Some of the similarities in the cases brought against Sean “Diddy” Combs this week and Robert Sylvester Kelly several years ago are evident at a glance: Both are world famous, powerful and influential musicians who were accused of sex crimes by federal prosecutors in New York City.

The music mogul has been under mounting scrutiny since a 2023 lawsuit by his former girlfriend, Cassie, accused him of sex trafficking and years of abuse. Mr. Combs’s representatives called him an “innocent man.

In a lawsuit filed on 16 November 2023, Cassie Ventura accused Sean Combs of rape, physical abuse and sex trafficking, detailing the repeated assaults she says she was subjected to during their relationship, which lasted more than a decade. She also alleges he raped her after she tried to leave him.