The Los Angeles city attorney’s office is investigating allegations of sexual misconduct against Thomas Wesley Pentz, also known by his stage name Diplo, according to a Buzzfeed News report. The city is mulling charges of invasion of privacy and intentionally spreading a sexually transmitted infection.
The investigation is rooted in a 2020 complaint to the LAPD, in which a 25-year-old woman accused Diplo of knowingly giving her chlamydia, recording sexually explicit videos of her without her consent, and distributing at least one of those videos. A spokesperson for the LA city attorney’s office told Consequence, “Our office is reviewing the referral and we have no further comment at this time.”
Both Diplo and the alleged victim have sought restraining orders against each other, and the woman also told police that the superstar DJ raped her after one of his Las Vegas concerts. Earlier this year, his lawyer Bryan Freedman said to Consequence, “We have irrefutable evidence that this is a completely meritless claim and we will be providing it to a court as quickly as we possibly can.”
He did not elaborate on that “irrefutable evidence,” but it may have been shared on Twitter by either Diplo or someone on his team. In October 2020, an anonymous account posted an explicit video of the musician and his alleged victim. The clip was tweeted at several Twitter users who had been expressing support for the woman, which may be the basis for the invasion of privacy charges. Notably, the city attorney’s office does not seem to be considering rape or sexual assault charges at this time.
In a new statement to Consequence, Diplo’s attorney Freedman called the allegations of invasion of privacy and intentionally transmitting an STI, “Yet more lies from the same disturbed individual who has been stalking and menacing Wes, his family and his friends for years. As is well known, this person tried to extort Wes for millions of dollars and, after he refused to pay her a penny, launched an unceasing campaign of harassment against my client. She has been peddling her lies around the country in a desperate attempt to harm Wes and those he loves, but she will not succeed.”
Update: Diplo has shared a lengthy statement about the alleged victim’s claims. He called her “a stalker” who “scammed her way into my life and tried to extort me for millions and then sued me when she didn’t get what she wanted.” He also shared what he said are images of text messages between himself and the woman.
In a video clip, he scrolls through the purported chat history, which shows her sending dozens of messages a day. Many texts are sexual in nature, and in the sample Diplo doesn’t respond except to screen shot a third party’s direct message, which suggests the alleged victim is stalking Diplo. Check out his statement below.
In July, a planned Diplo concert following a Baltimore Orioles baseball game was cancelled after a second woman filed a lawsuit against the DJ alleging sexual assault. Diplo’s lawyers claimed she was a friend of the first accuser, and the suit was subsequently voluntarily withdrawn and dismissed with prejudice.
