Joseph Sherman, who once served as the bodyguard for music mogul Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, is pushing back forcefully against a recent accusation that he participated in a 2001 sexual assault alongside his former employer.
In response to Thalia Graves’s allegations, Sherman is suing Graves and her legal team for defamation, asserting that these claims have no foundation and have severely damaged his reputation.
The lawsuit, filed Thursday, alleges that Graves’ accusations are ‘outrageous, untrue, and life-altering,’ with Sherman’s legal team pointing to inconsistencies in her statements. Sherman insists he had no interactions with Graves and firmly denies the accusations.
His legal response emphasizes that he left his role at Bad Boy Records in 1999, two years before the alleged assault, and had since become estranged from the company. According to Sherman’s lawsuit, after leaving Bad Boy for rival label Def Jam, he was no longer permitted on the Bad Boy premises, which would have made his alleged involvement impossible.
Further complicating the case, Sherman’s suit includes private social media messages allegedly sent by Graves, in which she reportedly suggests she would drop accusations against him in exchange for a statement against Diddy. Sherman argues these messages indicate that Graves is aware of his innocence but is leveraging the allegations as part of a broader litigation strategy.
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Graves’ lawsuit also claims that a former boyfriend informed her that Diddy and Sherman had shared a recording of the alleged assault and implied they had a history of distributing similar videos. Sherman’s lawsuit dismisses these assertions as baseless attempts to involve him in an alleged ‘cash grab’ against his former employer.
In an Instagram post following his defamation filing, Sherman made it clear he intends to seek substantial damages, expressing frustration over what he describes as slander that has gone unchecked.
His lawyer, Darnell D. Crosland, also released a statement highlighting the need to protect individuals from what he called ‘financially motivated false claims,’ arguing that such allegations harm not only the accused but also genuine victims of assault.
