Months after dramatic raid, Diddy indicted in connection to sex trafficking probe
Months after federal agents raided Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Star Island mansion in connection to a sex trafficking probe, the music executive was arrested Monday night in New York City, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
“Earlier this evening, federal agents arrested Sean Combs, based on a sealed indictment filed by the [Southern District of New York],” Damian Williams, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement. “We expect to move to unseal the indictment in the morning and will have more to say at that time.”
The embattled music mogul is charged with sex trafficking, transportation to engage in prostitution and racketeering, according to the grand jury indictment, which was unsealed Tuesday morning.
The indictment states that Combs “abused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct. To do so, Combs relied on employees, resources, and influence of the multi-faceted business empire that he led and controlled — creating a criminal enterprise whose members and associates engaged in, and attempted to engage in, among other crimes, sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice.”
Diddy’s legal team confirmed in a statement emailed to the Miami Herald late Monday that the U.S. Attorney’s Office is pursuing charges against the Bad Boy Records founder.
“Please reserve your judgment until you have all the facts,” defense attorney Marc Agnifilo said. “These are the acts of an innocent man with nothing to hide, and he looks forward to clearing his name in court.”
News of 54-year-old Diddy’s arrest comes six months after federal agents raided his mansions in Miami Beach and Los Angeles in the wake of a lawsuit claiming he was the leader of a criminal enterprise that could qualify as a “widespread and dangerous criminal sex trafficking organization.”
READ MORE: Feds’ raid on Diddy’s Miami Beach mansion goes into the night in sex trafficking probe
Agnifilo’s statement says the father of seven “has been nothing by cooperative with this investigation and voluntarily relocated to New York last week in anticipation of these charges.”
“We are disappointed with the decision to pursue what we believe is an unjust prosecution of Mr. Combs by the U.S. Attorney’s Office,” Agnifilo said. “Sean “Diddy” Combs is a music icon, self-made entrepreneur, loving family man, and proven philanthropist who has spent the last 30 years building an empire, adoring his children, and working to uplift the Black community. He is an imperfect person, but he Is not a criminal.”
A representative for Agnifilo’s office said it is not known when the Grammy-winning rapper and producer will have his first appearance before a judge.
Diddy’s mounting legal woes
Diddy’s handcuffing Monday comes as the entertainment star has been hit with at least eight lawsuits in the last 10 months. The latest was filed earlier this month in New York by Dawn Richard, a former Danity Kane singer on MTV’s “Making the Band,” who alleges that Diddy, the executive producer, subjected her to violence and abuse over several years starting in 2004.
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Richard also claims she witnessed him beat up his ex Cassie Ventura, whom he was seen kicking down a hallway in disturbing surveillance video from March 2016 that CNN obtained in May.
The criminal probe, however, is likely derived from a lawsuit filed in April by music producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones that accuses Diddy, his staff and other music executives of knowing about illicit and unwanted sexual advances alleged to have taken place in Miami, New York, California and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Jones is federal prosecutors’ key witness in their criminal investigation, sources told the Miami Herald.
The producer, whom Diddy hired in August 2022 to help craft several songs on his R&B album “The Love Album: Off the Grid,” claims in the lawsuit that Diddy groped him and forced him to engage in sex acts with sex workers. Jones also claims he was ordered to recruit those sex workers from Booby Trap on the River, a strip club in Miami, and bring them back to Diddy’s Star Island home.
READ MORE: Yung Miami, drugs and a shooting: New details emerge in amended lawsuit against Diddy
Ventura was the catalyst to Diddy’s legal woes. In a lawsuit, Cassie alleged that Diddy raped her and made her have sex with male sex workers throughout their decade-long relationship. Diddy settled that lawsuit the day after it was filed.
Miami Herald reporters Madeleine Marr and Jay Weaver contributed to this report.
This is a developing story and will be updated as more information becomes available.
