Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs arrest and abuse allegations: A timeline of key occasions
NEW YORK — Sean “Diddy” Combs has been arrested by federal authorities in New York after a grand jury indictment, which prosecutors plan to ask a choose to unseal. The foremost transfer comes 10 months after allegations of sexual and different abuse towards the music mogul, and an announcement from prosecutors that he was being investigated for intercourse trafficking.
Here’s 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 title 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 lawsuit filed in federal court docket says Combs was “susceptible to uncontrollable rage” and subjected her to “savage” beatings. It says he plied her with medication, pressured her to have intercourse with different males, and raped her in her residence as she was making an attempt to finish the connection in 2018. Combs, by means of his legal professional, “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. “We have now determined to resolve this matter amicably,” Combs says in a press release. “I want Cassie and her household all the perfect. Love.”
Two extra girls 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 lawsuits, filed by Joi Dickerson and one other girl who was not named, allege acts of sexual assault, beatings and compelled drugging within the early Nineteen Nineties by Combs, then a expertise director, celebration promoter and rising determine in New York Metropolis’s hip-hop group. Combs’ attorneys name 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 lawsuit filed in federal court docket in Manhattan says she was residing in a Detroit suburb and was flown to a New York studio, the place she was given medication and alcohol that made her incapable of consenting to intercourse, and the boys took turns raping her.
The identical day, Combs posts a press release on Instagram broadly denying all of the allegations within the mounting collection of lawsuits. “I didn’t do any of the terrible issues being alleged,” the publish says. “I’ll struggle for my title, 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 lawsuit offers a protracted listing of probably unlawful actions coping with medication 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 residence in Los Angeles, have been handcuffed in the course of the search, Combs’ attorneys mentioned. Officers didn’t say whether or not the raids have been prompted by the civil lawsuits, however Combs’ attorneys mentioned 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 struggle” to clear his title. The legal professional, Aaron Dyer, says there’s “no excuse for the extreme present of pressure and hostility exhibited by authorities or the way in which his kids 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 lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Courtroom says Sean Combs created the circumstances that led to the assault and paid to cowl it up afterward. An legal professional 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 lawsuit was filed too late below the regulation — however the court docket doc calls its claims “false and hideous.”
CNN airs video that reveals Combs attacking Ventura in a lodge hallway in 2016. The video intently mirrors an assault described in her lawsuit, which mentioned Combs had already punched her that evening, and he or she was making an attempt 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, sporting 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 rapid remark.
The Los Angeles District Lawyer’s Workplace says it can’t prosecute Combs for the assault proven within the video as a consequence of statute of limitation, noting that no case had been introduced to prosecutors.
Combs posts a video on Instagram and Fb apologizing for the assault on Ventura. It is his first actual acknowledgement of wrongdoing for the reason that latest stream of allegations started.
“My habits on that video is inexcusable,” Combs says. “I take full accountability for my actions in that video. I used to be disgusted then once I did it. I’m disgusted now. I went and I sought out skilled assist. I acquired into going to remedy, going to rehab. I needed to ask God for his mercy and charm. I’m so sorry.”
On the request of New York Mayor Eric Adams, Combs returns a key to the town. Adams despatched letters to Combs rescinding the respect as a part of the fallout of the leak of the video of Combs beating Cassie. Adams says he was “deeply disturbed” by the video. Adams awarded Combs with the key at a ceremony in 2023.
A day earlier, Howard College introduced it had rescinded an honorary diploma given to Combs and disbanded a scholarship program in his title.
As a part of a multi-faceted pushback towards the lawsuits filed towards him, Combs asks a federal choose to throw out the February lawsuit from the music producer. His attorneys say the go well with was overrun with “tall tales,” “lurid theatrics,” “legally meaningless allegations” and “blatant falsehoods” whose intent is barely to “generate media hype and exploit it to extract a settlement.”
Diddy is sued by singer Daybreak Richard in a case describing years of psychological and bodily abuse, together with groping, that she says she suffered as he helped launch her profession. Richard, a member of the woman group Danity Kane and is well-known for showing on the MTV actuality present “Making the Band,” alleges within the go well with that she witnessed Combs abuse Cassie and was afraid of the mogul.
Diddy’s representatives accuse Richard of creating “an try to rewrite historical past” by manufacturing “a collection of false claims all within the hopes of making an attempt to get a pay day — conveniently timed to coincide together with her album launch and press tour.”
Combs is arrested on a Monday evening in New York after a grand jury indictment. No particulars on the costs have been made public, however federal officers say they may ask a choose to unseal the indictment a day later. Combs’ legal professional calls it was an unjust prosecution of an “imperfect individual” who’s “not a prison.”
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The Related Press does not sometimes title individuals who say they’ve been sexually abused except they arrive ahead publicly, as these named right here have.
