Sean “Diddy” Combs was arrested in Manhattan on Monday after a grand jury indicted the hip-hop mogul. The arrest follows Homeland Safety’s raids on the Dangerous Boy founder’s houses in late March, seemingly triggered by a wave of sexual abuse lawsuits in opposition to him.
Combs’ arrest comes almost a 12 months after his former girlfriend, the R&B singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura filed an explosive intercourse trafficking and abuse lawsuit in opposition to Combs in November. (He reached a personal settlement with Ventura someday after it was filed.) Eight extra girls and one man have since come ahead to sue Combs, with allegations starting from intercourse trafficking to sexual assault.
The investigation is being led by the Southern District of New York, who confirmed the information on Monday evening. “Earlier this night, federal brokers arrested Sean Combs, primarily based on a sealed indictment filed by the SDNY,” lawyer Damian Williams mentioned in an announcement. “We anticipate to maneuver to unseal the indictment within the morning and can have extra to say at the moment.”
In early July, NBC reported a grand jury had been listening to proof in relation to the intercourse trafficking and racketeering investigation. Federal brokers executed a search warrant on Combs’ houses on March 25, swarming his Los Angeles and Miami properties, reportedly seizing Combs’ telephones after officers pulled up on him at Miami-Opa Locka airport. The hip-hop government’s lawyer Aaron Dyer referred to as the raids a “gross overuse of military-level pressure” and a “witch hunt primarily based on meritless accusations made in civil lawsuits.”
“We’re disenchanted with the choice to pursue what we consider is an unjust prosecution of Mr. Combs by the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace. Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is a music icon, self-made entrepreneur, loving household man, and confirmed philanthropist who has spent the final 30 years constructing an empire, adoring his kids, and dealing to uplift the Black neighborhood. He’s an imperfect individual however he Will not be a felony,” Combs’ lawyer Marc Agnifilo tells Rolling Stone in an announcement. “To his credit score, Mr. Combs has been nothing however cooperative with this investigation and he voluntarily relocated to New York final week in anticipation of those prices. Please reserve your judgment till you’ve gotten all of the details. These are the acts of an harmless man with nothing to cover, and he seems ahead to clearing his identify in court docket.”
In Could, Rolling Stone printed its six-month investigation into the mogul, uncovering a beforehand unreported allegation of violence in opposition to a girl on the Howard campus, new particulars of alleged bodily aggression, and claims that Combs sexually harassed a contract worker at a 2001 social gathering. A number of individuals who spoke to Rolling Stone described Combs as a serial predator who used his fame, fortune, trade standing, and fame as a fun-loving social gathering host to cover a risky mood and disturbing, narcissistic conduct for many years.
Combs’ fall from grace started with Ventura’s lawsuit, the place she claimed that Combs routinely bodily attacked her and compelled her to have drug-fueled intercourse with male intercourse employees throughout preparations he dubbed “freak offs” all through their 10-year relationship. She additionally detailed a 2016 bodily assault at a Los Angeles resort after a freak-off, which was later confirmed by unearthed resort surveillance video that reveals Combs chasing after a fleeing Ventura. He’s seen throwing her to the bottom, kicking and stomping on her earlier than he makes an attempt to pull her away, later throwing a glass vase at her path. Though Combs’ lawyer beforehand referred to as 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 “all-time low” and was “really sorry” for his conduct within the disturbing footage. In response, Ventura’s attorneys referred to as Combs’ mea culpa “pathetic.”
Following Ventura’s lawsuit — simply as New York’s Grownup Survivors Act was set to run out — two extra girls stepped ahead on Thanksgiving Day with equally disturbing claims in opposition to Combs. Joi Dickerson-Neal alleged Combs drugged and sexually assaulted her when she was a Syracuse College scholar in 1991. The lady claimed Combs filmed the incident and confirmed the video to others in an act described as “revenge porn.” By a rep, Combs denied the allegation. “This last-minute lawsuit is an instance of how a well-intentioned legislation may be turned on its head. [This] 32-year-old story is made up and never credible … That is purely a cash seize and nothing extra,” the spokesperson mentioned.
The second lady, Liza Gardner, claims she was 16 years previous when Combs and singer-songwriter Aaron Corridor took turns raping her following an Uptown Data occasion in 1990. She additional claimed {that a} day later, Combs turned “irate and started assaulting and choking” her till she virtually “handed out” as a result of he was frightened she may disclose what occurred. “These are fabricated claims falsely alleging misconduct from over 30 years in the past and filed on the final minute,” a Combs spokesperson mentioned of Gardner’s lawsuit. “That is nothing however a cash seize.”
In early December, a fourth accuser alleged Combs’ former Dangerous Boy President Harve Pierre and a 3rd man gang raped her at Combs’ New York recording studio in 2003 when she was 17 years previous. In February, music producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones sued Combs for sexual assault, harassment, and never compensating him for work on the Grammy-nominated The Love Album. On Could 21, mannequin Crystal McKinney turned the sixth individual to sue Combs inside a span of six months. She claimed Combs drugged her and compelled her to carry out oral intercourse on him at his New York recording studio in 2003. In early July, former Hustler’s Membership dancer Adria English claims that Combs intercourse trafficked her at his legendary “white events” when she was allegedly anticipated to interact in sexual actions with company.
And the week earlier than Combs’ arrest, former Danity Kane member Daybreak Richard sued Combs, corroborating Ventura’s claims of bodily abuse, alleging that Combs had repeatedly groped her and sexually harassed her, in addition to threatened her life.
Combs has denied any wrongdoing in every case. Nonetheless, he stepped down from the chairmanship of his Revolt TV media firm and offered his stake within the firm, as greater than a dozen corporations fled his e-commerce platform. In January, liquor large Diageo lower him unfastened in a personal settlement beneath which Combs will not be a joint proprietor of the tequila model DeLeón or have any ties to Cîroc vodka.