Pop singer Boy George today protested his innocence in the wake of allegations of possessing cocaine, according to his former agent.
The ex-Culture Club frontman is said to be planning to return to Britain tonight after appearing in court in New York earlier today charged with having the class A drug.
He was arrested in the Big Apple yesterday by police who were responding to a report of a burglary at his luxury Manhattan home.
But his former agent Tony Denton said after speaking to Boy George's sister, Siobhan that the star denied the drug was his.
Mr Denton said: "Basically, he did call the police himself. He actually thought somebody was breaking into the apartment.
"They turned up and they searched the apartment and found traces of cocaine on the computer table, which George has said he was not taking and was nothing to do with him."
Manhattan District Attorney's office spokeswoman Barbara Thompson said the singer was released after being charged with possession of a controlled substance, allegedly more than an eighth of an ounce (five grams) of cocaine.
The charge carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison. A New York Police Department spokesman said the 44-year-old, whose real name is George O'Dowd, was charged with possessing cocaine and falsely reporting an incident.
The spokesman said police responded to an emergency call made by George at 3.15am (8.15am BST) yesterday. "The call was about a possible burglary. Police arrived there, and they saw in plain view an amount of cocaine near a computer. They also recovered another, larger, quantity of cocaine at the location," he said.
But, responding to the allegation of the "larger" amount of the drug, Mr Denton said: "I am told, as far as I know from his sister, there was definitely nothing else in that apartment.
George, who was listed in the police report as a 44-year-old white male, weighing over 14 stone, and 5ft 11ins tall, was taken into custody. Police said there was a woman at the apartment but refused to describe her relationship to George.
Gay icon Boy George caught the public's imagination in the 1980s when Culture Club shot to chart success with Do You Really Want To Hurt Me? The classic Karma Chameleon followed and their album Colour By Numbers sold in huge numbers.
George became a household name around the world and stayed in the headlines with attention-grabbing statements like declaring he preferred a cup of tea to sex. He suffered from a well-publicised heroin addiction in the 80s, but recovered to pursue a career as a DJ.
George moved to the United States when his musical Taboo - based on a club night in 1980s' London - moved to Broadway.