Diddy accuser claimed the Estefans had 'secret tunnel' on Star Island. They're suing

Madeleine Marr, Miami Herald on Aug 27, 2025

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MIAMI — Last April, when accusers were coming out of the woodwork with sordid encounters about Sean “Diddy” Combs, one particularly odd tale emerged.

In a human trafficking civil lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, a West Palm Beach man claimed he suffered a humiliating ordeal on Miami Beach’s Star Island a decade before, in April 2015.

In the complaint, Joseph Manzaro says he was drugged and sexually assaulted by Combs’ associates in the millionaire enclave. Among the witnesses named were A-listers like Jay-Z, Beyonce and LeBron James. (The celebrities’ names were later removed in an amended lawsuit Manzaro filed after proving they weren’t even in Miami at the time.)

But one of the more wild allegations stayed in the original filing: That Manzaro was paraded around a party in a phallic mask and transported between two separate mansions in Star Island via a “secret tunnel.”

The man said one house was owned by Combs, the other by Gloria and Emilio Estefan, who was named as a defendant.

At the time, the Cuban superstars did actually own the house at 1 Star Island, which neighbors the house at 2 Star Island that Combs has owned for decades. The fallen mogul bought 1 Star Island from the couple in 2021 for $35 million. Diddy’s Star Island compound and his home in Los Angeles were raided by the feds in March 2024.

After Manzaro’s shocking suit was filed, the Estefans categorically denied everything.

“There were no parties thrown at that property between 2012 and 2019,” the power couple said via their lawyer at the time. “We have all necessary documentation to support these facts and will provide it to the court.”

In a more recent, July 27 plea to the judge to have the case dismissed against her husband, Gloria asserted that family members were staying at the house at the time of the incident in question. If strangers appeared, it would have been reported to her or Emilio.

“No such thing happened,” the pop star stressed. “Particularly given the occupants, I know that no parties were thrown during that time period.”

Last Monday, Southern District of Florida Judge Donald M. Middlebrooks threw the whole thing out, citing a lack of evidence, Complex magazine reported.

Now, with the “frivolous” case closed, the Estefans are “taking legal action to obtain full compensation for the damage caused by this baseless lawsuit,” they said in a joint statement to the Miami Herald on Tuesday.

The only “fact” in Manzaro’s account was that they owned a home “many years ago” next to Combs, a property that was only occupied by relatives or leased out to third parties, the statement asserts.

As for that “tunnel” between the two properties? It simply doesn’t exist.

“Plaintiffs claimed the house contained a tunnel to Combs’s residence, allegedly used to transport the plaintiff, who said he was later humiliated by others, not Estefan,” said the statement. “The Court found these claims to be ‘objectively frivolous’ and ‘beyond implausible.’ It further noted that the supposed tunnel was an ‘engineering impossibility.’”

Star Island is a “man-made island formed by dredging sand,” the statement explains. “You cannot dig very far at all before you will hit water.”

Finally, the pair says that Manzaro’s attorney Travis Walker was “reckless” to even pursue this case and failed to “investigate responsibly,” causing their reputation “unnecessary harm.”

When the lawsuit will be filed and the amount of damages they are seeking is unclear, and their rep did not immediately respond to requests for further comment.