Federal law enforcement agents have arrested rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs in New York and charged him with trafficking, prostitution, and racketeering, among other offenses. The arrest and charges relate to a long-running investigation by the Department of Homeland Security and several other agencies. US Attorney Damian Williams of the Southern District of New York held a press conference and stated that he would seek the rapper’s detention as prosecutors lay out their case.
The criminal indictment accuses Combs of involvement in a criminal network that engages in prostitution, trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, obstruction of justice, and bribery. Mr. Williams did not provide details on the number or identity of victims but urged anyone with information, or anyone who had fallen victim to the criminal group, to contact law enforcement.
Earlier this year, Homeland Security investigators executed search warrants on Mr. Combs’s houses in Los Angeles and Miami, prompting his attorney to accuse them of using an excessive “military-level force.” Additionally, ex-girlfriends have come forward in the past year, accusing the star of sexual assault and violence toward them.
The first allegations came in November 2023 when the musician’s former girlfriend Cassandra Ventura – known as Cassie in the music world – filed a lawsuit in New York saying Combs had raped her, drugged her, and beaten her on numerous occasions since she signed on with his record label in 2005. Cassie filed her case under the New York Adult Survivor’s Act, which suspended the statute of limitations for a year, allowing people to file suits related to alleged incidents years earlier.
Mr. Combs denied wrongdoing but settled the lawsuit the day after it was filed. The details of the settlement were not made public.
Days after that case was closed, two more women came forward under the same legislation and accused the star of sexual abuse. Joi Dickerson and a second unnamed woman said Combs had sexually assaulted and drugged them in the 1990s. The following month, yet another woman came forward and filed a lawsuit accusing the musician and two others of raping her in 2003 when she was 17 years old.
