Lawyer cites 300 potential cases against Diddy

Mr Buzbee, whose practice is based in Houston, is an outsized character in US legal circles, once described by the New York Times as "a big, mean, ambitious, tenacious, fire-breathing Texas trial lawyer".

A former Marine and a TV show host, he made his name suing the energy giant BP after an explosion at an oil refinery in Texas City killed 15 people; and successfully defended former Texas governor Rick Perry against abuse-of-power allegations.

More recently, he helped a sizeable group of women reach out-of-court settlements with American Football player Deshaun Watson over allegations he had sexually assaulted them during private massage sessions.

His involvement with Mr Combs began last year - after his co-counsel Andrew Van Arsdale, who previously represented hundreds of victims in a sexual abuse lawsuit against the Boy Scouts of America, began receiving calls about the star.

“I think he got a little bit overwhelmed, and he realised that this might be more than he could handle [on his own]”, Buzbee says.

After agreeing to help, Buzbee asked potential victims to come forward via an Instagram post. In the next 10 days, he estimates his team received 3,000 calls.

Those claims were screened by a team of lawyers and former law enforcement officials, who arrived at a list of clients with cases “that are viable, that have been thoroughly vetted, that will ultimately be filed”, he says.

"We still get [calls] every single day," he added. "I think that the potential [number of] cases is probably in the 300 range, but I think realistically, it'll ultimately be about 100 to 150."

The alleged victims include a roughly equal number of men and women; whose accusations span a 20-year period.