The Sean 'Diddy' Combs story - From recording studio to courtroom
FILE PHOTO: Rapper Sean Diddy Combs arrives at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards in New York, U.S., August 28, 2016. REUTERS/Eduardo Munoz/ File Photo
FILE PHOTO: Sean \"Diddy\" Combs performs at the BET Awards 2022 at the Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles, California, U.S., June 26, 2022. REUTERS/David Swanson/ File Photo
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. REUTERS
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Islamic State reactivating fighters, eying comeback in Syria and Iraq
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That would be around a third of last year's claims, the data shows. In Iraq, where IS originated, the group claimed four attacks in the first five months of 2025, versus 61 total last year. Syria's government, led by the country's new Islamist leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, did not answer questions about IS activities. Defence Minister Murhaf Abu Qasra told Reuters in January the country was developing its intelligence-gathering efforts, and its security services would address any threat. A U.S. defence official and a spokesperson for Iraq's prime minister said IS remnants in Syria and Iraq have been dramatically weakened, unable to control territory since a U.S.-led coalition and its local partners drove them from their last stronghold in 2019. The Iraqi spokesperson, Sabah al-Numan, credited pre-emptive operations for keeping the group in check. The coalition and partners hammered militant hideouts with airstrikes and raids after Assad's fall. Such operations captured or killed 'terrorist elements,' while preventing them from regrouping and carrying out operations, Numan said. Iraq's intelligence operations have also become more precise, through drones and other technology, he added. At its peak between 2014 and 2017, IS held sway over roughly a third of Syria and Iraq, where it imposed its extreme interpretation of Islamic sharia law, gaining a reputation for shocking brutality. None of the officials who spoke with Reuters saw a danger of that happening again. But they cautioned against counting the group out, saying it has proven a resilient foe, adept at exploiting a vacuum. Some local and European officials are concerned that foreign fighters might be travelling to Syria to join jihadi groups. For the first time in years, intelligence agencies tracked a small number of suspected foreign fighters coming from Europe to Syria in recent months, two European officials told Reuters, though they could not say whether IS or another group recruited them. EXPLOITING DIVISIONS The IS push comes at a delicate time for Sharaa, as he attempts to unite a diverse country and bring former rebel groups under government control after 13 years of civil war. U.S. President Donald Trump's surprise decision last month to lift sanctions on Syria was widely seen as a win for the Syrian leader, who once led a branch of al Qaeda that battled IS for years. But some Islamist hardliners criticised Sharaa's efforts to woo Western governments, expressing concern he might acquiesce to U.S. demands to expel foreign fighters and normalise relations with Israel. Seizing on such divides, IS condemned the meeting with Trump in a recent issue of its online news publication, al-Naba, and called on foreign fighters in Syria to join its ranks. At a May 14 meeting in Saudi Arabia, Trump asked Sharaa to help prevent an IS resurgence as the U.S. begins a troop consolidation in Syria it says could cut its roughly 2,000-strong military presence by half this year. The U.S. drawdown has heightened concern among allies that IS might find a way to free some 9,000 fighters and their family members, including foreign nationals, held at prisons and camps guarded by the U.S.-backed, Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF). There have been at least two attempted jailbreaks since Assad's fall, the SDF has said. Trump and President Tayyip Erdogan of neighbouring Turkey want Sharaa's government to assume responsibility for these facilities. Erdogan views the main Kurdish factions as a threat to his country. But some regional analysts question whether Damascus has the manpower needed. Syrian authorities have also been grappling with attacks by suspected Assad loyalists, outbreaks of deadly sectarian violence, Israeli airstrikes and clashes between Turkish-backed groups and the SDF, which controls about a quarter of the country. 'The interim government is stretched thin from a security perspective. They just do not have the manpower to consolidate control in the entire country,' said Charles Lister, who heads the Syria program at the Middle East Institute, a U.S. think tank. Responding to a request for comment, a State Department spokesperson said it is critical for countries to repatriate detained nationals from Syria and shoulder a greater share of the burden for the camps' security and running costs. The U.S. defence official said Washington remains committed to preventing an IS resurgence, and its vetted Syrian partners remain in the field. The U.S. will 'vigilantly monitor' Sharaa's government, which has been 'saying and doing the right things' so far, the official added. Three days after Trump's meeting with Sharaa, Syria announced it had raided IS hideouts in the country's second city, Aleppo, killing three militants, detaining four and seizing weapons and uniforms. The U.S. has exchanged intelligence with Damascus in limited cases, another U.S. defence official and two Syrian officials told Reuters. The news agency could not determine whether it did so in the Aleppo raids. The coalition is expected to wrap up operations in Iraq by September. But the second U.S. official said Baghdad privately expressed interest in slowing down the withdrawal of some 2,500 American troops from Iraq when it became apparent that Assad would fall. A source familiar with the matter confirmed the request. The White House, Baghdad and Damascus did not respond to questions about Trump's plans for U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria. REACTIVATING SLEEPER CELLS The United Nations estimates IS, also known as ISIS or Daesh, has 1,500 to 3,000 fighters in the two countries. But its most active branches are in Africa, the SITE data shows. The U.S. military believes the group's secretive leader is Abdulqadir Mumin, who heads the Somalia branch, a senior defence official told reporters in April. Still, SITE's director, Rita Katz, cautioned against seeing the drop in IS attacks in Syria as a sign of weakness. 'Far more likely that it has entered a restrategising phase,' she said. Since Assad's fall, IS has been activating sleeper cells, surveilling potential targets and distributing guns, silencers and explosives, three security sources and three Syrian political officials told Reuters. It has also moved fighters from the Syrian desert, a focus of coalition airstrikes, to cities including Aleppo, Homs and Damascus, according to the security sources. 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Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Straits Times
49 under probe for suspected money laundering involving crypto accounts, over $200k seized
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