23 Jan 2019

US singer Chris Brown arrested in Paris following rape accusation

6:58 am on 23 January 2019

US singer Chris Brown has been arrested in Paris on suspicion of rape. Brown's bodyguard and a friend are also believed to have been arrested, French police say.

Chris Brown in 2015.

Chris Brown (file photo) Photo: AFP

A 24-year-old woman alleged that the star assaulted her in a hotel suite in the city earlier this month.

She reportedly told police that the pair met at a nightclub in central Paris, close to the Champs-Elysées, before they returned to the hotel.

The BBC has contacted the R&B singer's representatives for comment. French police are investigating the complaint.

Two other men, identified by French media as Brown's bodyguard and a friend, have also been arrested.

The incident is alleged to have occurred at the luxury Mandarin Oriental hotel on 15 January.

This isn't the singer's first encounter with the law - he has a number of previous, high-profile convictions for violence.

He received five years probation and a community service order for assaulting his ex-girlfriend, Rihanna, in his car in 2009.

In 2016, he was arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon after a woman told police he had threatened her with a gun.

He was later freed, and his lawyer said the accusations against Brown were "demonstrably false".

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