L.A. Times Apologizes Over Tupac Article

After promising to launch an internal investigation, the Los Angeles Times has since apologized and acknowledged that it unknowingly used forged FBI documents to create a report that linked hip hop mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs to the 1994 New York shooting of the late Tupac Shakur.

Pulitzer-prize winning reporter Chuck Philips, Deputy Managing Editor Marc Duvoisin and Executive Editor Russ Stanton released statements yesterday after the Smoking Gun posted a report claiming the Times was "duped" by federal inmate, James Sabatino.

"In relying on documents that I now believe were fake, I failed to do my job," Philips said in a statement Wednesday. "I'm sorry." Duvoisin added: "We should not have let ourselves be fooled. That we were is as much my fault as Chuck's. I deeply regret that we let our readers down."

Combs and Jimmy "Henchman" Rosemond -- the Game's manager and head of Czar Entertainment -- were implicated in last week's Times article that claimed the pair, along with the late Notorious B.I.G., knew Tupac was to be ambushed in the lobby of New York's Quad Recording Studios. Combs and Rosemond denied any involvement in the attacks.

"This story is beyond ridiculous and is completely false. Neither Biggie nor I had any knowledge of any attack before, during, or after it happened," Combs said in a statement on March 17. "It is a complete lie to suggest that there was any involvement by Biggie or myself. I am shocked that the Los Angeles Times would be so irresponsible as to publish such a baseless and completely untrue story."