Celebrity DJ Diplo is Under Review By LA Officials Over Rape and Sexual Misconduct Allegations: Report

Diplo could face criminal charges following an LAPD investigation into allegations of rape and sexual misconduct, according to a report from Buzzfeed News.

The Los Angeles city attorney’s office is currently reviewing criminal charges against the 42-year-old DJ and producer, telling Buzzfeed that he has been accused of raping a 25-year-old woman and knowingly giving her a sexually transmitted infection.

“We are reviewing the referral and have no further comment at this time,” Rob Wilcox, a spokesperson for the LA city attorney, told Buzzfeed.

The complaint was filed in October 2020, and also alleges that Diplo, given name Thomas Wesley Pentz, raped the woman in his Las Vegas hotel room after one of his concerts, yet no criminal charges have been filed regarding that claim.

“Medical records reviewed by BuzzFeed News show that days after the alleged incident, the woman tested positive for chlamydia,” stated the report. “In court filings, she says that Pentz was her first, and at that time only, sexual partner.”

The woman, whom the LAPD is not identifying due to privacy concerns, additionally claimed that Diplo recorded and distributed sexually explicit videos of her without her permission.

“Pentz’s lawyers acknowledged that the two had had a relationship but offered a radically different story about their sexual encounters,” the report added. “He said he first met the woman in March 2018, and his filings paint her as an obsessive fan who stalked him.”

According to the lawsuit, one of the videos was posted to Twitter in October 2020 by an anonymous account and was tweeted to multiple accounts that were expressing support for the woman.

“The previously unreported news about the police investigation and its submission to prosecutors reveals a new level of scrutiny for allegations brought by the woman nearly a year ago,” wrote Buzzfeed’s Rosalind Adams and Scaachi Koul. “Pentz has denied the charges and launched a vigorous counterattack. He secured a temporary restraining order against her and has sued her for stalking, trespassing, and distribution of private materials. It is unclear if he has also filed any reports with law enforcement.”

“According to legal filings reviewed by BuzzFeed News, the woman who went to LA police claims Pentz initially reached out to her through private messages on Twitter when she was 17,” the report added. “She said the pair continued to talk and she had intercourse with him in March 2018, when she was 21.”

Buzzfeed’s report follows several similar allegations made against the DJ.

According to a November 2020 report from the Daily Beast, another woman accused Diplo of revenge porn and tweeted in October 2020 that he had groomed her and also hired a private investigator to find her following an argument.

She wrote that the DJ was “a huge manipulating liar/gaslighter who PREYS [on] young women of ALL races (to be honest) but primarily young naïve women of color.”

In November 2020, Diplo’s lawyer denied the claims, saying, “In no way has my client violated any law. In fact, he has repeatedly made it clear that he wants nothing whatsoever to do with this person — and simply needs her ongoing harassment of his family to end.”

The woman’s lawsuit was later dismissed.

Rapper Azealia Banks additionally spoke out about Diplo’s alleged behavior in an October 2020 episode of her podcast Cheapy’s Two Cents.

“I used to have sex with Diplo when I was 17. Diplo definitely found me on fucking Myspace,” she said. “I always give him credit for fucking launching my career off, but yeah, I had to give him some teenage pussy to do it. He’s always been preying on young ethnic girls.”

Diplo would have been in his early 30s at the time.

While Buzzfeed did not identify Diplo’s latest accuser, similar claims were made by Diplo’s ex-girlfriend, who filed a sexual battery lawsuit in June 2021, alleging that the DJ coerced her into sex after a 2019 Las Vegas concert.