The Sean 'Diddy' Combs story - From recording studio to courtroom
May 5 (Reuters) - Sean "Diddy" Combs, the hip-hop mogul who discovered the Notorious B.I.G. and ran one of the genre's most iconic record labels, is set to stand trial in New York on Monday in a case accusing the onetime industry kingmaker of running a multi-decade racketeering and sex-trafficking conspiracy.
Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty and denied wrongdoing. Here is a timeline of his rise and fall from music industry A-lister to criminal defendant.
Here is a timeline of his career and legal troubles:
1993 - Combs establishes his record label Bad Boy Records, bringing along rapper Christopher Wallace (the Notorious B.I.G.) from their former label.
1996 - Under the name 'Puff Daddy,' Combs releases his first solo album, titled No Way Out, which later wins a Grammy Award for best rap album.
1999 - Combs pleads guilty in New York state court to harassment for attacking another rapper's manager and is sentenced to one day of anger management class. Several months later, Combs is charged with weapons offenses over a shooting at a club in New York's Times Square, but is acquitted at trial.
2001 - A Detroit radio host sues Combs for assault, claiming the rap mogul's associates roughed him up and destroyed an interview tape. Combs denies wrongdoing and is ultimately cleared by a jury.
2003 - A former business partner sues Combs for allegedly threatening him with a baseball bat. Combs denies the allegations, and the case is dismissed after an appeals court finds the statute of limitations had expired.
2008 - Combs privately settles a lawsuit by a man who claimed the mogul punched him outside a Hollywood nightclub.
2015 - Combs is arrested for aggravated assault after an argument with his son's football coach in Los Angeles. The charges are later dropped.
2017 - Combs' former personal chef sues the mogul for sexual harassment and retaliation. The case is settled for an undisclosed amount two years later.
November 16, 2023 -- Combs' former girlfriend Cassie Ventura sues Combs in New York federal court for rape, sex trafficking and physical abuse. Combs and Ventura settle the case for an undisclosed sum days later.
November 23, 2023 - A California woman named Joi Dickerson-Neal files a lawsuit accusing Combs of drugging and raping her when she was a university student in 1991, one of dozens of sexual abuse lawsuits Combs would ultimately face.
May 17, 2024 -- CNN releases footage purporting to show Combs violently assaulting Ventura at a hotel in Los Angeles on March 5, 2016.
May 19, 2024 -- Combs posts an apology video for the Ventura incident, saying he is "truly sorry" for his "inexcusable" actions.
October 14, 2024 -- Combs is accused of assault in six new civil lawsuits filed by an attorney who said he was representing 120 people who accused Combs of abuse.
September 16, 2024 -- Combs is arrested in New York and charged with racketeering, sex trafficking by force and transportation for purposes of prostitution. He pleads not guilty the following day, and a judge denies him bail.
April 4, 2025 -- Federal prosecutors in Manhattan file an expanded indictment charging Combs with five criminal counts. Combs pleads not guilty two weeks later.
May 5, 2025 -- Combs' trial begins with jury selection before U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian in Manhattan federal court.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scottish Sun
8 hours ago
- Scottish Sun
Six members of Russian spy ring to have ‘too lenient' jail sentences reviewed
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) SIX members of a Russian spy ring are to have their jail sentences reviewed for being too lenient, we can reveal. The Bulgarians — who lived and worked in the UK — plotted sex stings, and targeted Russian dissidents and journalists critical of President Vladimir Putin's war effort against Ukraine. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 7 Russian Spy Vanya Gaberova was sentenced to eight years in jail Credit: Reuters 7 The operations was run out of a Great Yarmouth guesthouse Credit: PA The ring included lab worker Katrin Ivanova, 33, and beauty shop owner Vanya Gaberova, 30 — dubbed 'killer sexy brunettes' by cell leaders. Ivanova got nine years and eight months and Gaberova eight years. They were both found guilty in March of breaching the Official Secrets Act by conspiring to provide information useful to an enemy between August 2020 and February 2023. Ivanova also got a concurrent sentence of 15 months for forged ID documents. read more on russia BRAND OF EVIL Ukrainian PoW released in swap left with 'Glory to Russia' burned on his body All six got a total of more than 50 years last month. The Attorney General's Office has been asked to consider the sentences under the Unduly Lenient Sentence scheme. The ULS scheme allows anyone to ask for a Crown Court sentence to be assessed by the Attorney General's office if they think it is too lenient. Law officers have 28 days from sentencing to make a decision. 7 Katrin Ivanova was sentenced to nine years and eight months Credit: Central News 7 Orlin Roussev ran the spy ring Credit: PA 7 Ivan Iliev Stoyanov was convicted of carrying out surveillance for Putin 7 Tihomir Ivanov Ivanchev was also jailed for his part in the spy ring Credit: PA 7 Biser Dzhambazov was convicted as part of the ring Credit: PA Unlock even more award-winning articles as The Sun launches brand new membership programme - Sun Club.
Reuters
15 hours ago
- Reuters
Two men plead not guilty in violent New York crypto kidnapping case
NEW YORK, June 11 (Reuters) - Two men pleaded not guilty on Wednesday to charges they kidnapped a man for three weeks in Manahttan's upscale SoHo neighborhood, shocked him with electric wires and dangled him over a staircase to try to get him to give up his bitcoin password. John Woeltz, 37, and William Duplessie, 33, have been detained since their arrests last month on kidnapping and other charges. Both defendants face up to life in prison if convicted. Prosecutors with the Manhattan District Attorney's office said Duplessie and Woeltz on May 6 took a man's electronics and password and demanded that he share his password so they could steal his cryptocurrency. When the man refused to share his password, Duplessie and Woeltz began a series of brutal beatings over three weeks in a luxury townhouse until the man managed to escape, prosecutors said. Duplessie and Woeltz tied the man's wrists, hit him on the head with a gun and threatened to kill his family, according to criminal complaints against the two men filed in court. Local media have called Woeltz a cryptocurrency investor and described the alleged victim as an Italian man. Both Woeltz and the alleged victim had ties to a crypto hedge fund in New York, the New York Times reported, citing an internal police report described by a law enforcement official. The alleged incident comes as three cryptocurrency-linked kidnappings or kidnapping attempts have taken place in France so far this year. The rapid rise in the price of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in recent years has created a new group of wealthy investors who could be tempting targets for criminals, according to security experts.
Reuters
18 hours ago
- Reuters
Russian court orders house arrest of politician accused of discrediting the Russian army
MOSCOW, June 11 (Reuters) - A court in Pskov said on Wednesday it had ruled that opposition politician Lev Shlosberg be placed under house arrest for two months and face unspecified restrictions on his activities at the request of state prosecutors. Shlosberg was detained on Tuesday and charged with discrediting the Russian army after describing the war in Ukraine as a game of "bloody chess", his party said. The 61-year-old made the comment in a video debate in January in which he urged an end to the war. The liberal Yabloko party, of which Shlosberg is a senior member, said his arrest was linked to those remarks. He denies the charge, it said. The court service of the Pskov region, which borders Estonia, on Wednesday published an image of Shlosberg at a court hearing standing up inside a courtroom cage. It noted that the authorities had already designated Shlosberg "a foreign agent," a label which carries negative Soviet-era connotations and complicates designees' lives. Shlosberg, one of relatively few opposition politicians remaining in the country, faces up to five years in jail if convicted.
