Security video aired by CNN seems to indicate Sean “Diddy” Combs attacking singer Cassie in a Los Angeles lodge hallway in 2016, the most recent in a months-long collection of public allegations and revelations of bodily and sexual violence from the hip-hop mogul.
The video aired Friday seems to indicate Combs, carrying solely a white towel, punching and kicking the R&B singer who was his protege and longtime girlfriend on the time. The footage additionally exhibits Combs shoving and dragging Cassie, and throwing a vase in her route.
The safety digital camera video, dated March 5, 2016, carefully resembles the outline of an incident at an InterContinental Hotel within the Century City space of Los Angeles described in a November lawsuit filed by Cassie, whose authorized title is Cassandra Ventura, that alleged years of sexual abuse and different violence from Combs.
The lawsuit alleges Combs paid the lodge $50,000 for the safety video. CNN didn’t say the way it obtained the video however famous it verified the situation it was shot by evaluating the footage to publicly obtainable photos of the InterContinental Hotel.
Cassie’s lawsuit was settled the day after it was filed, however spurred intense scrutiny of Combs, with a number of extra lawsuits filed within the following months, together with a federal prison sex-trafficking investigation that led authorities to raid Combs’ mansions in Los Angeles and Miami.
Representatives for Combs didn’t instantly touch upon the video, however he has beforehand denied the allegations within the lawsuits, and his legal professionals have stated he denies any wrongdoing and can combat to show his innocence.
“The gut-wrenching video has only further confirmed the disturbing and predatory behavior of Mr. Combs,” said Douglas Wigdor, an attorney for Cassie who has filed other lawsuits against Combs. “Words cannot express the courage and fortitude that Ms. Ventura has shown in coming forward to bring this to light.”
The Associated Press doesn’t usually title individuals who say they’ve been sexually abused except they arrive ahead publicly as Ventura has.
According to the lawsuit, Combs earlier within the night grew to become “extremely intoxicated” and punched Ventura, giving her a black eye. After he fell asleep she tried to depart, the swimsuit says. This is seemingly the place the video begins. Ventura could be seen heading to a financial institution of elevators with a packed bag.
Then Combs awoke and commenced screaming at her, following her down the corridor, the swimsuit stated.
He violently grabs her and yanks her to the bottom, kicks her, and throws vases in her route within the video.
The lawsuit says she managed to get away, however later returned out of concern that she would face better abuse if she did not. As she returned, lodge employees urged her to return to her house, the swimsuit says. She would flee and conceal out with a pal in Florida.
The lawsuit alleges Combs paid the lodge $50,000 for the safety video.
It is unlikely Combs might be criminally charged within the assault. The statutes of limitations for assault or battery in California run from one to 3 years relying on whether or not they’re charged as misdemeanors or felonies.
The video’s launch comes as Combs and his authorized crew had begun to push again in opposition to the allegations that had are available a gentle stream since November. They not too long ago filed motions to dismiss components of a lawsuit alleging he sexually assaulted a girl in 1991, and to dismiss all of a lawsuit alleging he and two different males raped a 17-year-old lady in 2003. The court docket filings known as each units of allegations false.
On March 25, Homeland Security Investigations served search warrants on Combs’ properties in Los Angeles and Miami in a sex-trafficking investigation. His lawyer known as it “a gross use of military-level force.” The investigation is continuous. Combs has not been charged.
Combs, a three-time Grammy winner and the founding father of Bad Boy Records, is among the many most influential hip-hop producers and executives of the previous three many years. He turned his hip-hop success right into a broader enterprise empire that features private-label spirits, trend, and a TV community. He has needed to step except for a few of his enterprise roles because the allegations started rising.
He and Ventura started courting in 2007 and had an on-and-off relationship for greater than a decade.
She grew to become recognized for the hit single “Me & U,” which secured the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop songs chart in 2006. The music was the lead single of her self-titled and solely studio album.
As an actor, she has appeared in a number of tv exhibits and movies, together with Fox’s “Empire,” “Step Up 2: The Streets” and “Spenser Confidential.”
Associated Press Entertainment Writer Jonathan Landrum, Jr. contributed to this report.
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