Chris Brown can travel to US while awaiting UK assault trial

Chris Brown was granted permission to return to the United States while awaiting trial on charges that he and a co-defendant assaulted a music producer at a London nightclub in February 2023, a judge at Southwark Crown Court said after a recent hearing. The change to his bail conditions came as the R and B star made an unscheduled appearance at the court, where he and co-defendant Omololu Akinlolu entered pleas of not guilty to the allegations.

Judge Tony Baumgartner approved the variation to Brown’s bail, but left in place a 5 million pound security requirement intended to ensure the defendant’s return to the United Kingdom. The judge warned both defendants that they must return to the United Kingdom when required and that failure to attend could result in forfeiture of the security. Prosecutors described the remaining bail conditions as stringent and numerous.

Prosecutors allege that on February 19, 2023, at the private members club Tape in Hanover Square, Mayfair, producer Abraham Diaw was struck several times with a bottle and then punched and kicked in what they describe as an unprovoked attack. Brown, 36, has pleaded not guilty to counts that include assault occasioning...