Sean Combs, Rapper and Artwork Collector, Charged With Intercourse Trafficking

After months of accusations of sexual misconduct and different allegations, Sean “Diddy” Combs was charged Tuesday on three counts: racketeering conspiracy; intercourse trafficking by drive, fraud or coercion; and transportation to have interaction in prostitution, in line with authorized paperwork.

He’s anticipated to seem earlier than a decide Tuesday morning, the place the fees will probably be learn. If convicted, Combs would face a compulsory minimal sentence of 15 years in jail, and a most of life.

His lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, instructed TMZ outdoors the the courthouse on Tuesday that he’ll “battle like hell” to free his shopper on bail, and asserted that Combs is harmless.

Combs is charged with “a persistent and pervasive sample of abuse in the direction of girls and different people.” Based on the indictment, Combs “hit, kicked, threw objects at, and dragged victims, generally by their hair.”

The indictment alleges that Combs and his associates would threaten and coerce victims into taking part in days-long intercourse occasions referred to as “freak offs.”

“Freak Offs had been elaborate and produced intercourse performances that Combs organized, directed, masturbated throughout, and sometimes electronically recorded,” the indictment states.

Based on the indictment, Combs would rent male intercourse employees, generally arranging for them to be transported throughout state traces or internationally. At a press convention, Damian Williams, the U.S. legal professional for the Southern District of New York, stated the ladies got ketamine, ecstasy and GHB.

Afterward, Combs and the contributors usually required IV fluids to recuperate from the drug use, the indictment states.

Throughout searches of Combs’ residences in March, investigators seized “freak off provides,” together with medicine and greater than 1000 bottles of child oil and different lubricant, the indictment states.

Combs can be accused of controlling the victims utilizing violence, in addition to guarantees of monetary reward or punishment. Combs and his safety personnel carried firearms, and Combs generally brandished a gun to threaten victims and witnesses within the case, in line with the indictment. The searches turned up a number of AR-15s with defaced serial numbers, in addition to a drum journal, the indictment states.

Combs would additionally use the movies of the “freak offs” as “collateral” to make sure that the victims remained silent in regards to the abuse, in line with the indictment.

Within the second and third counts, Combs is accused of inflicting an unnamed sufferer to “interact in business intercourse acts” and “knowingly transported a person in interstate and overseas commerce with intent that the person interact in prostitution,” amongst different claims.

On the press convention, Williams stated that Combs “didn’t do all this on his personal,” and famous that Combs has been charged with a racketeering conspiracy. He additionally stated that after the federal investigation received underway, Combs and his associates sought to impede it.

“He and others pressured witnesses and victims to remain silent, together with by making telephone calls to witnesses and victims and giving them a false narrative of what they’d skilled,” Williams stated.

Williams stated the indictment proves that nobody is above the regulation, “regardless of how highly effective or rich or well-known it’s possible you’ll be.”

“A yr in the past, Sean Combs stood in Instances Sq. and was handed a key to New York Metropolis,” Williams added. “At this time, he’s been indicted and can face justice within the Southern District of New York.”

Prosecutors filed a 16-page detention letter asking that Combs be held with out bail. Based on the letter, Combs and a coconspirator kidnapped somebody at gunpoint in 2011, and later set fireplace to a different particular person’s convertible utilizing a Molotov cocktail.

The federal government additionally argued that Combs poses a flight danger, given his super wealth and connections.

“In brief, if the defendant wished to flee, he has the cash, manpower, and instruments to take action rapidly and with out detection,” prosecutors state. “The defendant’s lack of entry to his passport or non-public jet wouldn’t negate the truth that the defendant may simply purchase his method out of going through justice.”

Agnifilo stated in a press release after his shopper’s arrest at a New York resort on Monday night, “We’re disenchanted with the choice to pursue what we imagine is an unjust prosecution of Mr. Combs by the U.S. Lawyer’s Workplace,” the assertion reads. “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 particular person however he’s not a legal. 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 costs. Please reserve your judgment till you might have all of the information. These are the acts of an harmless man with nothing to cover, and he appears ahead to clearing his identify in court docket.”

His arrest and arraignment came about amid an ongoing federal investigation that noticed his properties searched by Homeland Safety in March and a wave of lawsuits, most of which accuse him of sexual assault. Just lately, former Danity Kane member Daybreak Richard filed a swimsuit towards Combs on Sept. 10, alleging verbal abuse, assault, sexual battery and intentional infliction of emotional misery.

In Could, CNN posted a 2016 video of Combs attacking his then-girlfriend, R&B singer Cassie Ventura. The footage matches allegations made in a lawsuit filed by Ventura in November final yr, which outlines an incident that occurred on the now-shuttered InterContinental Lodge in Century Metropolis, Los Angeles and was the primary within the sequence of latest lawsuits towards him. (The 2 events reached a settlement at some point after the swimsuit was filed on Nov. 16, 2023, in New York.) Ventura’s Combs apologized for his habits within the video, saying on Instagram, “It’s so tough to replicate on the darkest occasions in your life, however generally you gotta try this. I used to be fucked up. I imply, I hit all-time low. However I make no excuses. My habits on that video is inexcusable. I take full duty for my actions on this video. They’re disgusting. I used to be disgusted then once I did it, I’m disgusted now. I went and I sought skilled assist. I’ve been going to remedy, going to rehab. I needed to ask God for his mercy and charm. I’m so sorry, however I’m dedicated to being a greater man each day. I’m not asking for forgiveness. I’m actually sorry.”

A number of girls have filed lawsuits towards Combs since Ventura’s final November. That month, Combs was hit with a second lawsuit by Joi Dickerson-Neal, who alleged that Combs “drugged, sexually assaulted and abused” her and that she was the sufferer of “revenge porn” created and distributed by the rapper. Then in December, a lawsuit filed by a Jane Doe alleged that Combs and R&B singer Aaron Corridor took turns raping her and her associates at Corridor’s condominium someday between 1990 and 1991. Combs has denied the allegations made in these varied lawsuits.

In March, properties owned by Combs situated in Miami and Los Angeles had been raided by Homeland Safety as a part of a intercourse trafficking investigation, with HSI confirming their search and seizure by way of a press release: “Homeland Safety Investigations (HSI) New York executed regulation enforcement actions as a part of an ongoing investigation, with help from HSI Los Angeles, HSI Miami, and our native regulation enforcement companions.”

Combs’ legal professional Aaron Dyer issued a press release concerning the searches, calling them an “unprecedented ambush” and a “witch hunt.”

“Yesterday, there was a gross overuse of military-level drive as search warrants had been executed at Mr. Combs’ residences,” Dyer stated on the time. “There is no such thing as a excuse for the extreme present of drive and hostility exhibited by authorities or the way in which his kids and workers had been handled. … Mr. Combs is harmless and can proceed to battle each single day to clear his identify.”