Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs abuse allegations: A timeline of key occasions

LOS ANGELES — Newly launched video seems to indicate Sean “Diddy” Combs beating his former singing protege and girlfriend Cassie in a Los Angeles resort in 2016.

The video was aired by CNN Friday six months after the R&B singer filed a lawsuit that set off a wave of comparable circumstances and public allegations towards some of the influential music moguls of the previous three many years.

Here is a have a look at the important thing occasions which have unfolded since late final yr.

Cassie says in a lawsuit that Combs subjected her to years of abuse, together with beatings and rape. Cassie, whose authorized identify is Cassandra Ventura, signed to Combs’ label in 2005, and the 2 have been on-again-off-again romantic companions for greater than a decade beginning in 2007. The go well with filed in federal courtroom says Combs was “susceptible to uncontrollable rage” and subjected her to “savage” beatings. It says he plied her with medicine, pressured her to have intercourse with different males, and raped her in her dwelling as she was attempting to finish the connection in 2018. Combs, by means of his lawyer, “vehemently denies” the accusations.

With staggering pace, Ventura’s lawsuit is settled the day after it’s filed. The phrases of the settlement are saved confidential. “Now we have determined to resolve this matter amicably,” Combs says in an announcement. “I want Cassie and her household all one of the best. Love.”

Two extra ladies accuse Combs of sexual abuse in lawsuits filed on the eve of the expiration of the Grownup Survivors Act, a New York regulation allowing victims of sexual abuse a one-year window to file civil motion whatever the statute of limitations. The fits, filed by Joi Dickerson and one other lady who was not named, allege acts of sexual assault, beatings and compelled drugging within the early Nineties by Combs, then a expertise director, celebration promoter and rising determine in New York Metropolis’s hip-hop neighborhood. Combs’ attorneys known as the allegations false.

Combs briefly steps down as chairman of his cable tv community, Revolt, due to the wave of sexual abuse allegations. It could be one among a number of enterprise setbacks for Combs introduced on by the lawsuits.

A lady alleges in one other lawsuit that in 2003 when she was 17, Combs and two different males raped her. The go well with filed in federal courtroom in Manhattan says she was residing in a Detroit suburb and was flown to a New York studio, the place she was given medicine and alcohol that made her incapable of consenting to intercourse, and the boys took turns raping her. Combs says in an announcement that “I didn’t do any of the terrible issues being alleged. I’ll battle for my identify, my household and for the reality.”

A music producer information a lawsuit alleging Combs sexually assaulted him and compelled him to have intercourse with prostitutes. The go well with offers a protracted checklist of doubtless unlawful actions coping with medicine and intercourse that the producer says he witnessed. A lawyer for Combs calls the allegations “pure fiction.”

Homeland Safety Investigations serves search warrants in early morning raids on Combs’ properties in Los Angeles and Miami in what officers inform The Related Press is a sex-trafficking investigation. Combs was at one among his properties in Miami on the time. His two sons, at his dwelling in Los Angeles, have been handcuffed throughout the search, Combs’ attorneys stated. Officers didn’t say whether or not the raids have been prompted by the civil lawsuits, however Combs’ attorneys stated they believed they have been.

Combs’ lawyer calls the raids “a gross use of military-level pressure” and says Combs is “harmless and can proceed to battle” to clear his identify. The lawyer, Aaron Dyer, says there’s “no excuse for the extreme present of pressure and hostility exhibited by authorities or the way in which his youngsters and staff have been handled.”

A lawsuit that names Combs as a co-defendant alleges that his son Christian “King” Combs sexually assaulted a lady engaged on a yacht chartered by his father. The go well with filed in Los Angeles Superior Court docket says Sean Combs created the circumstances that led to the assault and paid to cowl it up afterward. An lawyer for the 2 males calls the allegations “outrageous.”

Within the first main piece of authorized pushback from Combs and his staff, they file a movement to dismiss a number of parts of Dickerson’s lawsuit as a result of they weren’t unlawful in 1991 when the alleged incidents occurred. Whereas the authorized objections are procedural, the submitting additionally slams the “quite a few false, offensive, and salacious accusations” within the lawsuit.

Combs asks a federal choose to dismiss the Dec. 6 lawsuit that alleged he and two co-defendants raped a 17-year-old woman from Michigan in a New York recording studio. Once more, the objections are procedural — alleging the go well with was filed too late below the regulation — however the courtroom doc calls its claims “false and hideous.”

CNN airs video that seems to indicate Combs attacking Ventura in resort hallway in 2016. The video carefully mirrors an assault described in her lawsuit, which stated Combs had already punched her that evening, and he or she was attempting to go away the InterContinental Resort in Los Angeles when he woke and got here after her. Within the footage, a person who seems to be Diddy, carrying solely a towel, punches Ventura, kicks her, and throws her on to the ground. The lawsuit alleges Combs paid $50,000 to remove the video on the time. Combs’ representatives had no speedy remark.

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The Related Press would not usually identify individuals who say they’ve been sexually abused except they arrive ahead publicly, as these named right here have.