LAST UPDATE | 22 Jan 2019

AMERICAN R&B STAR Chris Brown was released without charge this evening after being held for questioning overnight in Paris over a rape allegation, the Paris prosecutor said.

The prosecutor’s office said an investigation was continuing, while Brown’s lawyer Raphael Chiche said his client “energetically” proclaimed his innocence and wanted to bring a defamation lawsuit.

A post late on Brown’s Instagram page strongly denied the accusations:

“I WANNA MAKE IT PERFECTLY CLEAR…… THIS IS FALSE,” the post said.

“FOR MY DAUGHTER AND MY FAMILY THIS IS SO DISRESPECTFUL AND IS AGAINST MY CHARACTER AND MORALS!!!!!”

It was revealed earlier that Brown and two other people were taken into custody in Paris after a woman filed a rape complaint.

A woman had accused Brown, along with his bodyguard and a friend, of raping her in the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Paris on Tuesday night last week, a source close to the case said on condition of anonymity.

He was also being questioned over a suspected drugs offence, the source said.

French celebrity magazine Closer broke the news today, alleging that the 24-year-old woman had met the star in a nightclub near the Champs-Elysees before agreeing to go back to his hotel suite.

Le Figaro newspaper reported earlier that Brown was in the French capital attending shows during men’s fashion week.

Brown was convicted in 2009 of beating fellow singer Rihanna, who was then his girlfriend, and was forced to miss the Grammy Awards because of her injuries.

In 2016, he was arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon following a standoff with Los Angeles police, after a woman said he threatened her at his home.

He also pleaded guilty to assaulting a fan in Washington in 2014 and was accused of violence by a woman in Las Vegas.

- © AFP 2019 with Associated Press