Timeline of major events – Winnipeg Free Press

LOS ANGELES (AP) – Newly released video shows Sean “Diddy” Combs assaulting his former singing protégé and girlfriend Cassie at a Los Angeles hotel in 2016.

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

Here's an overview of the main events since the end of last year.

NOVEMBER 16, 2023

Cassie claims in court that Combs abused her for years, including beatings and rape. Cassie, whose legal name is Cassandra Ventura, signed Combs to the label in 2005, and the two have been romantic partners again for more than a decade since 2007. The lawsuit, filed in federal court, alleges that Combs was “unruly.” angered him and “savagely” beat him. It alleges that he drugged her, forced her to have sex with other men and raped her in his home when she tried to end the relationship in 2018. Through his attorney, Combs “consistently denies” the allegations.

NOVEMBER 17, 2023

With astonishing speed, Ventura's lawsuit was settled the day after it was filed. The terms of the agreement will be 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”.

NOVEMBER 23, 2023

Two other women accuse Combs of sexual assault in lawsuits filed just before the expiration of the Adult Survivors Act, which allows victims of sexual assault to file civil lawsuits regardless of the statute of limitations. The lawsuits, filed by Joy Dickerson and another unnamed woman, allege sexual assault, beatings and forced drugging by Combs, then a talent director, party promoter and rising figure in New York City's hip-hop community, in the early 1990s. says. . Combs' attorneys have called the allegations false.

NOVEMBER 28, 2023

Combs is stepping down as chairman of his Revolt cable network amid a wave of sexual assault allegations. It would be one of several setbacks that sparked a lawsuit for Combs.

DECEMBER 6, 2023

A woman claims in another lawsuit that in 2003, when she was 17, Combs and two other men raped her. The suit, filed in federal court in Manhattan, alleges that he lived in suburban Detroit and flew her to a New York studio, drugged her with drugs and alcohol and rendered her incapable of consenting to sex, and the men took turns raping her. Combs said in a statement: “I did not do any of the horrible things that I have been accused of. I will fight for my name, my family and the truth.”

FEBRUARY 26, 2024

The music producer is suing Combs for sexually assaulting her and forcing her to have sex with prostitutes. The lawsuit lists a long list of alleged drug and sex abuse that the producer himself witnessed. Combs' attorney calls the allegations “pure fiction.”

March 25, 2024

Local security investigations conducted early morning raids on Combs' homes in Los Angeles and Miami in what officials told The Associated Press was a sex-trafficking investigation. Combs was at one of his homes in Miami at the time. Her two sons were handcuffed during a search of her Los Angeles home, Combs' attorneys said. Officials did not say whether the raids were motivated by the civil lawsuits, but Combs' attorneys said they believe they were.

MARCH 26, 2024

Combs' attorney called the raids a “brutal use of military-grade power” and said Combs is “innocent and will continue to fight” to clear his name. Attorney Aaron Dyer says there is “no excuse for the excessive force and hostility of the authorities or their treatment of children and staff”.

APRIL 4, 2024

The lawsuit, which names Combs as a co-defendant, alleges that his son, Christian “King” Combs, sexually assaulted a woman who worked on a yacht hired by his father. The complaint, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges that Shawn Combs created the circumstances that led to the attack and then paid money to cover it up. A lawyer for the two men called the allegations “false”.

APRIL 26, 2024

In the first major part of the legal pushback by Combs and his team, they are filing to dismiss several elements of Dickerson's lawsuit because they were not illegal when the alleged events occurred in 1991. While the legal objections are procedural, the filing criticizes the “numerous false, defamatory and egregious allegations” in the lawsuit.

MAY 10, 2024

Combs is asking a federal judge to dismiss the Dec. 6 trial in which he and two co-defendants are accused of raping a 17-year-old girl from Michigan at a recording studio in New York. Again, the objections are procedural — arguing that the lawsuit was filed too late under the law — but the court filing calls its claims “false and frivolous.”

May 17, 2024

CNN airs video showing Combs assaulting Ventura in a hotel hallway in 2016. The video clearly shows the attack described in her lawsuit, where she says Combs punched her that night as she tried to leave the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles. she woke up and followed him. In the footage, a man who looks like Diddy, wearing only a scarf, punches, kicks and throws Ventura to the floor. The lawsuit alleges that Combs paid $50,000 to have the video removed at the time. Representatives for Combs did not immediately comment.

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The Associated Press typically doesn't name people who say they were sexually assaulted unless they go public, like those named here.