Sean Combs and singer Cassie have reached a settlement just one day after she filed an explosive lawsuit against the hip-hop mogul alleging rape and numerous physical abuse.
The parties announced Friday evening that they had reached an agreement to resolve the case, but did not provide details of the terms of the settlement.
“I have decided to resolve this matter amicably on the understanding that I have some degree of control,” Cassie, whose full name is Casandra Ventura, said in a statement. “I would like to thank my family, fans and advocates for their unwavering support.”
In a statement, Mr Combs said: “We have decided to resolve this matter amicably. I wish Cassie and her family all the best. Love.”
For Mr. Combs, the settlement quickly ends a potentially risky and potentially embarrassing legal disclosure process — in which reams of evidence will be made public — and a possible trial. And Ms. Ventura, who has already made her allegations in a public complaint, escapes cross-examination by Mr. Combs’ lawyers.
In a lawsuit that drew international attention, Ms. Ventura – who signed with Mr. Combs’ Bad Boy label in 2005, when she was 19, and dated him for about a decade – accused Mr. Combs, she said , years of beatings. Controlling behavior and various forms of sexual abuse, including rape. In response, an attorney for Mr. Combs, Ben Brafman, said: “Mr. Combs vehemently denies these offensive and outrageous allegations.”
According to Ms. Ventura’s lawsuit, filed Thursday in Federal District Court in Manhattan, Mr. Combs attacked her multiple times, leaving her bloodied and bruised; She said his staff sometimes took her to hotel rooms for days to recover from the public eye.
In one of the lawsuit’s most disturbing allegations, Ms. Ventura said she was forced to participate in sexual encounters with a series of male prostitutes for years while Mr. Combs watched, masturbated and recorded videos. According to the lawsuit, Mr. Combs referred to these events as “freak-offs” and they took place at a number of luxury hotels throughout the United States.
According to Ms. Ventura’s lawsuit, Mr. Combs controlled nearly every aspect of her life, paying for her home, car, clothing and other necessities, and even had access to her personal medical records. The lawsuit says Ms. Ventura never went to the police because she feared it would “just give Mr. Combs another excuse to hurt her.”
Mr. Combs, who founded Bad Boy in 1993, became one of the hip-hop industry’s most influential and successful figures, collaborating with stars such as Notorious BIG and Mary J. Blige and helping to shape rap music and culture a new world to transform global pop phenomenon and big business.
Still, his rise to fame was littered with allegations of violence, including that he and his bodyguards beat a rival music manager, Steve Stoute, with a champagne bottle and other objects.
Last year, Mr. Combs received a lifetime achievement award at the BET Awards and in September he received the Global Icon Award at the MTV Video Music Awards.
Even with the settlement, however, the damage to Mr. Combs’ reputation and legacy could be significant. In the day since the lawsuit was filed against Ms. Ventura, previous allegations of violence and abuse have resurfaced and several musicians have publicly signaled their support for Ms. Ventura.
In a statement, Douglas Wigdor, an attorney for Ms. Ventura, said: “I am very proud of Ms. Ventura for having the strength to go public with her lawsuit. She deserves praise for that.”