Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs charged with racketeering, sex trafficking
2024.09.17 11:55
By Luc Cohen and Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Sean “Diddy” Combs used his fame as one of the biggest names in hip-hop to coerce women into engaging in demeaning sex acts as part of a decades-long scheme of sex trafficking and racketeering, according to a three-count federal indictment unsealed on Tuesday.
Starting in 2009, Combs used his vast media empire including his record label Bad Boy Entertainment to transport women, as well as male sex workers, across state lines to take part in recorded sexual performances called “Freak Offs” in which the music mogul would watch and masturbate, prosecutors said.
The 54-year-old rapper and producer was arrested in Manhattan on Monday night and is expected to appear in court before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robyn Tarnofsky later on Tuesday. Combs could face decades in prison if convicted of the three felony counts he faces: racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution.
The charges were brought by the office of Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams.
Combs enticed women by giving them drugs, financial support, or promises of career support or a romantic relationship, prosecutors said. Combs then used surreptitious recordings of the sex acts as “collateral” to ensure that the women would remain silent, and sometimes displayed weapons to intimidate abuse victims and witnesses, according to the indictment.
The indictment contained no allegation that Combs himself directly engaged in unwanted sexual contact with women, though he was accused of assaulting women by punching them or throwing objects at them.
‘A MUSIC ICON’
Marc Agnifilo, a lawyer for Combs, did not immediately respond to a request for comment after the indictment was made public, but on Monday night expressed disappointment with the decision to pursue an “unjust” prosecution of his client.
“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,” Agnifilo said on Monday night. “He is an imperfect person, but he is not a criminal.”
Combs is the highest-profile person in the music industry to face criminal charges for sexual misconduct since R. Kelly, the R&B singer. Kelly was sentenced to a combined 31 years in prison after being convicted in New York in 2021 and Chicago in 2022 on charges including sex trafficking, racketeering and child sex crimes.
Also known during his career as P. Diddy and Puff Daddy, Combs founded Bad Boy records and is credited with helping turn rappers and R&B singers such as Mary J. Blige, Faith Evans, Notorious B.I.G. and Usher into stars in the 1990s and 2000s.
His career and reputation have been marred over the past year. Last November, his former girlfriend Casandra Ventura, an R&B singer known as Cassie, accused him in a lawsuit of serial physical abuse, sexual slavery and rape during their decade-long relationship. She agreed to an undisclosed settlement one day after suing, even as Combs denied her allegations.
Combs has since faced several other civil lawsuits by women and men who accused him of sexual assault and other misconduct. His lawyers have been fighting those cases in court. Federal agents raided Combs’ homes in Los Angeles and Miami Beach, Florida six months ago.
BABY OIL, AR-15 RIFLES
Employees of Combs helped arrange the “Freak Offs” by booking hotel rooms and buying controlled substances and other items used during sex, according to the indictment.
Authorities found drugs and 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant during searches of Combs’ homes in Miami, Florida and Los Angeles, along with AR-15 rifles with defaced serial numbers, according to the indictment.
The indictment did not specify how many women were alleged victims of the scheme.
The charges are not Combs’ first brush with the law. He was acquitted in March 2001 of bribery and weapons charges in a criminal trial stemming from a nightclub shooting that left three people wounded.
The civil lawsuits that Combs faces include a case filed last week by the singer Dawn Richard, formerly of Danity Kane, who accused him of sexual assault, battery, sex trafficking, gender discrimination and fraud.
Also this month, a Michigan judge ordered Combs to pay a $100 million default judgment to Derrick Lee Smith, who said Combs drugged and sexually assaulted him at a party almost 30 years ago. A lawyer for Combs said he would seek a dismissal.
Combs has also rejected claims in a February sex trafficking lawsuit by Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, who Combs employed as a producer on his 2023 release “The Love Album: Off the Grid.”
