Diddy’s bodyguard, accused of raping a woman alongside the rapper, flaunted his debauched lifestyle for years online, posing for photos with half-naked women on luxury boats and smiling alongside A-list celebrities.
Joseph Sherman, known as Big Joe, and his former boss Diddy are accused of raping Thalia Graves when she was 25 at Bad Boy Studios in New York in 2001.
In a new lawsuit filed Tuesday, Graves claims Diddy and Sherman drugged her before filming the assault and allegedly distributed the video and even sold the footage as pornography.
This comes just days after Diddy was federally charged with sex trafficking.
Sherman denied any wrongdoing and told DailyMail.com that he “doesn’t know” his accuser Graves, adding that her lawsuit is just a “money stunt.”
He even went so far as to say that he had “no relationship” with Diddy, despite there being photos showing the two together at parties during the mogul’s heyday.
The bodyguard said: “I know for a fact that this is an attempt to get money. I have never seen this lady. I don’t have any footage of her like she says I do. I’ve never seen her. I’ve never done anything with her. I don’t know anything about this. I don’t even know this lady.”
Graves says she woke up bound and restrained before Diddy and Joseph Sherman (pictured) sexually assaulted her, raping her anally and vaginally, according to the lawsuit. Sherman, who claims he does not know his accuser, denied any wrongdoing.
Joseph Sherman, known as Big Joe, and his former boss Diddy have been accused of raping a woman at Bad Boy studios in New York in 2001. He is pictured pouring alcohol over a woman’s half-naked body.
While Sherman hasn’t worked with Diddy in years and now owns several pornographic magazines, his social media is filled with memories of his life alongside the hip-hop mogul.
Sharman shared party photos with the biggest stars of the 1990s, including Mariah Carey, Jay Z, Bruce Willis and the late singer Aaliyah.
Pictures seen by DailyMail.com before Sherman made his Instagram private also showed him partying with naked women and twerking in clubs and on yachts, often pouring alcohol over their bodies.
Sherman often wrote about being honorable and keeping the secrets of the more than 30 celebrities he allegedly worked with as bodyguards.
But despite being photographed with Diddy in the 2000s, Sherman has denied having any kind of relationship with his former boss.
He told DailyMail.com: “I’m being crucified and tortured for something that had nothing to do with me and Mr Combs. We weren’t even friends. We had no relationship. I haven’t been close to Diddy for 24 years.”
Graves claims she was 25 and dating one of the rapper’s employees when Diddy lured her into a meeting, saying he wanted to “discuss her boyfriend’s alleged performance issues.”
According to her lawsuit, Diddy and Sherman “kidnapped” her and gave her a drink “likely laced with a drug that ultimately caused her to briefly lose consciousness.”
Graves says she woke up tied up and restrained before Diddy and Sherman sexually assaulted her, raping her anally and vaginally.
But the bodyguard said he was only named because “everyone” around Diddy is being targeted following his string of sexual misdemeanor allegations.
He added that Graves had been trying to reach him via Instagram direct message for “five months” before Tuesday’s explosive performance.
The bodyguard said he knows “in his heart” he is innocent and is happy to take a lie detector test to prove he did not rape the alleged victim, according to the lawsuit.
Alleged victim Thalia Graves says the 54-year-old music mogul and his head of security Joseph Sherman raped her at Bad Boy Records studios in New York in 2001.
Big Joe (left) with Sean Diddy Combs (right) in 2005
Joseph Sherman is pictured with Bruce Willis and Mariah Carey
The bodyguard, who is now involved in alleged sexual crimes, according to the lawsuit, is photographed with the late singer Whitney Houston at a party in the early 2000s.
Sherman told DailyMail.com: “I’ve never seen this person in my life. I can swear by it, but my word means nothing.”
‘The problem with this right now is that no matter what people like me say, Diddy is in a state of turmoil and everyone who was ever close to him is being blamed for anything he did. Anyone who was ever close to him is automatically guilty.
‘So, I understand that no matter what I say, the public and the media people will say that I’m guilty and that I’m a monster and that I did this. But as long as I know in my heart and in my eyes that I had nothing to do with this, I’m fine.
“I can give you a lie detector test any day of the week at any law office.”
Sherman founded the pornographic magazine Rhymes N Dimes, which is named in Graves’ complaint.
The lawsuit says: ‘Upon information and belief, he has frequently distributed sexual assault videos of himself and/or his friends through his pornography business.’
The complaint alleges that Sherman “forcefully slammed Graves onto a table, slapped her in the face and repeatedly shoved his penis into her mouth.”
Sherman denies the allegations, saying he is in fact the victim of what he describes as “extortion” and that he is being used as a pawn because he is black.
Sherman founded the pornographic magazine Rhymes N Dimes, which is named in Graves’ complaint.
Sherman often wrote about his honorability and keeping the secrets of more than 30 celebrities he allegedly worked with as bodyguards. Pictured: Big Joe with singer Aaliyah
Big Joe is pictured with a young Jay Z in red (left) and Lil Kim (right).
She told DailyMail.com: ‘This lady, with the help of others, is only doing this because Sean Combs is incarcerated, as are so many other people.
I’m a father, I have four daughters, and I’ve been crucified by the government before. I understand the power of the government. I understand that evidence is irrelevant when you’re a black man in America.
“But because I’m a black man, I’m being used as a pawn and a scapegoat for issues I have absolutely nothing to do with.”
Asked about Diddy’s infamous sex parties mentioned in the indictment against the rapper, Sherman said he had never attended any.
She added: “When I worked with Mr. Combs, I went to a party in the Hamptons in 1999 and it was classy. Everyone was nice. I had never heard of a crazy party in my life. So I had never heard of all this in my life.”
In her numerous posts depicting her luxurious and lascivious life in the pornographic magazine industry, Sherman wrote: “I would never change a thing in my life. Not a single thing. From the streets to prison…”
‘I appreciate being an honorable bodyguard who would never reveal my secrets to over 30 different artists (and) sports figures.’
Graves also claims he was unaware Diddy and Sherman had recorded the assault until November 2023, when they allegedly showed the footage to several men.
The suit claims Graves’ ex-boyfriend “revealed that Combs and Sherman had a pattern and practice of non-consensually recording women engaging in sexual acts and making those videos available to the public, including selling the tapes as pornography.”
Graves is the 11th person to publicly accuse Diddy of sexual assault.
Sherman founded the pornographic magazine Rhymes N Dimes, which is named in Graves’ complaint.
The bodyguard, who was named in the scathing lawsuit, poses in a car.
The rapper is locked up in Brooklyn awaiting trial on allegations he presided over a sordid empire of sex crimes protected by blackmail and shocking acts of violence.
He has been in federal custody since his arrest Monday night at the Manhattan hotel.
Diddy is accused of inducing female victims and male sex workers to perform drugged sexual acts, sometimes for days, called ‘freak offs’.
Searches of his properties are said to have uncovered 1,000 bottles of baby oil, and prosecutors say the women involved in the sexual encounters were so exhausted from marathon sex sessions that they needed IV fluids afterwards.
The allegation also indirectly refers to an attack on his ex-girlfriend, R&B singer Cassie, which was captured on video published earlier this year by CNN.
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