Chris Brown arrested in Paris following rape allegation

This is not the first time the American rapper has been accused of assault

Chris Brown is under investigation by French police after a 24-year-old woman accused him of rape. EPA

American rapper Chris Brown is being questioned by police in Paris after being accused of rape.

A woman, 24, said Brown, 29, his bodyguard and a friend raped her in the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Paris last week, a source close to the case said.

Brown has since been released without charge. The singer has said that a rape allegation against him was false, a day after the French prosecutor's office said that he had been arrested in Paris with two other suspects. Brown, who is a US citizen, has been released from police custody as authorities were still investigating the case, the French prosecutor's office added.

Mandarin Oriental, Paris, where rapper Chris Brown was staying when he was arrested on suspicion of the rape of a 24-year-old woman. Reuters

The arrests were first reported by Closer magazine, which claims that Brown, his bodyguard and a friend were detained after a woman alleged she was raped at the singer's suite at the Mandarin Oriental hotel on the night of January 15. It's been reported that the woman said she met the three men at a Paris nightclub earlier in the evening.

A rape conviction in France can carry a sentence of 15 years.

Le Figaro newspaper reported earlier this week that Brown, who has a history of violence, was in the French capital to attend haute couture fashion shows.

This is not the first time Brown has been accused of assault or violence towards women

In February 2009, a fight between the rapper and then-girlfriend Rihanna was made public. The Barbadian singer was left visibly cut and bruised.

Brown was charged with battery and eventually sentenced to six months of community service, five years probation and a year of domestic violence counselling.

"I am determined for my life not to become about that incident," Rihanna said of the altercation, which happened after the pair left a pre-Grammy party.

In June 2013, club-goer Deanna Gines accused Brown of "shoving her to the ground" in a nightclub altercation. She said she tore ligaments in her knee and would need surgery following the incident.

In January 2016, a woman accused Brown of punching her in the face when she tried to take a photo with him in a Las Vegas nightclub.

In August 2016, Brown was arrested in Los Angeles when a woman accused him of threatening her with a gun at his home. He protested his innocence on Instagram.

Due to his criminal record, Brown is banned from entering Australia, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, according to a 2015 CNN report.

"People need to understand – if you are going to commit domestic violence and then you want to travel around the world, there are going to be countries that say to you, 'You cannot come in because you are not of the character that we expect in Australia'," former minister for women, Michaelia Cash, said of the rapper at the time.

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