The Los Angeles Times yesterday (3/27) printed a front-page apology to Sean Combs for a March 17 article that implied he was involved in the 1994 assault on Tupac Shakur at a New York recording studio. The original article claimed that associates of Combs carried out the assault and Combs knew about it ahead of time. Combs has denied any involvement in the shooting, and immediately after the story was published, claimed he and his associates had been defamed.

The Los Angeles Times apology is, at best, a first step, according to Howard Weitzman, attorney for Combs. "But it doesn't undo ... the suspicion and innuendo that Mr. Combs has had to endure due to these untruthful allegations and the irresponsible conduct of this particular reporter," Weitzman said in a press statement.

The original story reportedly was based on FBI records, interviews with people at the scene of the 1994 shooting, and statements to the FBI by an informant. Times reporter Chuck Philips, who wrote the story, said that a former FBI agent had reviewed documents provided by a source and said they appeared to be legitimate.

The newspaper's editor, Russ Stanton, launched an investigation into the validity of the information after The Smoking Gun website reported the documents were fabricated by a prison inmate. Philips, who also issued an apology, now believes he was duped and wishes he had done more to investigate the documents' authenticity before writing the story.

In addition to editor Stanton and reporter Philips, Deputy Managing Editor Marc Duvoisin, who is Philips' supervisor, also issued an apology.