Sean “Diddy” Combs was arrested in Manhattan on Monday after a grand jury indicted the hip-hop mogul. The arrest follows Homeland Security’s raids on the Bad Boy founder’s homes in late March, seemingly triggered by a wave of sexual abuse lawsuits against him.
Combs’ arrest comes nearly a year after his former girlfriend, the R&B singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura filed an explosive sex trafficking and abuse lawsuit against Combs in November. (He reached a private settlement with Ventura one day after it was filed.) Seven more women and one man have since come forward to sue Combs, with allegations ranging from sex trafficking to sexual assault.
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The investigation is being led by the Southern District of New York, and in early July, NBC reported a grand jury was hearing evidence in relation to the sex trafficking and racketeering investigation. Federal agents executed a search warrant on Combs’ homes on March 25, swarming his Los Angeles and Miami properties, reportedly seizing Combs’ phones after officials pulled up on him at Miami-Opa Locka airport. The hip-hop executive’s attorney Aaron Dyer called the raids a “gross overuse of military-level force” and a “witch hunt based on meritless accusations made in civil lawsuits.”
“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. 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,” Combs’ attorney Marc Agnifilo tells Rolling Stone in a statement. “To his credit, Mr. Combs has been nothing but cooperative with this investigation and he voluntarily relocated to New York last week in anticipation of these charges. Please reserve your judgment until you have all the facts. These are the acts of an innocent man with nothing to hide, and he looks forward to clearing his name in court.”
In May, Rolling Stone published its six-month investigation into the mogul, uncovering a previously unreported allegation of violence against a woman on the Howard campus, new details of alleged physical aggression, and claims that Combs sexually harassed a freelance employee at a 2001 party. Several people who spoke to Rolling Stone described Combs as a serial predator who used his fame, fortune, industry status, and reputation as a fun-loving party host to hide a volatile temper and disturbing, narcissistic behavior for decades.
Combs’ fall from grace began with Ventura’s lawsuit, where she claimed that Combs routinely physically attacked her and forced her to have drug-fueled intercourse with male sex workers during arrangements he dubbed “freak offs” throughout their 10-year relationship. She also detailed a 2016 physical assault at a Los Angeles hotel after a freak-off, which was later confirmed by unearthed hotel surveillance video that shows Combs chasing after a fleeing Ventura. He is seen throwing her to the ground, kicking and stomping on her before he attempts to drag her away, later throwing a glass vase at her direction. Although Combs’ attorney previously called Ventura’s 35-page lawsuit a shakedown “riddled with baseless and outrageous lies,” Combs issued an video apology after the video surfaced, saying he was at “rock bottom” and was “truly sorry” for his behavior in the disturbing footage. In response, Ventura’s lawyers called Combs’ mea culpa “pathetic.”
Following Ventura’s lawsuit — just as New York’s Adult Survivors Act was set to expire — two more women stepped forward on Thanksgiving Day with similarly disturbing claims against Combs. Joi Dickerson-Neal alleged Combs drugged and sexually assaulted her when she was a Syracuse University student in 1991. The woman claimed Combs filmed the incident and showed the video to others in an act described as “revenge porn.” Through a rep, Combs denied the allegation. “This last-minute lawsuit is an example of how a well-intentioned law can be turned on its head. [This] 32-year-old story is made up and not credible … This is purely a money grab and nothing more,” the spokesperson said.
The second woman, Liza Gardner, claims she was 16 years old when Combs and singer-songwriter Aaron Hall took turns raping her following an Uptown Records event in 1990. She further claimed that a day later, Combs turned “irate and began assaulting and choking” her until she almost “passed out” because he was worried she might divulge what happened. “These are fabricated claims falsely alleging misconduct from over 30 years ago and filed at the last minute,” a Combs spokesperson said of Gardner’s lawsuit. “This is nothing but a money grab.”
In early December, a fourth accuser alleged Combs’ former Bad Boy President Harve Pierre and a third man gang raped her at Combs’ New York recording studio in 2003 when she was 17 years old. In February, music producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones sued Combs for sexual assault, harassment, and not compensating him for work on the Grammy-nominated The Love Album. On May 21, model Crystal McKinney became the sixth person to sue Combs within a span of six months. She claimed Combs drugged her and forced her to perform oral sex on him at his New York recording studio in 2003. In early July, former Hustler’s Club dancer Adria English claims that Combs sex trafficked her at his legendary “white parties” when she was allegedly expected to engage in sexual activities with guests.
Combs has denied any wrongdoing in each case. Still, he stepped down from the chairmanship of his Revolt TV media company and sold his stake in the company, as more than a dozen companies fled his e-commerce platform. In January, liquor giant Diageo cut him loose in a private settlement under which Combs will no longer be a joint owner of the tequila brand DeLeón or have any ties to Cîroc vodka.
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