Surveillance video obtained by CNN appears to show music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs assaulting ex-girlfriend Cassie in a 2016 hotel attack, she detailed in a now-settled lawsuit that alleged the rapper physically and sexually abused her for years.
CNN reported that the video was from an incident in March 2016. It captures multiple angles.
Cassie, 37, whose name is Casandra Ventura, alleged in a federal lawsuit in November that Combs raped and physically abused her, including punching, beating, kicking and stomping on her during their relationship. The case was closed the day after it was filed.
Representatives for Combs, 54, did not immediately respond to requests for comment Friday. He has since denied the allegations, calling them disgusting. Shortly after the Cassie settlement, a lawyer for Combs said the settlement was “in no way an admission of wrongdoing.”
In the lawsuit, Cassie alleged that Combs attracted her to the relationship from the moment they began working together, when she was a rising artist on Combs’ record label. She said in the lawsuit that the abuse lasted more than a decade and accused Combs of controlling every aspect of his life.
Since Cassie’s lawsuit, Combs has been accused in a series of court cases of sexual and physical abuse, gang rape and “serious illegal activity.”
He is the subject of a federal criminal investigation and agents searched his properties this spring.
Combs denied all allegations and promised to clear his name.
According to CNN, the video, captured in a hotel hallway, shows Combs in a towel and shirtless. He walks up behind a woman near an elevator and grabs her and throws her to the ground. The man identified by CNN as Combs appears to kick her twice. He then begins dragging the woman by her hooded sweatshirt while she is on the ground.
The woman, according to the video, picks up a phone while Combs is out of view of the camera. Combs then enters the frame of the video and appears to push the woman, who is no longer in the camera’s field of view.
Moments later, Combs, sitting in a chair, appears to pick up an object and throw it. The video has no audio.
NBC News has not independently verified the video.
“The heartbreaking video only further confirmed Mr. Combs’ disturbing and predatory behavior,” Douglas Wigdor, Cassie’s attorney, said Friday. “Words cannot express the courage and fortitude that Ms. Ventura demonstrated in coming forward to bring this to light.”
In her lawsuit, Cassie detailed an alleged attack she said happened at a Los Angeles hotel in 2016, in which she suffered a “black eye” after Combs got drunk and punched her in the face.
She said Combs fell asleep but continued to be physically violent when he woke up and Cassie tried to leave the hotel room, the lawsuit states.
“He followed her into the hotel hallway while shouting at her. He grabbed her and then picked up glass vases from the hallway and threw them at her, causing the glass to shatter around them as she ran to the elevator to escape,” the lawsuit stated.
She left the hotel but returned with plans to “apologize for running away from her attacker,” the lawsuit said.
Hotel staff asked her to get back in a taxi and go to her apartment, “suggesting that they had seen security footage that showed Mr. Combs beating Ms. Ventura and throwing glass at her in the hotel hallway,” according to the process.
In her lawsuit, Cassie alleged that Combs paid the hotel $50,000 to obtain footage of the hallway incident.
On Friday, IHG Hotels & Resorts said the hotel in the alleged incident is no longer under IHG management.
“IHG did not produce this footage, received no money for this footage and does not have access to it,” it said in a statement.
A source familiar with the criminal investigation involving Combs told NBC in March that three women and one man were interviewed by federal authorities in Manhattan in connection with allegations of sex trafficking, sexual assault, and the solicitation and distribution of narcotics and illegal firearms.
Since last fall, the rapper has been the target of five lawsuits in New York, accusing him of sexual assault, sex trafficking and involvement in other criminal activities.
He settled the lawsuit with Cassie, but the other lawsuits are pending.
Combs’ attorneys filed paperwork with the court seeking to dismiss a Jane Doe lawsuit and partially dismiss another woman’s lawsuit.
In March, federal agents searched the rapper’s homes in Los Angeles and Miami. Three sources familiar with the matter told NBC News that firearms were found in their homes, but no additional details were provided.
Dyer, one of Combs’ attorneys, issued a statement after the raids and said Combs “was never detained but spoke to and cooperated with authorities.” He described the operation as an ambush, saying there was a rush to judgment based on “unfounded accusations made in civil actions.”
“There has been no finding of criminal or civil liability in any of these allegations,” Dyer said. “Mr. Combs is innocent and will continue to fight every day to clear his name.”
On Thursday, a man who was arrested on drug charges while federal agents were conducting searches of Combs properties agreed to a plea deal.
Brendan Paul was with Combs as federal agents searched the rapper’s plane and was arrested at Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport on charges of possession of alleged cocaine and alleged marijuana candy in March, according to a police report.
“Brendan has accepted the prosecutor’s offer to allow him entry into the diversion program and, upon completion, the case against him will be dismissed in its entirety,” his attorney, Brian Bieber, said Thursday.
This story originally appeared on NBCNews.com read the full story
