DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Sean Combs Accused of Sexual Assault in New Lawsuit
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-21 | by ( Julia Jacobs | More About Julia Jacobs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A former model filed a lawsuit on Tuesday accusing the hip-hop mogul Sean Combs of forcing her to perform oral sex on him at his New York City recording studio in 2003. She says Mr. Combs led her to the bathroom, shoved her head down to his crotch and, after she refused, forced her to perform oral sex on him. Representatives for Mr. Combs did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the lawsuit. Mr. Combs, 54, has been facing deepening legal troubles since his former girlfriend, Casandra Ventura, known as Cassie, filed a lawsuit against him last year in which she accused him of sexually and physically abusing her for years. The lawsuit was settled in one day, but three more suits followed from women who accused him of rape.

Persons: Sean Combs, Crystal McKinney, Combs, McKinney, Casandra Ventura, Cassie Organizations: New York City, MTV, Mr Locations: Manhattan

☆ Why Is Sean Combs the Subject of a Homeland Security Investigation?
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-30 | by ( Julia Jacobs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The raids of Sean Combs’s homes in Los Angeles and the Miami area this week raised a barrage of questions about the nature of the inquiry, which a federal official said was at least in part a human trafficking investigation. The government has said little about the basis for the search warrants, but the raids came after five civil lawsuits were filed against Mr. Combs in recent months that accused him of violating sex trafficking laws. In four of the suits women accused him of rape, and in one a man accused him of unwanted sexual contact. Mr. Combs, a hip-hop impresario known as Puff Daddy and Diddy who has been a high-profile figure in the music industry since the 1990s, has vehemently denied all of the allegations, calling them “sickening.” Officials have not publicly named him as a target of any prosecution. As the civil suits against Mr. Combs illustrate, the term human or sex trafficking has a broader meaning in the law than perhaps the more popularly understood image of organized crime and forced prostitution rings.

Persons: Sean Combs’s, Combs, Diddy, “, ”, Jim Cole Organizations: Mr, ”, Homeland Security Investigations Locations: Los Angeles, Miami

☆ The Sean Combs Saga Is Catnip for Pop Culture Podcasts
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-29 | by ( Emmanuel Morgan | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In the sprawling world of Black pop culture podcasts, its own media ecosystem covering the story lines and people central to the hip-hop genre, the one topic that dominated conversation this week was, unsurprisingly, the latest in the saga of Sean Combs. On Monday, federal agents raided the Los Angeles and Miami homes of Combs, the hip-hop mogul who has been accused in several civil lawsuits of sexual assault. The news spurred days of freewheeling and varied reactions from radio personalities and podcast hosts whose discourse veered toward humor, speculation and denial, far from the tone struck by traditional news outlets. Jessica Moore, known as “Jess Hilarious,” implied that the federal action was reminiscent of a television show. The third host, DJ Envy, agreed, and said the authorities acted like “they were going for the mob.”

Persons: Sean Combs, Mase, ”, God, Jessica Moore, Jess, DJ Envy Organizations: Bad Locations: Los Angeles, Miami, Combs

☆ Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs: The ups and downs of a ‘bad boy’ turned businessman
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-27 | by ( Lisa Respers France | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

CNN —Sean “Diddy” Combs once traced his success back to a pair of shoes. With his legacy in question, this particular chapter of the story of Sean “Diddy” Combs is currently punctuated more by an ellipsis than a period. Jessie James Combs, Chance Combs, Diddy, D'Lila Combs and Justin Dior Combs attend in September of 2023. Members of law enforcement are seen outside of Sean "Diddy" Combs' home in Los Angeles on Monday. He was briefly stopped by law enforcement and subsequently releasedThe source would not reveal Combs’ vacation destination or current whereabouts.

Persons: Sean “ Diddy ” Combs, ”, Combs, he’s, Puffy, Diddy, Love, Christopher Wallace, B.I.G, Wallace, Chance ”, Sean Combs, “, Faith Evans, ” Combs, Wendy Williams, Wallace’s, Justin, Misa Hylton, Kim Porter, Christian, Twin, Jessie James, Jessie James Combs, Chance Combs, D'Lila Combs, Justin Dior Combs, Jason Kempin, Chance, Sarah Chapman, Dana Tran, Sean Jean, — Combs, wasn’t, Sean John, Sean John’s, Sean, Shannon Stapleton, “ Sean Combs, Cassie Ventura, ” Aaron Dyer, ” Dyer, Mary J, Blige, MGK, Janelle Monáe, CNN’s John Miller, Elizabeth Wolfe, Eric Levenson, Denise Royal, Elizabeth Wagmeister, Carlos Suarez Organizations: CNN, Department of Homeland Security, Bad Boy Records, Ciroc, Global Brands Group, Diageo PLC, Reuters, Diageo, Bad Boy Entertainment, Miami Locations: Manhattan, Quincy, Los Angeles, Miami

☆ Sean Combs Settled a Lawsuit, but His Troubles Were Just Beginning
▼ + stars: | 2024-03-27 | by ( Ben Sisario | Julia Jacobs | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

It took just one day for Sean Combs to settle a bombshell lawsuit in November that accused him of rape and physical abuse. But it turns out that Mr. Combs’s problems were only beginning. For years, accusations of violence trailed Mr. Combs, who since the 1990s has been known as Puff Daddy and Diddy. But the suit in November, filed by his former girlfriend Casandra Ventura — who makes music as the singer Cassie — seemed to open the floodgates. And a raid by federal authorities at two of his homes on Monday suggested that authorities are considering possible criminal charges.

Persons: Sean Combs, Combs, Diddy, Casandra Ventura —, Cassie —, Ventura —, —

Combs was never detained but spoke to and cooperated with authorities. The authorities did not say whether Mr. Combs was a target or what criminal charges they were investigating. “This unprecedented ambush — paired with an advanced, coordinated media presence — leads to a premature rush to judgment of Mr. Combs,” Mr. Dyer said. “There has been no finding of criminal or civil liability with any of these allegations. Mr. Combs is innocent and will continue to fight every single day to clear his name.”

Persons: Sean Combs, ”, Aaron Dyer, “ Mr, Combs, —, Mr, ” Mr, Dyer Organizations: Homeland Security Investigations, Miami, Fox Locations: Los Angeles, Miami Beach, Fla

Federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security on Monday raided homes in the Los Angeles area and Miami that a person with knowledge of the case said were connected to Sean Combs, the hip-hop mogul who has been accused of sexual assault and sex trafficking in multiple civil lawsuits over the last several months. In a statement on Monday, in response to questions about news reports of a raid on Mr. Combs’s residences, Homeland Security Investigations said: “Earlier today, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New York executed law enforcement actions as part of an ongoing investigation, with assistance from HSI Los Angeles, HSI Miami and our local law enforcement partners. We will provide further information as it becomes available.”A spokesperson for Mr. Combs did not respond to a request for comment. The criminal inquiry was being conducted by federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York and federal agents with Homeland Security Investigations, a law-enforcement official said. Video from Fox 11 (KTTV), a local television news station in Los Angeles, showed armed officers entering a home in the Holmby Hills area of the city, which the station said was connected to Mr. Combs’s company, Bad Boy Entertainment.

Persons: Sean Combs, HSI, Combs, Nicholas Biase Organizations: Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, of, Southern, Fox, Bad Boy Entertainment Locations: Los Angeles, Miami, New York, HSI Los, HSI Miami, Southern, of New York, Holmby

☆ Where Has Tracy Chapman Been?
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-06 | by ( Ben Sisario | Heather Knight | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Despite some scattered performances on television and at awards shows, Chapman, 59, has remained almost entirely absent from the music world in recent years, having released her last studio album in 2008 and done her last tour in 2009. Since she first emerged in the late 1980s, she has always been known as a reclusive and private figure. But I am bit shy.”The acclaim for her Grammys performance — Taylor Swift could be seen singing along in the crowd — was a sign of how beloved Chapman remains. Combs’s note-for-note cover of “Fast Car” went to No. 2 on Billboard’s pop singles chart last year, and after the Grammys, Chapman’s original began shooting up iTunes’s download chart.

Persons: Tracy Chapman’s, Luke Combs —, Chapman, “, ”, — Taylor Swift, Chapman’s Organizations: Irish Times

☆ Opinion: The Grammys honored Tracy Chapman the way we should have all along
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-05 | by ( Opinion Allison Hope | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

CNN —The music scales tipped towards justice Sunday night as veteran singer-songwriter Tracy Chapman at long last received a standing ovation decades in the making for her performance of “Fast Car” at the 2024 Grammy Awards. Chapman shared the stage with country star Luke Combs, whose cover of “Fast Car” went to No. 1 on the Country Airplay chart (making Chapman the first Black woman to top the chart since its advent in 1990). At the end of the performance, Combs turned and bowed to Chapman, the ultimate sign of respect before the world stage. By acknowledging Chapman’s artistry, Combs and the Grammys honored her in precisely the way we should have all along.

Persons: Allison Hope, Read, Tracy Chapman, Chapman, Luke Combs, Allison Hope Combs, Chris Stapleton, it’s, Combs, ”, I’ve, “ Organizations: New Yorker, The New York Times, Washington Post, CNN, Slate, Billboard’s, Chapman Locations: New

In a third suit, Liza Gardner says that in 1990, Mr. Combs coerced her into sex and then, a couple of days later, choked her so hard she passed out. In a statement, Jonathan D. Davis, a lawyer for Mr. Combs, said: “The new claims against Mr. Combs for alleged misconduct from many years ago, which were filed at the last minute, are all denied and rejected by him. Because of Mr. Combs’s fame and success, he is an easy target for accusers who attempt to smear him. As news of those suits ricocheted through social media, accusations from Mr. Combs’s past were resurfaced and dissected. In a 2004 interview, Kimora Lee Simmons, the model and TV personality, said that Mr. Combs had threatened her while she was pregnant.

Persons: ”, Dan Charnas, “, Mr, Combs, Joi Dickerson, Neal, drugging, Dickerson, Ventura’s, Liza Gardner, Jonathan D, Davis, Combs’s, Sean John, Kimora Lee Simmons, Gina Huynh Organizations: Combs Global, New York Legislature, Combs Locations: New York

☆ Sean Combs Accused of Sexual Assault by a Second Woman
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-24 | by ( Matt Stevens | More About Matt Stevens | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The producer and music mogul Sean Combs was accused of sexually assaulting a woman in 1991 in a lawsuit she filed on Thursday, a week after he settled a suit that accused him of raping and physically abusing Cassie, an R&B singer once signed to his label. In the latest lawsuit, the plaintiff, Joi Dickerson-Neal, accused Mr. Combs of drugging her during an evening out in New York when she was on a break from Syracuse University, where she was a student. She was eventually driven to a place Mr. Combs was staying, where he raped her and recorded the encounter on video, according to the lawsuit. “Combs’s conduct forever changed the trajectory of her career, denying her what might have been a lucrative and successful career in the music industry,” the lawsuit said of Ms. Dickerson-Neal. The lawsuit was filed in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan shortly before this week’s deadline for the Adult Survivors Act, a state law that allowed people who said they were sexually abused to file claims even after the statute of limitations had expired.

Persons: Sean Combs, Cassie, Joi Dickerson, Neal, Mr, Combs, drugging, “, Dickerson Organizations: Syracuse University, Court Locations: New York, Manhattan

☆ Sean Combs Accused of Physical, Mental Abuse by Former Partner
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-17 | by ( Ginger Adams Otis | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Sean Combs, through a lawyer, denies all of the allegations against him in the lawsuit. Photo: Jordan Strauss/Invision/Associated PressA former romantic partner of producer and entrepreneur Sean Combs has filed a federal lawsuit accusing the music mogul of physical and mental abuse spanning roughly a decade. In a suit filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, R&B singer Cassie, who was once signed to Combs’s Bad Boy Records label, accused him of using drugs and alcohol to control her during their relationship. The pair first met in late 2005, when she was 19 years old and he was 37, the suit said.

Persons: Sean Combs, Jordan Strauss, Cassie Organizations: Press, Southern, of, Bad Boy Records Locations: U.S, of New York

☆ Cassie Settles Lawsuit Accusing Sean Combs of Rape and Abuse
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-17 | by ( Ben Sisario | More About Ben Sisario | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

And Ms. Ventura, who has already aired her accusations through a public complaint, avoids a cross-examination by Mr. Combs’s attorneys. In response, a lawyer for Mr. Combs, Ben Brafman, said, “Mr. According the suit, Mr. Combs called these events “freak offs,” and they took place in a number of high-end hotels throughout the United States. According to Ms. Ventura’s suit, Mr. Combs controlled nearly every aspect of her life, paying for her homes, car, clothes and other necessities, and even had access to her personal medical records. The suit says Ms. Ventura never went to the police because she feared it “would merely give Mr. Combs another excuse to hurt her.”

Persons: Combs, Ventura, Ventura —, Combs’s, Mr, Ben Brafman, “ Mr, Ms, Ventura’s, ” Organizations: Mr, Court Locations: Manhattan, United States

☆ Sean Combs Is Accused by Cassie of Rape and Years of Abuse in Lawsuit
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-16 | by ( Ben Sisario | More About Ben Sisario | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The suit, which names Mr. Combs and a number of his associated companies as defendants, seeks unspecified damages. scan she had — for memory loss, possibly caused by drug use or by a beating she said she suffered from Mr. Combs — went directly to Mr. Combs. According to the suit, Mr. Combs then had his staff bring her to a hotel room to recuperate for a week. She asked to go home to her parents, but Mr. Combs refused, the suit says. The suit says that after seeing the violent repercussions of rejecting Mr. Combs, and the extent to which he would isolate her from her support network, “Ms.

Persons: Combs, Ventura, Cassie, Casandra Ventura, “, Karwai Tang, Ms, Ventura’s, Combs — Organizations: Mr, Getty, Bad Locations: Los Angeles

NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs, was accused in a lawsuit Thursday of subjecting R&B singer Cassie to a yearslong relationship that included beatings and rape. Ventura, now 37 herself, said Combs, now 54, began the pattern of abuse began as soon as their relationship did. The suit alleges that, “prone to uncontrollable rage,” he subjected her to "savage" beatings in which he punched, kicked and stomped her. He and Ventura began dating in 2007 and had an on-and-off relationship for more than a decade. This year, he released his fifth studio album “The Love Album: Off the Grid,” which earned two Grammy nominations this month.

Persons: Sean “ Diddy ” Combs, Cassie, Casandra Ventura, Combs, Ben Brafman, Combs “, Ventura, ”, stomped, “, Brafman, ” Combs, Ryan Leslie, “ Spenser, Mary J, Blige, Usher, Lil Kim, Faith Evans, Sean John, Cassie — Ms, Casandra Ventura — Organizations: New York federal, Associated Press, Bad Boy Records, MTV, BET Locations: New York, Los Angeles, Ventura

☆ Barack Obama shares his summer playlist including songs by Tupac Shakur and Tina Turner
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-20 | by ( Alli Rosenbloom | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +2 min

CNN —Former President Barack Obama is staying cool this summer with a summer playlist of 40-plus songs that showcase his eclectic tastes. There are also some repeat artists on the list that Obama was listening to in the summer of 2021 – including the Rolling Stones, Stevie Wonder, SZA, Michael Kiwanuka and Bob Dylan – who show up here with different songs. Obama’s 2023 summer list includes country singer Luke Combs’s cover of Tracy Chapman’s 1988 classic “Fast Car,” which recently reached No. 1 on Billboard’s Country Airplay chart, making Chapman the first Black woman to top that chart in its 33-year existence. Obama traditionally releases these wide-ranging playlists for the summer, holidays and even for some workout motivation.

Persons: Barack Obama, ” Obama, Tina, Ike Turner’s, ”, 2Pac, Dre, Roger Troutman, Obama’s, Marvin Gaye, Otis Redding, Dr, Feelgood, Aretha Franklin, Nicki Minaj’s, Diana ”, Rauw Alejandro, Rosalía, Obama, Stevie Wonder, Michael Kiwanuka, Bob Dylan –, Luke Combs’s, Tracy Chapman’s, Chapman, “, Jorja Smith, Ashley McBryde, Pearl Jam Organizations: CNN, Twitter, Spice, Pearl Locations: California, United States

☆ Popcast (Deluxe): A.I. Pop Stars and Luke Combs’s ‘Fast Car’
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-14 | by ( ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

Popcast (Deluxe): A.I. Pop Stars and Luke Combs’s ‘Fast Car’ Dissecting the recent wave of songs “by" Drake and others, plus your questions about band reunions, a rundown of new songs and more. Hosted by Jon Caramanica and Joe Coscarelli. Produced by Leslye Davis. Audio editing by Pedro Rosado.

Persons: Luke Combs’s, Drake, Jon Caramanica, Joe Coscarelli, Leslye Davis, Pedro Rosado

☆ New Story Collections on Life’s Absurdities and Pains
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-30 | by ( Jen Vafidis | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

Gender, relationships, family and the meaning of pop culture. But does “Almost Famous” have a scene when the sky opens to reveal giant chopsticks hovering over salmon roe as big as skyscrapers? A minor description from Theodore McCombs’s inquisitive fantasia URANIANS (Astra House, 210 pp., $25), his debut collection, illuminated the whole book for me. The main character in “Laguna Heights,” frustrated by memory gaps caused by his top-shelf neurotechnology, is called the “sort of man pleased to remember that old movies are still in the world.” He’s not pleased; he’s the kind of person who would be pleased. This detached phrasing, however tossed-off, tore me out of the moment, and confronted me with an iffy behavioral theory: Identity predetermines emotions and actions, and emotions and actions reinforce identity, in one smooth loop.

Persons: I’ve, Reiko, bender, you’ve, Theodore McCombs’s, fantasia, ”, He’s Organizations: Astra House Locations: Laguna Heights

☆ When Floods Destroy Homes, Hidden Costs Can Devastate Survivors
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-22 | by ( Colleen Hagerty | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

The Combses then took over those payments for a few years until the expense — more than $500 a month, Ms. Combs said — became unaffordable. Ms. Combs did apply for a loan from the Small Business Administration but was denied because of her credit score, she said. A church group helped clean out the house, including throwing out the refrigerator, stocked with spoiled food. They have been blessed, as Ms. Combs sees it. Ms. Combs estimated that they had spent a few thousand dollars to get back home.

Search resuls for: "Combs’s"

19 mentions found