What we know about the sexual assault allegations against American rapper P. Diddy, arrested in New York

The 54-year-old world-famous artist, real name Sean Combs, is described as a violent man who used alcohol and drugs to gain the submission of several women.

He was arrested by police in Manhattan late on Monday evening, September 16. A major figure in hip-hop, American rapper Sean Combs, known as Puff Daddy or P. Diddy, is the target of accusations of sexual violence, which have been revealed for nearly a year. In the nine complaints filed against him, women describe him as a violent sexual predator who used alcohol and drugs to obtain their submission. According to them, he used his celebrity and status to intimidate them. Details of the charges are expected to be revealed Tuesday morning. Franceinfo takes stock of the cases concerning him.

Suspected of being a sexual predator since the 1990s

Allegations of abuse against East Coast rap icon P. Diddy began in the 1990s, although he has never received a major conviction. A total of nine women have filed complaints against him since November 2023. One of them accuses him of “drugged and sexually assaulted” in 1992. This complainant claims that he had filmed the scene and distributed the video as a “revenge porn”Another woman claims she was forced to drink and drugged before being gang raped by the rapper, the president of his production company Bad Boy Records, Harve Pierre, and a third man in 2003, when she was 17.

At the end of March, sensational searches were carried out in the rapper’s luxurious villas in Los Angeles and Miami. Federal agents entered P. Diddy’s homes with guns drawn, under the eye of some American media outlets who captured images of these operations from the air. The rapper’s sons, Justin and King Combs, were then handcuffed. The American Department of Homeland Security confirmed the searches, without giving the reason.

Singer Cassie, his ex-partner, first to denounce “violent” and “deviant” behavior

His former partner, American R&B singer Cassie, is the first to file a civil complaint for rape and physical violence against the rapper. In her complaint, filed in New York in mid-November 2023, Casandra Ventura, her real name, denounces his “violent behavior” And “deviant” for a decade, such as forced sex with male prostitutes. She also accuses him of rape in 2018.

In a 2016 video, verified by CNN, P. Diddy lashes out at her. The rapper, wearing nothing but a towel around his waist, catches up to her in a hotel hallway, grabs her roughly and throws her to the ground, before kicking her several times. “My behavior in this video is inexcusable” And “disgusting”, the billionaire said in a video on his Instagram account, after the images were published in May.

“Domestic violence is THE problem. It broke me and made me someone I never thought I would be. Through hard work, I am better today, but I will never get over my past,” singer Cassie then reacted, without mentioning the name of her former partner. “My only request is that EVERYONE open their hearts and believe the victims the first time,” she added. This affair between Cassie and P. Diddy has finally been settled “amicably”according to a confidential agreement.

A new complaint in July

The latest complaint filed against P. Diddy for sexual assault and sexual exploitation dates back to early July. Actress Adria English, a porn star, accuses him of using her “as a sexual pawn for the pleasure and financial benefit of other people”at parties in the Hamptons, New York, and Florida, between 2004 and 2009. She is asking that Combs be sent to trial, and is seeking damages, the amount of which has not been specified. “Given the numerous lawsuits filed against Combs for the same or similar acts, it is increasingly clear that the defendant engaged in acts far more sinister than previously believed, including physical abuse and human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation.”we can read in the complaint, according to AFP.

Rapper denies accusations

According to P. Diddy’s lawyer, at the time of his arrest on Monday, his client was in “voluntarily” in Manhattan, where he moved. He is “disappointed in the decision of the United States Attorney’s Office to continue what we believe to be an unfair prosecution”explained Marc Agnifilo in a statement sent to the media. Born in New York, the rapper “cooperates with the investigation” And “is eager to clear his name in court,” according to his advice. At the time of the searches at his residences in March, the lawyer had denounced a “witch hunt” and some “baseless accusations”.