Everything Leading Up to Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’s Manhattan Arrest
ByVictoria Bekiempis,
who writes about courts and crime for Vulture and other outlets
Photo: Shareif Ziyadat/Getty Images
After being arrested in the lobby of a hotel in Manhattan on Monday, September 16, in the wake of numerous allegations of sexual abuse and trafficking, the charges against Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs have been unsealed. He is charged on three counts, including racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, and transportation to engage in prostitution. Combs had been accused of abusive behavior in at least nine lawsuits as of August 2024.
In response to the arrest, Combs’s lawyer Marc Agnifilo shared a statement to Vulture: “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. 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.”
Homeland Security Investigations — which routinely probes sex-trafficking allegations — raided Combs’s homes in Los Angeles and Miami in March 2024 as claims against the hip-hop mogul continued to grow. During the searches, Combs was at the Miami–Opa Locka Executive Airport in South Florida, where federal officers questioned him. During this encounter, Brendan Paul, a former college basketball player, was arrested by local police for suspected cocaine and marijuana possession, USA Today reported. Paul has been accused of acting as Combs’s drug mule in civil filings.
Scrutiny of Diddy started to unfold on November 16, 2023. Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, Diddy’s ex-girlfriend, filed a bombshell federal lawsuit on that day, accusing him of rape and a decade of abuse beginning when she was just 19. The singer, who was signed to Diddy’s label, said that he wielded complete control over her life, such as her apartment, clothing, medical records, and car. Diddy also went after rapper Kid Cudi — who went out with Cassie during a rough patch in her and Diddy’s relationship — the lawsuit claims. One day after Cassie sued Diddy, they settled out of court. But Cassie’s claims didn’t just go away. On May 17, disturbing surveillance video obtained by CNN showed Diddy physically attacking Cassie at a hotel in 2016. He apologized two days later on Instagram, claiming he was “truly sorry” for attacking her.
Federal authorities, understandably, pay particular attention to allegations involving minors — and there are two allegations that could particularly imperil him as proceedings progress. Liza Gardner sued Diddy on November 23, 2023, alleging that Diddy and Aaron Hall forced the 16-year-old to have sex with them without consent. Gardner’s suit states that she met the duo at a record-release event. Following a post-event dinner, Diddy invited her and her friend to Hall’s apartment for an after-party. There, Diddy “coerced” her into sex. While she was dressing, Hall then burst into the room and forced her into sex. One day after the abuse, Gardner claims that Diddy came to her house and then assaulted her until she was unconscious. After “being violently and statutorily raped by Combs and Aaron Hall, Ms. Gardner’s life has been overwhelmed by depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and strained relationship with men,” the suit claims.
A December 2, 2023, lawsuit, filed by a Jane Doe, claims that Diddy and a former Bad Boys Records president Harve Pierre raped her when she was just 17 and enrolled in the 11th grade. Doe claims that she met Pierre at a Detroit lounge and that the music honcho told her that he was “best friends” with Diddy. She alleges that Diddy convinced her to ride on a private jet — with him, Pierre, and another accused abuser — to go to his New York City studio. When she arrived, Combs, Pierre, and his associates got the teen girl high and drunk and then “gang-raped” her, per the lawsuit. She claims that Diddy looked on as a third perpetrator raped her and that Pierre then attacked her, the suit says. Combs and Pierre deny her allegations.
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