Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs arrested by federal brokers in New York
Sean “Diddy” Combs was arrested Monday, the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace in New York Metropolis stated.
Combs was arrested on the Park Hyatt lodge on West 57th Road, a consultant stated. He was caught off-guard by the apprehension, in accordance with an individual conversant in the scenario, who added he had been residing on the lodge for a number of weeks.
U.S. Legal professional Damian Williams confirmed in a press release that on Monday night, federal brokers arrested Combs based mostly on a sealed indictment filed by the Southern District of New York.
“We anticipate to maneuver to unseal the indictment within the morning and can have extra to say at the moment,” Williams stated.
Combs’ legal professional Marc Agnifilo expressed disappointment in a press release. He stated Combs, 54, had been cooperative with the investigation and “voluntarily relocated to New York final week in anticipation of those fees.”
“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 group,” the assertion stated. “He’s an imperfect particular person however he isn’t a felony.”
“These are the acts of an harmless man with nothing to cover, and he seems to be ahead to clearing his title in courtroom,” it added.
It was not instantly clear on what fees Combs, the rapper-turned-music mogul, was arrested.
Combs has confronted a wave of lawsuits — one as recent as last week — accusing him of sexual assault and misconduct since November, when former girlfriend Casandra Ventura sued him in federal courtroom, accusing him of years of bodily and sexual abuse.
Ventura, who’s finest identified by her stage title, Cassie, was as soon as signed to Combs’ Dangerous Boy document label. The 2 settled her lawsuit a day after it was filed, with out disclosing the phrases of the settlement. An legal professional for Combs stated the settlement was not an acknowledgment of wrongdoing. He beforehand denied the allegations.
Since then, quite a lot of others have sued, including Dawn Richard, who alleged that he groped and threatened her when he employed her from 2005 to 2012 and that she witnessed him brutally beat Ventura. Combs has vehemently denied the accusations within the lawsuits, saying they have been “sickening allegations” from folks in search of “a fast payday.”
However in Might, after CNN launched lodge video of Combs kicking, punching and throwing Ventura on the ground in a hallway in Los Angeles in 2016, he apologized in a video on Instagram wherein he stated that his habits was “inexcusable” and that he had sought remedy. The video was later faraway from his web page.
Richard, who was a member of the lady group Danity Kane, which Combs fashioned on the MTV actuality competitors “Making the Band,” and later the group Diddy — Soiled Cash, sued Combs final week.
An legal professional stated Combs was “shocked and disenchanted” by Richard’s lawsuit, which, like Ventura’s grievance, depicts him as controlling and violent.
Ventura’s lawsuit included allegations of intercourse trafficking. She alleged that he incessantly beat her, that he pressured her to interact in intercourse acts with male prostitutes — drug-fueled encounters Combs known as “freak offs” and typically recorded — and that in 2018, as she was attempting to finish their relationship, he pressured his approach into her residence and raped her.
Richard stated in her swimsuit that she attended “drug-fueled events,” the place company have been required to give up their telephones. She additionally stated she witnessed what she believed have been inebriated underage women being sexually violated by Combs and his company.
In March, federal investigators searched Combs’ properties in Miami and Los Angeles.
Investigators interviewed a number of folks in relation to allegations of intercourse trafficking, sexual assault and the solicitation and distribution of unlawful narcotics and firearms, a supply conversant in the investigation informed NBC Information in March.
The warrant to look Combs’ properties got here from the Southern District of New York, NBC Information has reported.
Combs, who has additionally passed by such names as Puffy, Puff Daddy and Love, based Dangerous Boy within the early Nineties. He’s considered a trailblazer of hip-hop, style and media, having created the Sean John clothes line and launched the Revolt TV channel, which he sold his stake in over the summer.
Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, a producer on Combs’ most up-to-date album, alleged in a lawsuit in February that Combs made undesirable sexual contact, pressured him to rent prostitutes and pressured him to take part in intercourse acts with them. Jones stated he lived and traveled with Combs from September 2022 to November 2023, throughout which period he recorded hours of video and audio of Combs, his workers and others “participating in critical criminal activity.”
His attorneys, Rodney S. Diggs and Tyrone Blackburn, who’re additionally representing different Combs accusers, stated Combs’ “lengthy awaited arrest” was “an vital step in the direction of justice for all of Mr. Combs’ victims.”
“We go away the felony facet of this case within the fingers of the folks and justice system,” they stated Monday evening. “As for the civil circumstances, we await our time for the info to disclose themselves and search the justice our shoppers deserve. We additionally anticipate extra victims coming ahead. We knew this was coming. The proof may be very clear and it was solely a matter of time.”
After the lodge video of Combs assaulting Ventura was printed, Howard University cut ties with him. In June, the college rescinded an honorary diploma it awarded him and disbanded a scholarship program in his title. The identical month, Combs honored a request from New York Mayor Eric Adams and returned his key to the city.
This month, Combs listed his residence in Los Angeles that was raided in March for $61.5 million.
