PARIS (AP) — U.S. singer Chris Brown and two other people were ordered to remain in custody in Paris on
Tuesday after a woman filed a rape complaint, French officials said.
The Grammy-winning singer was detained Monday on potential charges of aggravated rape and drug
infractions, a judicial official said. According to the same official, Brown and the other suspects were
still in custody Tuesday evening.
Investigators have another two days to decide whether to let him go or file preliminary charges.
Brown’s publicists at Sony Music wouldn’t comment Tuesday on the complaint or say what Brown, 29, was
doing in Paris. His U.S. attorney, Mark Geragos, didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Brown has been in repeated legal trouble since pleading guilty to the felony assault in 2009 of his
then-girlfriend, Rihanna. He completed his probation in that case in 2015, but has continued to have
run-ins with police.
The woman who filed the Paris complaint said she met Brown and his friends overnight Jan. 15-16 at the
club Le Crystal in the 8th arrondissement near the Champs-Elysees, and then they all went to the
Mandarin Oriental Hotel near the Concorde Plaza in central Paris, according to a police official.
The Mandarin Oriental wouldn’t comment on the investigation, and Le Crystal couldn’t immediately be
reached. There was no unusual activity outside either site.
One of Brown’s bodyguards is among the others detained in the Paris investigation, according to the
official. They are being held by judicial police in the 17th arrondissement of northwest Paris, the
official said.
Neither official was authorized to be publicly named to discuss the investigation.
The detention was originally reported by French gossip magazine Closer.
Brown, who burst onto the music scene as a teen, won a Grammy Award in 2011 for best R&B album
for "F.A.M.E." and has nominations for other works. His hits include "Look at Me
Now," ”Run It," and numerous collaborations with other stars, including "Post to
Be" and last year’s "Freaky Friday" with Lil Dicky.
He released a new single earlier this month and has a new album coming this year. Six of his albums have
gone platinum.
He retains a huge following of devoted fans, including nearly 50 million followers on Instagram . He
posted an Instagram photo Monday from Paris appearing to show him at a nightclub, among several recent
posts. Followers responded with mixed messages to the rape accusation.
It’s the latest legal trouble for Brown, who was arrested at the end of a concert last year to face a
felony battery charge involving a nightclub photographer.
In 2013, Brown was charged with misdemeanor assault after he was accused of striking a man outside a
Washington hotel. He was ordered into rehab but was dismissed for violating facility rules. Brown spent
2½ months in custody.
After he completed court-ordered anger-management classes, Brown was accused of throwing a brick at his
mother’s car following a counseling session.
After Brown posted a picture to his Instagram followers in January 2018 showing his 3-year-old daughter,
Royalty, cuddling with a pet monkey, California fish and wildlife agents seized the capuchin monkey
named Fiji from his home in Los Angeles.
Brown was later handed a misdemeanor charge for lacking a permit for the primate. He is scheduled to be
arraigned Feb. 6 in Los Angeles.
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AP reporters Samuel Petrequin, Elaine Ganley, Sylvie Corbet, Nadine Achoui-Lesage and Thibault Camus
contributed to this report.