THE firm Sean Combs used to manage his finances – which allegedly paid his escorts – has also been accused of exploiting vulnerable celebrities in the past and faking accounts in lawsuits.
Tri Star Sports and Entertainment, run by controversial business manager Lou Taylor, was mentioned in a lawsuit filed by music producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs had been working with Lou Taylor and Tr Star before his arrest on sex trafficking charges[/caption]
Lou Taylor, CEO of Tri Star Sports and Entertainment Group, attends Billboard’s 2018 Live Music Summit Panels[/caption]
Jones is suing Combs, aka Diddy, for allegedly sexually assaulting him and forcing him to perform sex acts on prostitutes.
In the complaint, he alleged a Tri Star accountant paid a monthly fee to Combs’ alleged sex workers who received the money via wire transfer.
“According to Plaintiff Jones, Defendant Sean Combs bragged about having several women on a monthly stipend,” the filing reads.
Tri Star has denied claims it paid off alleged escorts.
“Tri Star was not involved in the payment of any alleged sex workers,” attorney John Heuston, who is representing the firm, told The U.S. Sun.
Taylor and the firm are not defendants in the lawsuit and have not been named in the federal indictment that Combs is currently awaiting trial for in New York.
The company previously found itself in the spotlight for being in joint control of ex-client Britney Spears’ conservatorship.
The singer’s legal team claimed Tri Star made up to $18 million from mismanaging her finances, which the firm denied.
Tri Star’s address on Sunset Boulevard is still listed as the executive office for Combs’ main businesses – Bad Boy Entertainment and Bad Boy Productions Holdings – along with his two mansions on Miami’s Star Island and another in Beverly Hills.
Now, The U.S. Sun can exclusively reveal that Taylor has been mentioned in other lawsuits where her behavior has been called into question.
‘GASLIGHTING AND LYING’
In June 2020, Victoria’s Secret Angel model Taylor Hill, 28, sued her ex-boyfriend Michael Shank, 39, also a model, over allegations including fraud and unjust enrichment, claiming he’d lined his own pockets through excessive wages and travel costs and expenses.
Yet Shank made a counter-claim.
In his complaint, he claimed that Hill completely changed when the pair brought Tri Star and Taylor in to manage her finances in 2018.
Shank said that he “began to notice that Hill was experiencing heightened anxiety, stress issues, which seemed to be worsening,” per the court docs.
He began to suspect that it was Taylor’s influence causing the deterioration in Hill’s mental health.
“Shank had these suspicions due to his personal interactions with Lou Taylor and the knowledge that Lou Taylor represented and influenced Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, and others unknown at this time, all of whom had very public issues with mental health and/or substance abuse during the course of Lou Taylor’s representation,” the complaint read.
Shank had already navigated Hill’s career successfully without Taylor, and he thought it was best for her “personally and professionally” to part company with Tri Star, the complaint claims.
But when “Lou Taylor and Tri Star learned of Shank’s intention to part ways [they] escalated their manipulation of Hill to cause her to break up with Shank through a combination of gaslighting, lying, rumor, dishonesty, implicit threats of ruining her career, and other nefarious forms of emotional abuse and control,” the lawsuit alleged
Taylor allegedly took advantage of “Hill’s ongoing struggle with mental health including anxiety, depression, and issues with self-worth… to continue their exploitation of Hill’s fame and star-power in order to profit off her success for their own profit at the expense of Hill’s mental health,” per the lawsuit.
Shank included Tri Star and Taylor personally as defendants, but Hill’s attorney got the case dismissed four months later without Tri Star or Taylor having responded.
Tri Star did not respond to a request for comment on Shank’s lawsuit.
It’s not the only lawsuit in which the company has been accused of bad behavior.
‘SERIOUS FINANCIAL DAMAGE’
In June 2023, nutritionist Jessica Diamond sued Tri Star and its client Hayley Hubbard, the wife of country star Tyler Hubbard.
In 2020, Diamond and Hubbard launched a successful wellness and parenting business called MeaningFull Living after Hubbard was referred to Diamond for dietary advice, according to the lawsuit.
But Diamond says she was allegedly shoved out by Hubbard and Taylor “who used her celebrity status to exclude Diamond from the business,” per court docs.
The suit adds that it was “done with the deliberate intent to result in personal and financial harm” to Diamond.
The downfall of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs
By Forest McFarland, Senior News Reporter
BEFORE Sean “Diddy” Combs’ arrest on Monday night, it had been highly speculated that the rap star would find himself in custody after he was repeatedly hit with disturbing accusations – and had two of his mansions raided by the feds.
His mounting legal troubles finally came to a head on September 17, when he was charged with three federal counts, including sex trafficking, for allegedly forcing victims to take part in drug-fueled sex parties he called “Freak Offs.”
Hours before his arrest, The U.S. Sun exclusively revealed the feds investigating Combs were secretly liaising with Tupac Shakur murder prosecutors on gangland activities.
The development also came after Combs was named 77 times in documents submitted by prosecutors in the Tupac murder case.
Aside from the Tupac probe, Combs was already facing a slew of lawsuits, including one he settled with his ex, Cassie Ventura, after she accused him of rape and abuse.
Disturbing hotel surveillance video from 2016 showed Combs chasing Cassie down and then punching, kicking, and beating her in a hallway.
Two months earlier, in March 2024, two of Combs’ mansions were raided by federal investigators, who seized three AR-15s, drugs, and 1,000 bottles of lube which were part of his “Freak Off” supplies.
In addition to his federal criminal charges, Combs also faces a handful of lawsuits with allegations of sexual assault, harassment, and sex trafficking dating back to the early 1990s.
Music producer Rodney ‘Lil Rod’ Jones filed one suit in February 2024, claiming Combs forced him to hire sex workers and participate in sex acts while he worked on his latest album.
Combs has denied any wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty to the federal sex trafficking charges against him, but his battle is far from over.
He faces life in prison if he’s convicted on all counts.
When Diamond became concerned that she was being edged out, she asked for a copy of the contract.
Tri Star allegedly dismissed her, then admitted it hadn’t executed a full agreement “causing serious financial damage to Diamond,” according to the lawsuit.
Tri Star was accused of failing to keep proper accounting books and giving false financial information to Diamond.
“Diamond requested multiple times that Taylor and Tri Star send financial statements, balance sheets, and other information Diamond needed, regardless of whether [Diamond] was willing to withdraw,” the lawsuit claims.
“On information and belief, the information later sent by Tri Star to Diamond is false and misleading as to the financial well-being of the Company and Tri Star failed to maintain accurate books and records.
“[Diamond] is informed and believes, and thereon alleges, that Defendant Hubbard, with the advice and counsel of Tri Star, continues to operate Meaning Full Living, and continues to have access to all social media platforms, bank accounts, planning files and email accounts, but has failed and refused to compensate Diamond, or to share with Diamond the profits to which she is entitled.”
Diamond was seeking up to $500,000 in financial damages, though the case was dismissed in August after mediation.
Tri Star did not respond to a request for comment on Diamond’s lawsuit.
NEW LAWSUIT
Taylor and Tri Star still aren’t out of the legal woods.
Right now, they are also being sued by former employee Christie Andrews, who claims she was let go at the start of Covid lockdowns in March 2020 for having asthma and asking to work from home.
But because she didn’t make the firm cash, she was allegedly deemed “non-essential.”
Per Andrews’ complaint, Taylor “determined that only those she deemed ‘essential employees’ – those who generate money for the company – would be able to work from home.”
So to reduce Tri Star’s workforce, “‘nonessential employees’ who requested to work from home would be laid off,” the complaint reads.
The suit claims Andrews emailed the HR manager a note from her primary care provider stating that she has “well-controlled” asthma but would “benefit from working at home due to the rising risk of COVID-19.”
But the CEO allegedly deemed her position “nonessential.”
“Two days later, Tri Star fired Andrews and nine other nonessential employees who requested to work from home,” the suit alleges.
Andrews is claiming $300,000 in damages for unfair dismissal under the Americans with Disabilities Act, which was initially denied by the district court, and there was a split circuit appeal.
The U.S. Sun reached out to Heuston for further comment, who clarified the court entered a summary judgment in favor of Tri Star in July 2023, which the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed in August, while also denying Andrew’s petition for a rehearing in October.
The case is still going through the courts.
In June, it was also revealed Justin Bieber had parted ways with Taylor after Tri Star and hired Johnny Depp’s business manager, Edward White, according to People.
TMZ alleged this week that Bieber is “upset” and allegedly considering legal action as he believes the firm mismanaged his reported $300 million fortune.
Attorney Heuston told The U.S. Sun, “Justin Bieber is not considering legal action against Tri Star.
“We did nothing wrong in our brief 18 months of representing him, and he is aware of this.”
Despite all of the accusations against Taylor and her firm, Heuston insists, “Tri Star is not only operating but thriving.”
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs faces a slew of sexual assault and rape accusations[/caption]
