Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images
The plaintiff reported it the same day to company security, but there was no follow-up, and he was soon barred from the store, the lawsuit alleges.
“Approximately three weeks later, Terry Lundgren, CEO of Macy’s, pressured Ecko executives to fire plaintiff because Macy’s had just signed a multi-million-dollar deal with Sean John Clothing,” the suit says.
The plaintiff was eventually fired and told by Ecko that he could no longer live in his company-paid apartment in the city, the lawsuit says.
Ecko was not named as a defendant in the lawsuit. The company did not immediately return requests for comment from Business Insider after normal business hours on Monday.
The plaintiff “believes that the report of the assault was destroyed or otherwise purged from Macy’s records, and no action was ever taken as a result of the report.” He still “fears for his life,” the lawsuit says.
Macy’s and Lundgren did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the allegations.
Attorneys for Combs released a statement Monday, again denying that the artist ever committed sexual assault. They called the lawsuits filed Monday an attempt to “garner publicity.”
“Mr. Combs and his legal team have full confidence in the facts, their legal defenses, and the integrity of the judicial process,” the lawyers said. “In court, the truth will prevail: that Mr. Combs has never sexually assaulted anyone—adult or minor, man or woman.”
The lawsuits against Combs were filed in Manhattan by the Texas-based Buzbee Law Firm, co-counsel AVA Law Group, and Curis Law.
The Sean John brand, founded in 1998, appears now to be defunct. Its Instagram page is blank, and its website is broken. But its clothing, furniture, fragrance, and footware were once a big money-maker for both Macy’s and Combs, with retail sales at the chain exceeding $525 million in 2010.
Starting in 2011, the company’s lucrative sportswear line — which it said made up about half of its sales — was exclusively sold at Macy’s. Five of the retailer’s locations included Sean John shops, where the company’s goods were marketed and sold in prime locations, and Combs appeared in commercials for the store.
For years, it was among the department chain’s top-selling men’s brands, WWD reported.
“I have always admired Sean’s sense of fashion, as well as his business acumen. He has a keen insight into the needs of a style-conscious, contemporary man,” Lundgren said of Combs when the exclusivity deal was announced in 2010 — two years after the alleged assault.
“He was the first person to believe in me,” the hip-hop star said of Lundgren, returning the compliment in a 2012 Barron’s article. “He was like a godfather,” Combs said.
In 2016, Combs sold a majority stake in the brand for $70 million, but under new management, the brand floundered and eventually filed for bankruptcy.
In 2021, Combs purchased the business back for $7.55 million. Sean John continued to be sold at Macy’s until last fall, though a spokesperson did not comment on whether the line was pulled due to the mounting accusations against Combs.
Combs remains in jail awaiting a sex-trafficking trial scheduled for May 5.