Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs: What we know about the accusations against him

A string of sexual assault allegations have been made in opposition to Sean “Diddy” Combs, one of the vital profitable music moguls within the historical past of rap.

4 ladies, together with his long-time accomplice Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, have filed lawsuits in opposition to the musician, accusing him of sexual and bodily abuse.

Producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones filed an identical go well with in February, alleging Combs abused him over a year-long interval when he was dwelling on the star’s properties and dealing on his music.

In an announcement issued final December, Combs defended himself in opposition to what he described as “sickening allegations” made by “people searching for a fast payday”.

“Let me be completely clear: I didn’t do any of the terrible issues being alleged,” he stated, including he would battle to clear his identify.

Nonetheless, in March 2024, federal brokers raided two homes owned by the star “as a part of an ongoing investigation” into intercourse trafficking.

His lawyer known as the motion an “unprecedented ambush” and a “gross overuse of military-level drive”, and maintained his consumer’s innocence.

Combs – who has additionally passed by the names Puffy, Puff Daddy, P Diddy, Love, and Brother Love – basically rewrote the principles of hip-hop within the Nineties, however his profession has been punctuated by controversies.

Here’s a timeline of his profession and the accusations made in opposition to him.

Sean John Combs was born in Harlem and raised in Mount Vernon, New York.

His mom, Janice, was a trainer’s assistant, whereas his father Melvin was a former member of the US Air Drive who grew to become an affiliate of the drug-trafficker Frank Lucas, who later impressed the Ridley Scott movie American Gangster.

In 1972, Melvin was fatally shot in his automobile throughout a drug transaction after being misidentified as an informant. Combs was simply two, though he did not study the circumstances of his father’s demise till a lot later.

Raised by his mom, he was a flashy child who beloved rap music and performed soccer for the college workforce.

As a young person, he danced in music movies for artists comparable to Diana Ross and the Effective Younger Cannibals.

Taking a cue from his mom, who labored a number of jobs to help Sean and his sister Keisha, he additionally labored six separate newspaper supply routes, earlier than enrolling to check enterprise administration at Howard College.

At college, Combs gained a fame for throwing lavish events, a few of which attracted greater than a thousand company.

After reserving musicians comparable to Heavy D and Terry Riley to play at these gigs, he got here to the eye of Uptown Information’ founder Andre Harrell, who gave him an internship in New York.

Combs ultimately dropped out of college to work there full-time, guiding the early careers of artists together with Mary J Blige and Jodeci.

Nonetheless, tragedy struck in 1991, when Combs co-promoted a star basketball sport and live performance at Metropolis School of New York. Practically 5,000 folks confirmed as much as the gymnasium, which may solely match 2,730 folks. Within the ensuing crush, 9 folks died and 29 folks have been injured.

An inquiry by the New York Mayor’s Workplace cited Combs for hiring inexperienced safety guards. Nonetheless, the star and his legal professionals maintained he was not answerable for safety on the occasion.

“Metropolis School is one thing I cope with each day of my life,” the musician stated in 1998. “However the issues that I cope with can on no account measure as much as the ache that the households cope with. I simply pray for the households and pray for the kids who misplaced their lives each day.”

No prison prices have been filed over the tragedy, however relations of the individuals who died sued the promoters, the faculty and town, accusing them of negligence.

The case was settled for $3.8m (£3m), of which Mr. Combs paid $750,000.

Whereas at Uptown, Combs signed a younger Brooklyn rapper known as Christopher Wallace – aka Biggie Smalls, or the Infamous B.I.G. – and began work on his debut album.

However his relationship with Harrell broke down and Combs was fired. He retaliated by organising his personal label, Unhealthy Boy Information, and taking Biggie with him.

The star’s debut album, Prepared To Die, was hailed as an all-time rap basic, promoting tens of millions of copies and producing the multi-platinum singles Juicy and Massive Poppa.

Combs rapidly expanded the Unhealthy Boy roster, releasing hit albums by Religion Evans, Ma$e, 112 and Complete.

The label’s sound was slick and polished. Its greatest singles lifted chunky samples from well-known hits. The apply was frowned upon by hip-hop purists, however it was catnip to radio programmers.

In March 1997, Biggie Smalls was gunned down in a drive-by capturing on the age of 24.

The homicide has by no means been solved, however it has constantly been linked to the East-Coast-West-Coast rivalry that consumed rap music within the Nineties and which had beforehand claimed the lifetime of Tupac Shakur.

Combs, who had been travelling within the automobile behind his pal, poured his grief right into a tune, I will Be Lacking You, which grew to become one of many greatest songs of 1997.

The tune, primarily based round The Police’s Each Breath You Take, additionally featured on Combs’ debut album, No Method Out, which offered seven million copies worldwide.

By this stage, Unhealthy Boy had change into one of the vital vital labels in rap. Apart from its personal releases, artists together with Mariah Carey and Jennifer Lopez have been asking Combs to remix their songs, hoping for a touch of hip-hop credibility.

However there was hassle, too. In Might 1999, Combs was arrested on suspicion of assaulting Interscope Information govt Steve Stoute, after a disagreement over a music video. He pleaded responsible to harassment and was sentenced to a one-day anger management class.

Later that yr, he was charged with prison possession of a weapon when police discovered two nine-millimetre weapons in his automobile, after an argument in a membership turned violent.

Combs and his then girlfriend Jennifer Lopez have been each arrested. Combs was later acquitted of all charges. Lopez was not charged.

A former president of Unhealthy Boy Leisure sued Combs in 2003, alleging that his former enterprise accomplice threatened him with a baseball bat and compelled him into signing over his shares within the firm.

In his lawsuit, Kirk Burrowes additionally says that Combs intimidated Mary J Blige into dropping him as her supervisor in 2001.

Combs denied the allegations, calling them “full fantasy”.

An appeals court docket dismissed the case in 2006, ruling that the statute of limitations has expired.

In 2005, 20-year-old singer Casandra Elizabeth Ventura scored a minor membership hit in Germany along with her debut single, Me & U.

After listening to it on an evening out, Combs convinces Cassie (as she is understood professionally) to affix Unhealthy Boy Information for a 10-album deal.

Her self-titled debut was launched in 2008 and its futuristic, space-age R&B proved to be successful with critics.

By that stage, Combs and Ventura have been in a relationship. However in a civil lawsuit filed in December 2023, she stated the mogul had used his place of energy to “set the groundwork” for a “manipulative and coercive romantic and sexual relationship”.

Her lawsuit included a number of graphic descriptions of violent abuse, alleging that Combs “recurrently beat and kicked Ms Ventura, leaving black eyes, bruises, and blood”.

Ventura additionally alleged sexual abuse and rape, and claimed that many of those incidents have been witnessed by Combs’ “tremendously loyal community” who “weren’t keen to do something significant” to cease the violence.

Combs strenuously denied the allegations and accused Ventura of attempting to extort him. They settled the case a day after it was filed in New York, with Combs’ lawyer saying the settlement was “on no account an admission of wrongdoing”.

Music took a again seat after 2007, when Combs signed a cope with British drinks firm Diageo to advertise the French vodka model, Cîroc, within the US for a 50-50 revenue break up.

His endorsement noticed the model positioned in dozens of music movies – together with Diddy’s personal single “Ciroc Star” – and helped improve gross sales from 40,000 to 2,000,000 circumstances per yr by 2014.

Across the similar time, he co-founded the media firm Revolt, whose TV channels and web sites are described as “the unapologetic, authoritative voice of hip-hop tradition”.

Combs’ involvement with each corporations got here to an finish in 2023-24. He had previously sued Diageo, accusing it of neglecting his model due to race.

In 2015, Combs acquired right into a scuffle together with his son’s soccer coach prompted by an argument throughout coaching.

Because the row escalated, Combs allegedly threatened an intern with a kettle bell. He was later arrested and charged with assault with a lethal weapon.

The costs have been subsequently dropped. A consultant for Combs stated press accounts of the incident have been “wholly inaccurate”.

The primary allegations of abuse to floor in opposition to Combs got here from his mannequin ex-girlfriend Gina Huynh.

Though largely unreported on the time, Huynh gave an interview to YouTube character Tasha Okay, the place she stated Combs had been bodily abusive and supplied her cash to get an abortion throughout their on-off, five-year relationship.

On one event, she alleged that Combs had as soon as “stomped on my abdomen actually arduous – like, took the wind out of my breath”.

He didn’t reply to the accusations.

Combs ended an eight-year musical hiatus with the discharge of his fifth document. Titled The Love Album: Off The Grid, it featured collaborations with The Weeknd, Justin Bieber, 21 Savage and Mary J Blige.

The discharge coincided with Combs being named a “World Icon” on the MTV Awards.

In November, The Love Album earned the star his first solo nomination on the Grammys, in the most effective progressive R&B album class.

Nonetheless, he pulled out of the ceremony as his authorized troubles mounted.

In the identical week as Cassie filed (and settled) her lawsuit in opposition to Combs, two extra ladies got here ahead with claims of abuse and assault.

In a grievance filed in Manhattan, Joi Dickerson-Neal accused the star of drugging and sexually assaulting her when she was a school scholar in 1991. She additionally claimed he recorded the assault and distributed the footage with out her consent.

A 3rd girl, Liza Gardner, additionally filed court docket papers accusing Combs of coercing her into sex within the early Nineties after which, a few days later, choking her so arduous that she handed out.

The lawsuits all got here shortly earlier than the expiration of the New York Grownup Survivors Act, which quickly allowed individuals who stated they have been sexually abused to file claims, even after the statute of limitations had expired.

Combs denied all the allegations against him, whereas his spokesperson known as the lawsuits a “cash seize”.

“The claims involving alleged misconduct in opposition to Mr Combs from over 30 years in the past and filed on the final minute are all fully denied and rejected by him,” they stated in an announcement.

“The New York Legislature absolutely didn’t intend or count on the Grownup Survivors Act to be exploited for improper functions. The general public must be sceptical and never rush to just accept these unsubstantiated allegations.”

A fourth girl sued in December, claiming she was “intercourse trafficked” and “gang raped” by Combs, former Unhealthy Boy Information president Harve Pierre and one other man in 2003, when she was 17 years outdated.

In court docket papers, the girl alleged she was given “copious quantities of medication and alcohol” earlier than the assault and was left in a lot ache that she may barely stand or keep in mind how she acquired house.

In response, Combs stated he “didn’t do any of the terrible issues being alleged”, whereas Pierre stated the “disgusting allegations” have been “false and a determined try for monetary achieve”.

The decide within the case later dominated that the girl, who filed her case anonymously, must use her actual identify if she needed to proceed.

On 6 December, Combs responded to the flurry of lawsuits with a statement on his Instagram page.

“ENOUGH IS ENOUGH,” he wrote. “For the final couple of weeks, I’ve sat silently and watched folks attempt to assassinate my character, destroy my fame and my legacy.

“Sickening allegations have been made in opposition to me by people searching for a fast payday. Let me be completely clear: I didn’t do any of the terrible issues being alleged. I’ll battle for my identify, my household and for the reality.”

Music producer Rodney Jones Jr, who produced 9 tracks on The Love Album, sued Combs in February 2024, accusing the star of constructing undesirable sexual contact and forcing him to rent prostitutes and take part in intercourse acts with them.

In court docket papers filed in New York, Jones additionally claimed that Combs tried to “groom” him into having intercourse with one other man, telling him it was “a traditional apply within the music business”.

Combs’ lawyer, Shawn Holley, known as the producer “nothing greater than a liar” and described his claims as “pure fiction” that may be discredited by “overwhelming, indeniable proof”.

One month later, federal brokers raided two properties owned by Combs in Los Angeles and Miami. Computer systems and different units have been confiscated whereas officers searched his Californian mansion.

Combs was additionally stopped at an airport in Miami as he ready to depart for the Bahamas, according to the New York Times. He’s stated to have handed over numerous digital units and was not detained.

The Division of Homeland Safety stated the searches fashioned “a part of an ongoing investigation”, however it was not clear how their inquiries have been associated to the civil circumstances in opposition to Combs.

His lawyer known as the raids a “witch-hunt primarily based on meritless accusations made in civil lawsuits” and stated his consumer was harmless.