Legal
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A New York federal judge denied bail to Sean “Diddy” Combs at an arraignment hearing on Tuesday (Sept. 17), leaving the once-powerful rapper and music executive behind bars as he awaits trial on sweeping allegations of sexual abuse.
The charges, unsealed earlier on Tuesday, accuse Combs of running a decades-long racketeering conspiracy that included sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson and bribery. If convicted on all the charges, he potentially faces a sentence of life in prison.
At an initial hearing Tuesday in front of a packed Manhattan courtroom, Combs formally pleaded not guilty to each of the three charges he’s facing. His attorneys also requested that he be released on a $50 million bond, saying he’d surrender his passport and submit to constant monitoring.
But according to the Associated Press, Magistrate Judge Robyn F. Tarnofsky ultimately sided with prosecutors, who had warned that the billionaire executive still posed a flight risk and might intimidate witnesses if released. She ruled that Combs attorneys had not overcome the “presumption” that defendants in such serious cases should remain behind bars.
Combs, also known as Puff Daddy and P. Diddy, was once one of the most powerful men in the music industry. But he’s faced a flood of civil lawsuits in recent months over allegations of sexual abuse, starting with a high-profile case last year from his former longtime girlfriend Cassie Ventura. That lawsuit quickly settled, but it was later corroborated by a widely shared video of Combs assaulting Ventura at a hotel.
In Tuesday’s indictment, prosecutors accused Combs of running a sprawling criminal operation aimed at satisfying his need for “sexual gratification.” The charges detailed “freak offs” in which Combs and others would allegedly ply victims with drugs and then coerce them into having sex with male sex workers, as well as alleged acts of violence and intimidation to keep victims silent.
“For decades, Sean Combs … abused, threatened and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation and conceal his conduct,” prosecutors wrote in the indictment. “To do so, Combs relied on the employees, resources and the influence of his multi-faceted business empire that he led and controlled.”
Ahead of Tuesday’s hearing, both sides submitted detailed arguments to the judge on whether Combs should be detained until his jury trial, which could still be months away.
Combs’ defense lawyers said he was “eminently trustworthy” and had demonstrated “extraordinary” cooperation by flying to New York to allow himself to be arrested on Monday. They offered to post a $50 million bond, submit to house arrest with GPS monitoring, and even to sell his private jet.
“Sean Combs has never evaded, avoided, eluded or run from a challenge in his life,” his lawyers wrote. “He will not start now. As he has handled every hardship, he will meet this case head-on, he will work hard to defend himself, and he will prevail.”
But prosecutors argued back that Combs was a “serial abuser” who had a history of both violence and witness intimidation, raising the prospect that he might attempt to obstruct the case against him. They also said that he still posed a flight risk even under his proposed conditions, citing his “seemingly limitless resources” and the looming threat of a lifetime prison sentence.
“In short, if the defendant wanted to flee, he has the money, manpower, and tools to do so quickly and without detection,” prosecutors wrote. “The defendant’s lack of access to his passport or private jet would not negate the fact that the defendant could easily buy his way out of facing justice.”
Following Tuesday’s hearing before a magistrate judge, Combs is set for an initial pretrial conference next week before Judge Andrew L. Carter, Jr., the federal district judge who will oversee the trial.
Federal prosecutors on Tuesday (Sept. 17) unsealed a criminal indictment of Sean “Diddy” Combs over sweeping allegations of sexual abuse, accusing the once-powerful rapper of running a racketeering conspiracy that included sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson and bribery.
Less than a day after the rapper was arrested Monday in New York City, Manhattan federal prosecutors unveiled the substance of their case against Combs – accusing him of operating a criminal enterprise centered on his “pervasive pattern of abuse toward women.”
“For decades, Sean Combs … abused, threatened and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation and conceal his conduct,” reads the indictment, which was obtained by Billboard. “To do so, Combs relied on the employees, resources and the influence of his multi-faceted business empire that he led and controlled.”
At a press conference announcing the indictment on Tuesday, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams warned that his office would target “anyone who engages in sex trafficking, no matter how powerful or wealthy or famous” they are. “A year ago, Sean Combs stood in Times Square and was handed a key to New York City,” Williams said. “Today, he’s been indicted and will face justice.”
Combs, 54, is expected to be arraigned later on Tuesday at a Manhattan federal courthouse. At the press conference, Williams said prosecutors would asked the judge to deny release on bail and keep Combs in jail until trial.
A spokesperson for Combs did not immediately return a request for comment on the unsealed indictment. In an earlier statement following his arrest, his attorney Marc Agnifilo said he and his client were “disappointed” the “unjust prosecution” he was facing.
“He is an imperfect person but he is not a criminal,” Agnifilo said. “To his credit Mr. Combs has been nothing but cooperative with this investigation and he voluntarily relocated to New York last week in anticipation of these charges. Please reserve your judgment until you have all the facts. These are the acts of an innocent man with nothing to hide, and he looks forward to clearing his name in court.”
The charges against Combs come after a flood of civil lawsuits in which at least eight victims have sued him over allegations of sexual abuse, starting with a high-profile case filed last year by his longtime girlfriend Cassie Ventura. That case quickly settled, but it was later corroborated by a widely-shared video of Combs assaulting her at a hotel.
Criminal charges against Combs were not unexpected. Federal agents carried out raids in March on his homes in Los Angeles and Miami, and multiple news outlets had reported that he was facing an ongoing investigation that included potential allegations of sex trafficking.
In Tuesday’s unsealed indictment, prosecutors allege that Combs violated the federal Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act – a law known as RICO that’s often used to target mobsters and drug cartels. Over 14 pages of details, the government claims Combs operated a similar criminal racket from 2008 onward, but one centered “fulfilling the personal desires of Combs, particularly those related to sexual gratification.”
“Combs … used the Combs business, including certain employees, to carry out, facilitate, and cover up his abuse and commercial sex,” prosecutors write.
Much of the case centers on events that Combs allegedly called “freak offs,” which prosecutors describe as “elaborate and produced sex performances” between victims and male sex workers during which Combs would masturbate. They allege Combs and his associates “wielded the power and prestige” of his fame to “intimidate, threaten and lure female victims” into his orbit, then used “force, threats of force, and coercion” to get them to participate.
During the freak offs, prosecutors claim Combs and others kept victims “obedient and compliant” by providing them with drugs, then subjected them to “physical, emotional and verbal abuse,” including hitting and kicking them, threatening career repercussions, and blackmailing them with footage.
“Victims believed they could not refuse Combs demands without risking their financial or job security,” prosecutors write. “Combs also used the sensitive, embarrassing, and incriminating recordings that he made during freak offs as collateral to ensure the continued obedience and silence of victims.”
When faced with the risk that someone would expose his conduct, Combs and others used similar tactics to keep witnesses and victims silent, prosecutors say, including bribery, kidnapping and arson. The indictment says members of the organization carried firearms, and that “Combs himself carried or brandished firearms to intimidate and threaten others.”
In addition to the RICO allegations, the indictment also accuses Combs of federal sex-trafficking laws and a federal statute barring the transportation of sex workers. The indictment does not make clear how many alleged victims were impacted, and Williams declined to offer more details on Tuesday.
Though Tuesday’s indictment makes repeated mention of other members of Combs’ organization, the rapper himself is the only person currently facing charges. But at Tuesday’s press conference, Williams warned that could change.
“We are not done,” Williams said. “This investigation is ongoing, and I encourage anyone with information about this case to come forward and to do it quickly.”
Miley Cyrus has been hit with a lawsuit that claims her chart-topping “Flowers” infringed the copyright to the Bruno Mars hit “When I Was Your Man,” setting the stage for a legal battle over two tracks that many fans already saw as connected.
Filed Monday in Los Angeles federal court, the case claims that Cyrus’ track – which spent eight weeks atop the Hot 100 after it was released in January 2023 – “duplicates numerous melodic, harmonic, and lyrical elements” of the earlier track.
The complaint was filed not by Mars himself but by an entity called Tempo Music Investments that bought a share of the copyright to his song from one of its co-writers. In it, lawyers for that group claim the two songs have “striking similarities.”
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“Any fan of Bruno Mars’ ‘When I Was Your Man’ knows that Miley Cyrus’ ‘Flowers’ did not achieve all of that success on its own,” lawyers for Tempo Music write. “It is undeniable based on the combination and number of similarities between the two recordings that ‘Flowers’ would not exist without ‘When I Was Your Man.’”
A spokesperson for Cyrus did not immediately return a request for comment on the allegations.
Tempo is hardly the first to note connections between the two songs. When “Flowers” was first released, many fans saw it as an “answer song” to Mars’ earlier track — with Cyrus directly responding to the song’s regrets. Where Mars laments that “I should’ve bought you flowers… take you to every party, ’cause all you wanted to dance,” Cyrus protests on “Flowers,” that “I can buy myself flowers… I can take myself dancing.”
The reason for the references? According to internet speculation, Mars’ song was a favorite of Cyrus’ ex-husband Liam Hemsworth and her allusions were a reference to their split.
At the time, legal experts told Billboard that Cyrus was likely not violating copyrights simply by using similar lyrics to fire back at the earlier song – a time-honored music industry tradition utilized by songs ranging from Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” to countless rap diss records.
“This is great fodder for fan theories, but lawyers should have nothing to do with it,” Joseph Fishman, a professor at Vanderbilt Law School in Nashville, said at the time. “Using one song to issue a retort to an earlier song is not, by itself, infringement.”
But in Monday’s complaint, attorneys for Tempo argue that the similarities in Cyrus’ song extend well beyond the clap-back lyrics, including “melodic and harmonic material,” “pitch ending pattern,” and “bass-line structure.”
“Immediately upon the release of ‘Flowers,’ the public recognized the striking similarities between the song and ‘When I Was Your Man,’” Tempo’s lawyers write. “The combination of elements – both musical and lyrical – confirm that ‘Flowers’ copies extensively from ‘When I Was Your Man.’”
Following the filing the lawsuit, some copyright experts remain skeptical. On social media, Fishman said the merits of Tempo’s case were “weak” and that the musical similarities were rooted in commonplace song elements that also exist in other tracks like Gloria Gaynor’s “I Will Survive” or Ace of Base’s “It’s a Beautiful Life.” He also questioned why Mars himself was not involved.
Aaron Moss, a veteran copyright litigator at the law firm Greenberg Glusker, cited numerous other songs that “reply to other songs,” including “Love Will Tear Us Apart” by Joy Division and “Love Will Keep Us Together” by Captain & Tennille: “It’s not copyright infringement folks,” Moss said.
An attorney for Tempo did not immediately return a request for comment.
Donald Trump infringed copyrights by using Eddy Grant’s iconic “Electric Avenue” in a 2020 campaign video without permission, a federal judge ruled Friday (Sept. 13), rejecting Trump’s argument that he made legal fair use of the song.
Grant sued Trump in 2020 after the then-president used his 1982 hit in a social media video attacking Joe Biden. Grant said he reacted with “dismay” when he began receiving inquiries asking if he had approved the Republican candidate’s use of his music.
Trump’s lawyers had argued the video was shielded under copyright’s fair use doctrine, which allows for the “transformative” re-use of protected works in certain situations. But in Friday’s ruling, Judge John G. Koeltl sharply rejected that argument.
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“In this case, the video has a very low degree of transformativeness, if any at all,” the judge wrote. “The video is best described as a wholesale copying of music to accompany a political campaign ad.”
A spokesperson and an attorney for the Trump campaign did not immediately return requests for comment.
Trump has repeatedly faced blowback amid the 2024 election from artists who don’t want him to use their music. Beyoncé, Celine Dion, the Foo Fighters, ABBA and Sinead O’Connor‘s estate have all spoken out or threatened action, and the White Stripes and the estate of Isaac Hayes have both filed lawsuits against him and his campaign.
Four years earlier, Grant filed a similar case over Trump’s “wrongful and willful” use of “Electric Avenue,” a funky, reggae-infused track about the 1981 Brixton riot, named for a road running through that London neighborhood. The song reached No. 2 on the Hot 100 in the summer of 1983 and ultimately spent 22 weeks on the chart.
The video at issue, shared by Trump on Twitter, featured a red “Trump” train outrunning a handcar driven by Biden, as audio clips of Biden’s speeches played above Grant’s 1982 hit. Grant’s attorneys said the campaign had refused to remove the clip even after they were warned — meaning that Trump was acting as if he was “above the law.”
Facing those allegations, Trump’s legal team argued that the video amounted to fair use, claiming the campaign had transformed Grant’s song into a vehicle to criticize Biden. In 2021, Judge Koeltl hinted that he would likely reject that argument on the grounds that it “misapprehends” how fair use works, but he said it was too early to decide the issue.
On Friday, the judge made good on his warnings, largely adopting the same rationale as his 2021 decision. He noted that Trump’s video “did not edit the song’s lyrics, vocals, or instrumentals at all” and had “offered no justification for their extensive borrowing.”
Trump’s attorneys had argued that the video had “transformed Grant’s original conception of ‘Electric Avenue’ as a protest against social conditions into a colorful attack on the character and personality traits of a rival political figure.” But the judge was entirely unswayed by that defense — saying that it would only count as fair use if Trump had used the song to attack Grant, not Biden.
“The animation does not use ‘Electric Avenue’ as a vehicle to deliver its satirical message, and it makes no effort to poke fun at the song or Grant,” Judge Koeltl wrote, quoting directly from his earlier decision.
Friday’s ruling means that Trump and his campaign have been held legally liable for copyright infringement, but it leaves undecided the amount he must ultimately pay Grant in damages. That issue will be resolved in future proceedings.
An attorney for Grant did not immediately return a request for comment.
Justin Timberlake pleaded guilty to impaired driving in New York’s Sag Harbor Village Court Friday (Sept. 13).
According to the Associated Press, Timberlake was sentenced to a $500 fine with a $260 surcharge as well as 25 hours of community service at a nonprofit of his choosing. He’s also required to make a public safety announcement, the appropriateness of which concerned Judge Carl Irace, who, according to the AP, expressed disappointment with the prosecutors’ proposed plea deal. In Irace’s opinion, Timberlake’s intention to make the statement shortly after court proceedings would not give the *NSYNC alum enough time to reflect on his actions, which is why the judge added on community service requirements to the sentence.
“I did not live up to the standards that I try to hold for myself,” he told the court, according to AP. He then said to the judge, “I should’ve had better judgment. I understand the seriousness of this.”
Billboard has reached out to Timberlake’s rep and lawyer, Ed Burke, for comment.
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Shortly after the hearing, Timberlake addressed media outside the courthouse with his statement about the dangers of impaired driving. “Even if you’ve had one drink, don’t get behind the wheel of a car,” he said as cameras flashed. “There’s so many alternatives — call a friend, take an Uber. There’s many travel apps. Take a taxi.”
“This is a mistake that I made, but I’m hoping that whoever’s watching and listening right now can learn from this mistake,” he added. “I know that I certainly have.”
The hearing comes three months after the “SexyBack” singer was arrested on suspicion of driving a vehicle while intoxicated in the Hamptons.
Timberlake and his legal team had originally pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor drunken driving charge during an August virtual court appearance, where his driving privileges were suspended by Irace. CNN also reported at the time that the judge had admonished his attorney for making comments about the case to the media ahead of the arraignment.
It was first reported that Timberlake had reached a plea deal two days prior to Friday’s hearing. The deal wraps up a months-long legal saga that began when Sag Harbor police pulled him over for “failing to stop at a duly posted stop sign and failing to maintain his lane of travel” while operating a 2025 BMW in New York, according to a statement by law enforcement at the time.
The police report obtained by Billboard also cites an officer quoting Timberlake as saying “I had one martini and I followed my friends home.”
The “Mirrors” artist was midway through his Forget Tomorrow World Tour when he was arrested. The case hasn’t seemed to negatively affect the trek, which is currently on track to gross more than $250 million over 87 dates, according to Billboard Boxscore data.
Watch Timberlake speak after his hearing below:
Sean “Diddy” Combs is seeking to overturn a $100 million sexual assault judgment won against him by a Michigan inmate earlier this week, claiming he was never served with the “frivolous” lawsuit.
In an emergency motion filed Thursday, attorneys for the embattled rapper said he had learned about Derrick Lee Cardello-Smith’s lawsuit and massive judgment from media coverage – and that the case would have been easily dismissed if Combs had been given a fair chance to respond.
“This is a frivolous lawsuit against a prominent businessman, based on obvious fabrications, filed by a convicted rapist and serial litigant with an overactive imagination and a thirst for fame,” Combs’ lawyers write.
The huge award, issued by a Michigan state judge on Monday, was what’s known as a default judgment — a kind of legal award granted when an accused party doesn’t respond to a legal action. Court records show that attorneys for Combs never participated in the case nor filed any kind of response.
But in Thursday’s filings, they say that’s because they were never been legally served with the allegations – a crucial first step in any American lawsuit: “Had Mr. Combs been notified in a timely manner of these outrageous claims, he would have defended himself, as he is prepared to do now. But he did not have that opportunity.”
At a hearing last month, the judge overseeing the case said Cardello-Smith had supplied sufficient proof that he properly served Combs via certified mail, which requires confirmation of receipt. But in Thursday’s response, Combs lawyers say that the letter was not sent to the rapper’s primary residence and it had not actually been signed by him personally.
“Accordingly, the default judgment must be set aside,” lawyers for Diddy write.
Once one of the most powerful men in the music industry, Diddy has been hit with at least eight civil lawsuits alleging sexual abuse over the past year, including claims by ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura that were later followed by a video showing him assaulting her. The hip-hop mogul is also facing an apparent federal criminal investigation after authorities raided his homes in March.
Cardello-Smith sued Combs in June, claiming the rapper had spiked his drink and sexually assaulted him at a party in 1997. But in Thursday’s filings, the rapper’s lawyers said the inmate’s allegations are “objectively unbelievable” and that “no lawsuit could be more frivolous.”
“Plaintiff alleges that he was sexually assaulted in 1997, but he cannot keep his story straight as to where this supposedly occurred,” Combs lawyers write. “Aside from the purported assault, plaintiff alleges a fantastical conspiracy between Mr. Combs … and numerous high-ranking Wayne County judicial and law enforcement officials.”
As attorneys for Diddy repeatedly pointed out in their filings, Cardello-Smith, 51, is serving multiple, decades-long sentences for a variety of crimes, including first-degree criminal sexual conduct and two counts of kidnapping. The earliest he can be released from prison is 2036.
The lawsuit against Combs is not the first civil action Cardello-Smith has filed from behind bars. Last year, he sued a Detroit-area Catholic archdiocese, alleging he had been sexually abused by a priest and others between 1979 and 1993. The case was dismissed last month by state appeals court, which ruled that Cardello-Smith’s allegations were barred by the statute of limitations.
In their response Thursday, lawyers for Diddy said that same defense would also apply to the current lawsuit: “As ridiculous as the allegations are, if every word of the complaint were true, the action would still be completely nonviable because the statute of limitation on the claims asserted expired almost 17 years before the case was filed.”
BMI is taking SiriusXM to court after the two sides failed to reach a deal on royalty rates during more than two years of negotiations, arguing that the satcaster is “no longer a startup” and must pay more to songwriters.
In a petition filed in court today, BMI asked a Manhattan federal judge to uphold a higher royalty rate it has asked SiriusXM to pay – citing increased revenue for the radio giant and a shift toward more lucrative digital streaming.
“SiriusXM’s financial performance, and its expansion of its digital offerings, make clear it is no longer a startup in a nascent industry,” lawyers for the rights group wrote. “Yet, despite achieving its secure and successful position, Sirius has continued to pay songwriters — who create the music essential to SiriusXM’s business — at rates that are below those negotiated decades ago when satellite radio was an infant industry with an uncertain future.”
A spokeswoman for SiriusXM declined to comment on BMI’s case.
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BMI is a so-called performance rights organization that collects copyright royalties owed to publishers and songwriters when their songs are performed publicly, offering blanket licenses that allow for the use of more than 22 million tracks. When BMI cannot agree with a licensee like SiriusXM, either side can ask a federal judge to decide the dispute and set a reasonable rate.
In doing so on Thursday, BMI pointed to what it sees as key shifts in SiriusXM’s business model since the two last negotiated a licensing deal in 2018 – namely, an increasing reliance on internet streaming rather than old-school satellite radio.
“As a result of these changes, SiriusXM’s business has shifted and is becoming more akin to a music streaming service than a traditional satellite radio or broadcast radio,” BMI’s attorneys wrote. “Digital music services pay higher rates to BMI than satellite radio, and the new SiriusXM rate should reflect this expansion of digital performances.”
The specific terms of the royalty rate that BMI is seeking from SiriusXM were not disclosed in court filings because BMI said it was “competitively sensitive.” The new rate would cover the period from January 1, 2022 to December 31, 2026.
In a statement announcing the case on Thursday, BMI said that songwriters “should not have to accept an outdated rate that significantly undervalues their music.”
“After attempting to negotiate with SiriusXM in good faith for more than two years, we were compelled to file this action given their insistence on underpaying the creators of the music that drives the majority of their business,” BMI president Mike O’Neill wrote. “We will continue to fight for fair and appropriate rates when we believe the music created by our songwriters and composers is being significantly undervalued.”
The filing of the new case was celebrated Thursday by the National Music Publishers’ Association, with president and CEO David Israelite saying the group was “extremely pleased” with BMI’s decision to “demand what’s fair.”
“Companies like SiriusXM have massive profit margins fueled by music creators,” Israelite said in a statement. “We fully support BMI in their fight for the value of songs.”
BMI isn’t the only rights group in a dispute with SiriusXM over its shift toward streaming. In a lawsuit last year, SoundExchange accused the company of using bookmaking trickery – namely, manipulating how it bundles its satellite and streaming offerings – as part of a scheme to “grossly underpay” royalties by more than $150 million. SiriusXM later fired back, denying the lawsuit’s “misguided allegations.” That case remains pending.
Go read BMI’s full petition against SiriusXM here:
A federal judge says Madison Square Garden owner James Dolan must sit for a deposition over the infamous 2017 ejection of ex-NBA player Charles Oakley from the Manhattan arena, ruling that the CEO “had a courtside seat” for the incident.
MSG had argued that Dolan has little relevant info for the remaining issues in the long-running lawsuit, in which Oakley is accusing the company of assault and battery. MSG’s lawyers suggested that the bid for a deposition was just one more effort to “harass” Dolan amid a “rancorous” lawsuit.
But in a ruling Tuesday, Judge Richard Sullivan rejected those arguments and ordered Dolan to be deposed – saying that the executive had “a courtside seat to the action here” and “likely possesses relevant knowledge that cannot be obtained from other witnesses.”
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“At the most basic level, Dolan was an eyewitness to the removal of Oakley and can provide personal observations as to Oakley’s behavior that evening and the force used to remove him,” the judge wrote.
In a statement Thursday, an MSG spokesperson told Billboard: “This is just another example of how the legal maneuverings of Charles Oakley and his lawyers continue to waste the time and resources of everyone involved.” In his own statement, Oakley’s attorney Valdi Licul said: “We are pleased the court rejected Mr. Dolan’s efforts to avoid giving sworn testimony about Mr. Oakley’s removal from MSG. We look forward to questioning him under oath.”
Oakley, a beloved former New York Knick with a contentious relationship with Dolan, was removed from the Garden on Feb. 8, 2017 after an altercation with security guards. Accounts of the incident varied widely; Oakley claimed he had done nothing wrong, but MSG said he had engaged in “abusive behavior” before he was kicked out.
Dolan is the majority owner/CEO of Madison Square Garden Entertainment, a live music giant that operates the famed NYC arena in addition to Manhattan’s Radio City Music Hall, the Las Vegas Sphere and other prominent venues. He is also the majority owner of Madison Square Garden Sports Corp., which owns the Knicks.
Months after the incident, Oakley sued both Dolan and MSG, alleging a wide range of legal wrongdoing. Since then, the case has been on a seven-year journey up and down the federal court system.
Sullivan initially tossed the lawsuit in 2020, but a federal appeals court later overturned the ruling and revived the case. After litigation resumed, the same judge later tossed it again, pointing to video evidence showing Oakley had “unilaterally escalated the confrontation, leading to his eventual forcible removal.” But last year, an appeals court overturned parts of that ruling, too.
The current iteration of the lawsuit targets only MSG, not Dolan personally, and only includes claims of assault and battery, which are centered on whether the company’s employees used unreasonable force to remove him from the arena.
With Oakley’s lawyers demanding a deposition to help prove those claims, MSG argued that Dolan was a so-called apex witness – the kind of top-level executive that judges rarely pull into court cases unless they’re directly involved in the alleged wrongdoing.
But in his decision on Tuesday, Judge Sullivan said that Dolan was a “far cry from the prototypical apex witness,” since Oakley claims that Dolan personally spoke with a security guard prior to the incident and later signaled for them to remove Oakley from the arena.
“Dolan is one of only two people who can attest to the contents of that conversation,” the judge wrote. “Only Dolan can explain whether he signaled the guard and, if so, what his signal was intended to convey.”
Sullivan didn’t give Oakley’s attorneys everything they wanted. They were also seeking a court order that would allow them to dig through four years of Dolan’s emails, but the judge gave them only access to emails from a three-week span immediately after the incident.
“Oakley has not articulated how Dolan’s emails from years after the incident are likely to yield evidence concerning whether the MSG defendants used reasonable force when removing Oakley from MSG on the night in question,” the judge wrote. “Such extensive discovery would be disproportional to the needs of this case.”
No date for a deposition has yet been scheduled in court records, and Dolan’s attorneys could seek the challenge Tuesday’s ruling before he actually sits down with Oakley’s attorneys.
Justin Timberlake is moving forward with a plea deal to resolve his drunk driving case, according to the Associated Press.
Three months after he was arrested on suspicion of driving a vehicle while intoxicated in the Hamptons, the news site reports that the 43-year-old superstar will plead guilty to a less serious offense than he was initially charged with this Friday (Sept. 13). Officials have already confirmed that he’s set to appear in Sag Harbor Village Court on that date to enter his plea.
Billboard has reached out to Timberlake’s rep for comment. His lawyer, Ed Burke, was unable to comment at press time.
The news comes a little over a month after the *NSYNC alum pleaded not guilty to a misdemeanor drunken driving charge in an August virtual court appearance, where his driving privileges were suspended by Sag Harbor Village Justice Carl Irace. CNN also reported at the time that the judge had admonished Burke for comments the attorney made to the media about the case ahead of the arraignment.
The newly set plea deal will aim to wrap up Timberlake’s DWI case, which began June 17 after police reported witnessing him “failing to stop at a duly posted stop sign and failing to maintain his lane of travel” while operating a 2025 BMW in New York. The arresting officer added in a court filing that “the defendant was operating said vehicle in an intoxicated condition in that his eyes were bloodshot and glassy, a strong odor of an alcoholic beverage was emanating from his breath, he was unable to divide attention, he had slowed speech, he was unsteady afoot, and he performed poorly on all standardized field sobriety tests.”
Officer Michael Arkinson also noted that the 10-time Grammy winner had told him during the arrest, “I had one martini and I followed my friends home.”
Despite the police reports, Timberlake’s lawyer has disputed that his client was drunk at all at the time of the arrest. During a hearing in July, Burke insisted that the “SexyBack” singer should have never been arrested, saying, “the police made a number of very significant errors in this case.”
Timberlake was midway through his Forget Tomorrow World Tour when he was arrested. Even so, the trek has largely gone off without a hitch, with the performer going on to perform in Chicago, New York City and more locations across the U.S. this summer before embarking on a European leg in July. The full run is currently on track to gross more than $250 million over 87 dates, according to Billboard Boxscore data.
Sean “Diddy” Combs is facing yet another abuse lawsuit, this time filed by a participant on MTV’s Making the Band and longtime member of his band who says he harassed and assaulted her during “years of inhumane working conditions.”
In a complaint filed Tuesday in Manhattan federal court, Dawn Richard says the embattled hip hop mogul “manipulated” her into thinking that “abuse and exploitation were required for female artists to succeed in the music industry.”
Richard claims she witnessed Combs abuse his ex-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura on multiple occasions – and that recent lawsuits from Ventura and others sparked her to speak out.
“As more women courageously come forward, plaintiff has been empowered by this collective strength and now adds her voice to the growing chorus of victims bravely sharing their harrowing stories,” lawyers for Richard write. “Together, they seek justice and stand in solidarity, as the latest victims of the #Me Too movement in the music industry.”
Once one of the most powerful men in the music industry, Diddy has been hit with at least eight civil lawsuits alleging sexual abuse over the past year, including claims by Ventura that were later followed by a video showing him assaulting her. The hip-hop mogul is also facing an apparent federal criminal investigation after authorities raided his homes in March.
Though the rapper has denied the legal allegations against him, he issued an apology in May over his conduct captured on the video of the Ventura attack: “My behavior on that video is inexcusable. I take full responsibility for my actions in that video.”
In her new lawsuit, Richard says she first met Combs after she was selected for season 3 of Making The Band, a popular MTV reality show in the early 2000s featuring aspiring artists working under the tutelage of Combs.
She was eventually chosen as a winner of that season and joined the Diddy-run girl group Danity Kane, which released albums two albums in the late 2000s. When the band broke up in 2009, Richard says she transitioned into a member of another band called Diddy – Dirty Money.
During each stop in the Diddy universe, Richard says she was subjected to harmful behavior. While filming the TV show, she says Combs “deprived Ms. Richard and her Danity Kane bandmates of basic needs such as adequate food and sleep.” As a member of Dirty Money, he says the mogul repeatedly harassed and assaulted her, including groping her during fitting sessions.
Richard also claims to have witnessed illegal behavior toward others, including a 2009 party in Atlanta after the Soul Train Awards in which she says she was Combs “arranged for dozens of young women and girls — some of whom appeared to be underage – to be transported to the party.”
“Many of them appeared lethargic or passed out while Mr. Combs and his guests performed sexual acts on them,” Richard’s lawyers write. “Ms. Richard felt shocked and horrified at the sight of Mr. Combs and his guests violating incapacitated young women.”
She also claims to have seen specific acts of abuse toward Combs’ ex-partners. In one, she says she witnessed his ex-wife, Kim Porter, leaving his studio “in tears with visible facial injuries including a lacerated lip.” On “numerous” other occasions, Richard says she saw Combs abuse “brutally beat” Ventura.
“His persistent abuse included choking and strangling Ms. Ventura, striking her with his hands and with objects, slapping her, punching her, and throwing items at her, including a scalding hot pan,” attorneys for Richards write.
Ventura sued Combs over similar allegations in November, but the pair reached a settlement to end the lawsuit just days later.
In technical terms, Richard is accusing Combs of a slew of specific forms of wrongdoing, including violating New York City’s Victims of Gender-Motivated Violence Act and California’s Sexual Abuse and Cover Up Accountability Act, as well as various state and federal workplace protections against sexual harassment, discrimination and retaliation. She’s also accusing him of assault, sexual battery, false imprisonment and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The lawsuit also features intellectual property claims, including that Diddy infringed copyrights to her music.
A representative for Combs did not immediately return a request for comment.