Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs abuse allegations: A timeline of key events
Hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs has been arrested in New York – after 10 months of facing civil allegations including rape, sexual assault, and forced drugging.
The 54-year-old rapper, formerly known as Puff Daddy and P Diddy, was detained by officers at the Park Hyatt hotel in Manhattan on Monday, although it is unclear on what charges.
Damian Williams, the US attorney for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), said the arrest was “based on a sealed indictment” – a formal charging document that is not available to the public – and he is expecting to say more when the document is unsealed.
Combs, one of the most influential producers and executives in the history of hip-hop, has faced a wave of civil lawsuits since November last year accusing him of offences including sex trafficking and raping a 17-year-old girl.
Here we take a look at some of the key developments since the allegations against Combs first surfaced.
16 November 2023
The rapper’s ex-girlfriend, R&B singer Cassie, says in a lawsuit that she was trafficked, raped, plied with drugs, and viciously beaten by Combs on many occasions over the course of 10 years.
Cassie, whose real name is Cassandra Ventura, signed to Combs’ label in 2005 and the two were on-and-off romantic partners for more than a decade, starting in 2007.
She filed her case under the state of New York’s Adult Survivors Act.
The act gave victims of sexual violence a one-year window from November 2022 to November 2023 to file civil claims regardless of the statute of limitations – a time window in which a person has to bring a legal claim following an alleged incident.
Combs, through his lawyer, “vehemently denies” all the accusations in the lawsuit.
Sean Combs and Cassie in 2017. Pic: PA
17 November 2023
Combs settles the lawsuit with Cassie the day after it is filed, with the terms of the agreement kept confidential.
“We have decided to resolve this matter amicably,” Combs says in a statement.
23 November 2023
Two more women accuse Combs of sexual abuse in lawsuits filed on the eve of the expiration of the Adult Survivors Act.
The lawsuits, filed by Joi Dickerson and another woman who is not named, allege acts of sexual assault, beatings, and forced drugging in the early 1990s by Combs – then a talent director and rising figure in the New York hip-hop scene.
The rapper’s lawyers call the allegations false.
6 December 2023
A woman alleges in another lawsuit that Combs and two other men raped her in 2003 when she was 17.
The lawsuit filed in federal court in Manhattan says she was living in a Detroit suburb and was flown to a New York studio, where she was given drugs and alcohol that made her incapable of consenting to sex, and the men took turns raping her.
The same day, Combs posts a statement on Instagram broadly denying all the allegations in the mounting series of lawsuits.
“I did not do any of the awful things being alleged,” the post says. “I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth.”
Sean “Diddy” Combs performs during the MTV Video Music Awards in September 2023. Pic: AP
26 February 2024
Music producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, claims in a lawsuit that Combs pressured him to procure and engage in sexual acts with sex workers between September 2022 and November 2023.
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He also claims he is a victim of unsolicited groping and sexual touching by Combs, and that he witnessed the music mogul giving out drinks laced with drugs to people at parties.
A lawyer for Combs calls the allegations in Jones’ lawsuit “pure fiction”.
25 March 2024
Two properties owned by Combs are searched by federal agents in what officials tell the Associated Press (AP) is part of an ongoing sex trafficking investigation.
Officials do not say whether the raids, at Combs’ homes in Miami and Los Angeles, are prompted by the civil lawsuits, but the music mogul’s attorneys say they believe they are.
The next day, Combs’ lawyer calls the raids “a gross use of military-level force” and says his client is “innocent and will continue to fight” to clear his name.
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From March 2024: Diddy’s homes raided
23 May 2024
April Lampros, now 51, accuses Combs of sexually assaulting her more than 20 years ago when she was a fashion student in New York City, Sky News US partner network NBC News reports at the time.
She claims the musician sexually assaulted her on four occasions between 1995 and the early 2000s, including once when she was forced to take ecstasy and have sex with Combs’ former girlfriend Kim Porter.
Combs denies the allegations and also files a motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
4 April 2024
A lawsuit alleges that Combs’ son Christian “King” Combs sexually assaulted a woman working on a yacht chartered by his father.
Combs is named as a co-defendant in the lawsuit, which claims he created the circumstances that led to the assault and paid to cover it up afterwards.
An attorney for the two men calls the allegations “outrageous”.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs and his son Christian ‘King’ Combs. Pic: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP
26 April 2024
Combs and his legal team file a motion to dismiss several elements of Dickerson’s November 2023 lawsuit on the grounds they were not illegal in 1991 when the alleged incidents occurred.
While the legal objections are procedural, the filing also slams the “numerous false, offensive, and salacious accusations” in the lawsuit.
10 May 2024
Combs asks a federal judge to dismiss the 6 December 2023 lawsuit alleging he and two co-defendants raped a 17-year-old girl from Michigan in a New York recording studio.
Again, the objections are procedural – alleging the lawsuit was filed too late under the law – but the court document calls the claims “false and hideous”.
A still from a video that showed a man appearing to be Combs attacking Cassie. Pic: CNN via AP
17 May 2024
CNN publishes video showing Combs attacking Cassie in a hotel hallway in 2016.
The video closely mirrors an assault described in her lawsuit, which claimed Combs had already punched her that night, and she was trying to leave the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles when he woke and came after her.
Combs’ representatives give no immediate comment.
The Los Angeles District Attorney’s Office says it cannot prosecute Combs for the attack shown in the video due to the statute of limitation, noting that no case had been presented to prosecutors.
19 May 2024
Combs posts a video on Instagram and Facebook apologising for the assault on Cassie.
He describes it as “inexcusable” and says he is “disgusted”.
“I was f***** up – I mean I hit rock bottom – but l make no excuses. My behaviour on that video is inexcusable. I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I was disgusted. I was disgusted then when I did it. I’m disgusted now,” he says.
A still from a video that showed a man appearing to be Combs attacking Cassie. Pic: CNN via AP
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26 August 2024
As part of a multi-faceted pushback against the lawsuits filed against him, Combs asks a federal judge to throw out
the February 2024 lawsuit from music producer Jones.
Combs’ lawyers say the suit is overrun with “tall tales,” “lurid theatrics,” “legally meaningless allegations” and “blatant falsehoods” with the only intent to “generate media hype and exploit it to extract a settlement”.
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‘Diddy’ apologises after assault video
11 September 2024
Combs is sued by singer Dawn Richard in a case describing years of psychological and physical abuse, including groping, that she says she suffered as he helped launch her career.
Combs’ representatives accuse Richard of making “an attempt to rewrite history” by manufacturing “a series of false claims, all in the hopes of trying to get a pay day – conveniently timed to coincide with her album release and press tour”.
16 September 2024
Combs is arrested in New York after a grand jury indictment.
No details on the charges are made public, but federal officials say they will ask a judge to unseal the indictment the next day.
Combs’ attorney calls it an unjust prosecution of an “imperfect person” who is “not a criminal”.
The one where Ross divorces the rock star…?
David Schwimmer says he once served British singer Sir Rod Stewart with divorce papers, while the actor was working in a summer job as a teenager.
The Friends star recalled a brief time as a process server – someone employed to formally serve documents to parties in a legal case – while in his first year of university and how it led to the odd encounter with Sir Rod.
Speaking on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Schwimmer said: “One summer after my freshman year in college, I was just looking for work and my mum said you can be a process server for me.
“My mum was a divorce lawyer, and so I was the guy who would pop out of the bushes and serve you divorce papers.”
The 58-year-old actor, best known for playing ‘three-divorces Ross’ in the long-running sitcom, said he felt like James Bond during the job at age 18.
“Because you get a tip, you’re tipped off as to where they might be,” he said.
“Thank goodness I’ve never run into him since – but I served Rod Stewart.
“I don’t even know if he knows. I don’t think he knows.”
“He knows now,” Colbert joked in reply.
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Schwimmer did not specify which divorce it was for, but the British star split from his first wife Alana Stewart in 1984, when the actor would have been around 18.
Rod Stewart with his wife Alana and their children at Heathrow Airport in 1983. Pic: PA
The veteran rocker married his current wife, Penny Lancaster, in 2007.
Schwimmer, who was born in New York City but grew up partly in Los Angeles, didn’t get his first proper acting role until 1989, according to IMDB, in TV movie A Deadly Silence, and went on to appear in Friends from 1994.
Stars including Beyonce, Eva Longoria and Jamie Lee Curtis have pledged funds to support families affected by the fires in Los Angeles – along with Paris Hilton, who is among those who have lost their homes.
The blazes which erupted in the Pacific Palisades and other areas of the county last week have destroyed thousands of properties and killed at least 24 people.
US reality star and businesswoman Hilton has launched an emergency fund to support families who have been displaced, and kickstarted it with a personal donation of $100,000 dollars (£82,000).
The 43-year-old, who watched her home in Malibu “burn to the ground” as the fires were covered on TV, has also been spending time with animal organisations. She announced on social media that she is fostering a dog whose owners lost their home.
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Paris Hilton posts video of destroyed home
“While I’ve lost my Malibu home, my thoughts are with the countless families who have lost so much more – their homes, cherished keepsakes, the communities they loved, and their sense of stability,” Hilton said in a statement on social media.
Beyonce contributed $2.5m to a newly launched LA Fire Relief Fund, created by her charitable foundation, BeyGOOD.
“The fund is earmarked to aid families in the Altadena/Pasadena area who lost their homes, and to churches and community centres to address the immediate needs of those affected by the wildfires,” the organisation said in a statement.
Pic: AP/Noah Berger
Beyonce’s mother Tina Knowles lost her bungalow in Malibu in the fires.
“It was my favourite place, my sanctuary, my sacred happy place,” she wrote on Instagram. “Now it is gone. God Bless all the brave men and women in our fire department who risked their lives in dangerous conditions.”
Other celebrities who have donated funds include Desperate Housewives star Longoria and her foundation, the Screen Actors Guild, the Recording Academy, which runs the Grammys, and Oscar-winning actress Jamie Lee Curtis and her family – who have all pledged $1m (£819,000) each.
Prince Harry and Meghan are believed to have donated clothing, children’s items and other essential supplies, and were seen making a surprise visit to hand out food to evacuees in Pasadena.
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Actors Mel Gibson, Miles Teller, Jeff Bridges, Billy Crystal, Jamie Chung and Bryan Greenberg are also among the Hollywood stars confirmed to have lost homes, along with talk show host Ricki Lake, and reality stars Spencer and Heidi Pratt.
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Ricki Lake shared on Instagram the moment flames got to her property in Malibu
The fires, which are burning around Los Angeles, come at the start of Hollywood’s awards season.
Organisers of the Oscars have postponed the nominations announcement twice, with the shortlists currently set to be revealed on 23 January, and the event’s annual luncheon ahead of the ceremony has been cancelled.
The show itself is still set to go ahead on 2 March. The Grammys, scheduled for 2 February, is also reportedly still set to go ahead.
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