Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Abuse Allegations: A Timeline of Key Events

LOS ANGELES – The newly released video appears to show Sean “Diddy” Combs beating his former protégé singer and girlfriend Cassie in a Los Angeles hotel in 2016.

The video aired on CNN on Friday, six months after R&Singer B filed a lawsuit that triggered a wave of similar cases and public accusations against one of the most influential music moguls of the last three decades.

Here’s a look at the major events that have happened since the end of last year.

Cassie says in a lawsuit that Combs subjected her to years of abuse, including beatings and rape. Cassie, whose legal name is Cassandra Ventura, was signed to Combs’ record label in 2005, and the two were on-and-off romantic partners for more than a decade, beginning in 2007. The lawsuit filed in federal court says Combs was “prone to uncontrollable rage ” and subjected her to “savage” beatings. She says he plied her with drugs, forced her to have sex with other men and raped her in her home as she tried to end their relationship in 2018. Combs, through her lawyer, “vehemently denies” the allegations.

With impressive speed, Ventura’s case was resolved the day after it was filed. The terms of the agreement are kept confidential. “We have decided to resolve this matter amicably,” Combs said in a statement. “I wish Cassie and her family all the best. Love.”

Two more women accuse Combs of sexual abuse in lawsuits filed on the eve of the expiration of the Adult Survivors Act, a New York law that allows victims of sexual abuse a year to file a civil lawsuit, regardless of the statute of limitations. . The lawsuits, filed by Joi Dickerson and another unidentified woman, allege acts of sexual assault, beatings and forced drugging in the early 1990s by Combs, then a talent director, party promoter and rising figure in the hip-hop community of New York. . Combs’ lawyers called the allegations false.

Combs temporarily steps down as president of his cable television network, Revolt, amid a wave of sexual abuse allegations. It would be one of several business setbacks for Combs caused by the lawsuits.

A woman alleges in another lawsuit that in 2003, when she was 17, Combs and two other men raped her. The lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court says she lived in a Detroit suburb and was flown to a New York studio, where she was given drugs and alcohol that rendered her incapable of consenting to sex, and the men took turns raping her. -there. Combs said in a statement that “I did not do any of the horrible things that are being alleged. I will fight for my name, my family and the truth.”

A music producer files a lawsuit alleging that Combs sexually assaulted him and forced him to have sex with prostitutes. The lawsuit lays out a long list of potentially illegal drug and sex-related activities that the producer says he witnessed. An attorney for Combs calls the allegations “pure fiction.”

Homeland Security Investigations serves search warrants in early morning raids on Combs’ homes in Los Angeles and Miami in what authorities tell the Associated Press is a sex trafficking investigation. At the time, Combs was at one of his homes in Miami. His two children, who were at his Los Angeles home, were handcuffed during the search, Combs’ lawyers said. Authorities have not said whether the raids were prompted by the civil lawsuits, but Combs’ lawyers said they believe so.

Combs’ lawyer calls the raids “a gross use of military-grade force” and says Combs is “innocent and will continue to fight” to clear his name. The lawyer, Aaron Dyer, says “there is no excuse for the excessive show of force and hostility displayed by authorities or the way his children and employees were treated.”

A lawsuit naming Combs as a co-defendant alleges that his son Christian “King” Combs sexually assaulted a woman who worked on a yacht chartered by his father. The lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court says Sean Combs created the circumstances that led to the assault and paid to cover it up afterward. A lawyer for the two men calls the allegations “outrageous.”

In the first major legal pushback by Combs and his team, they filed a motion to dismiss several elements of Dickerson’s lawsuit because they were not illegal in 1991, when the alleged incidents occurred. While the legal objections are procedural, the lawsuit also criticizes the “numerous false, offensive and salacious accusations” in the lawsuit.

Combs is asking a federal judge to dismiss the Dec. 6 lawsuit that alleged he and two co-defendants raped a 17-year-old Michigan girl in a New York recording studio. Again, the objections are procedural – alleging that the lawsuit was filed too late under the law – but the court document calls their allegations “false and heinous.”

CNN airs video that appears to show Combs attacking Ventura in the hotel hallway in 2016. The video closely mirrors an assault described in her lawsuit, which said Combs had already punched her that night, and she was trying to leave the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles when he woke up and went after her. In the footage, a man who appears to be Diddy, wearing only a towel, punches Ventura, kicks her and throws her to the ground. The lawsuit alleges that Combs paid $50,000 to have the video taken down at the time. Combs’ representatives had no immediate comment. The Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office said no case has been brought in the attack depicted in the video. And that even if authorities presented a case to prosecutors, the statute of limitations would apply, preventing them from charging Combs, the office said in a statement posted on social media Friday.

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The Associated Press typically does not name people who say they were sexually assaulted unless they come forward publicly, as those mentioned here have done.