Cassie settles lawsuit accusing Sean Combs of rape and abuse

Sean Combs and singer Cassie have reached a settlement just one day after she filed an explosive lawsuit accusing the hip-hop mogul of rape and numerous instances of physical abuse.

The parties announced Friday evening that they had reached an agreement to resolve the matter, although they did not disclose details of the terms of the agreement.

“I have decided to resolve this matter amicably on terms over which I have some level of control,” Cassie, whose full name is Casandra Ventura, said in a statement. “I want to thank my family, fans and attorneys for their continued 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 what could have been a risky and potentially embarrassing process of legal discovery — in which reams of evidence are made public — and a possible trial. And Ms. Ventura, who has already voiced her accusations in a public complaint, is avoiding cross-examination by Mr. Combs’ lawyers.

In a lawsuit that attracted international attention, Ms. Ventura — who signed to Mr. Combs’s Bad Boy label in 2005, when she was 19, and dated him for about a decade — accused Mr. .Combs of what she described as years of beatings, controlling behavior and various forms of sexual abuse, including rape. In response, a lawyer for Mr. Combs, Ben Brafman, said: “Mr. Combs. Combs vehemently denies these offensive and scandalous allegations.

According to Ms. Ventura’s complaint, filed Thursday in Manhattan Federal District Court, Mr. Combs repeatedly assaulted her, leaving her bloodied and bruised; she said her employees sometimes took her to hotel rooms for days to recuperate out of the public eye.

In one of the suit’s most disturbing allegations, Ms. Ventura said that for years she was forced to participate in sex with a succession of male prostitutes, while Mr. Combs watched, masturbated and recorded videos. According to the suit, Mr. Combs referred to these events as “freak offs” and they took place at a number of high-end hotels across the United States.

According to Ms. Ventura’s lawsuit, Mr. Combs controlled almost every aspect of her life, paying for her house, car, clothing 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 “just give Mr. Combs another excuse to harm him.”

Mr. Combs, who founded Bad Boy in 1993, became one of the most powerful and successful figures in the hip-hop industry, working with stars like Notorious B.I.G. and Mary J. Blige and contributing to transforming rap music and culture into a global pop phenomenon and major business.

Yet his rise to fame was peppered with allegations of violence, including that he and his bodyguards beat a rival music manager, Steve Stoute, with a bottle of champagne and other objects.

Last year, Mr. Combs received a lifetime achievement honor at the BET Awards, and in September he received the Global Icon Award at the MTV Video Music Awards.

However, even with the settlement, the damage to Mr. Combs’ reputation and legacy could be significant. In the day since Ms. Ventura filed her complaint, past allegations of violence and abuse resurfaced, and various musicians publicly showed their support for Ms. Ventura.

In a statement, Douglas Wigdor, Ms. Ventura’s attorney, said: “I am very proud of Ms. Ventura for having the strength to go public with her trial. She deserves to be congratulated for that.