The record exec allegedly beaten bloody by Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs says he fears for his life – but will do whatever it takes to put the rap mogul behind bars.
“I’m embarrassed and I’m scared,” said Steve Stoute. “But I’ve got to do it.”
Stoute, 28, a longtime executive with Interscope Records, charges he was attacked by Puffy and two other men April 15 after Combs changed his mind about appearing nailed to a cross in a rap video – but the scene was left in.
Stoute spoke out about the attack for the first time yesterday at the offices of his lawyer, Thomas Puccio.
“I’m scared of him,” said Stoute, who stands 6 feet tall and weighs 300 pounds. “But I have to defend the record industry. It’s the record industry vs. Sean ‘Puffy’ Combs.
“Everybody is afraid of him,” Stoute said. “He has a dark history.”
Stoute said Combs, the honcho of Bad Boy Records, and two of his baddest boys beat him mercilessly with a chair and a champagne bottle while a third man stood at the door.
“This was a premeditated gang assault,” said the still-angry Stoute. “It wasn’t like he saw the video and then turned around and hit me.
“He was 15 minutes away,” he added. “This guy walked into my office, assaulted me and then left the building. He hit me in front of two clients.”
Stoute said he suffered a broken jaw and arm and has not worked since the attack.
In addition, he now lives with round-the-clock security.
“It made me think about quitting the record business,” said Stoute. “But the support of Seagram’s [the owner of Interscope] is making me feel more comfortable.”
Police have charged Combs, who is free on $15,000 bail, with felony assault and criminal mischief. Also arrested and charged with assault was Paul Offord, 30.
The case is before a grand jury.
Stoute said an apparently contrite Combs has made overtures to him, but he’s not interested.
“He reached out to me – I didn’t reach back out to him,” Stoute snapped. “The only thing he can do for me is go to jail.”
Combs’ lawyer, Jay Goldberg, said: “I view this as a shakedown.”
Goldberg said the two men met at a Midtown restaurant after the alleged assault.
“There was a demand made by Steve Stoute to look the other way for $50 million,” Goldberg said. “It finally went down to $12 million.
Stoute responded: “I never told anyone for $12 million I’d drop all charges – that’s extortion.”