these victims, is laced with something. Once that drink takes effect, the perpetrators perform a variety of sexual acts on the victims, often passing him or her around while other people watch and enjoy the show. They then leave the victim ashamed, confused, injured and wondering what happened when the drink reaches out to the victim. He or she is told not to say anything. Sometimes there are threats of physical violence or financial repercussions or physical harm.”

Buzbee’s firm is working on the cases in partnership with a California-based personal injury firm led by Andrew Van Arsdale, which has a history of prosecuting sex abuse cases against the Boy Scouts of America, as well as the Mormon and Catholic churches. (Arsdale visited recently recruitment for customers for a lawsuit against former Mike Jeffries, CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch, pleaded not guilty on October 25 on sex trafficking in New York federal court.)

Buzbee is aware that much of the public interest in this saga focuses not only on Combs or his victims, but also on the possibility that other famous figures may be exposed as direct accomplices or accomplices. “The day will come when we will name names other than Sean Combs, and there are a lot of names – it’s already a long list,” he promised.

Much of the job falls to lawyers like Buzbee, who declined to talk about his Combs-related work The Hollywood Reporteris negotiating confidential financial deals out of court for prosecutors, which the people who pay them often view as excessive. Both combative private and public rhetoric can be an important part of the playbook. “I’m talking about the people who participated in it, encouraged it and encouraged it,” he said on October 1. ‘They know who they are. I call them the enablers of foul play, willing participants in despicable behavior.” Buzbee then added portentously, “Right now, there are tons of people who are very nervous.”

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