(NewsNation) — Months after two homes belonging to hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs were raided, he has been charged with federal racketeering and sex trafficking.
A May 5 trial date was set on Oct. 10 for him to face sex trafficking and racketeering charges.
Department of Homeland Security agents conducted the raids March 25 at Combs’ multimillion-dollar mansion in Los Angeles and his Miami waterfront home.
The raids came as the producer faces a mounting list of civil lawsuits that allege abuse and sexual assault by multiple victims spanning over 30 years.
Combs was arrested Monday, September 16, and his grand jury indictment unsealed the next day. Combs has denied all the allegations. Combs is being held in custody after being denied bail twice.
On Sept. 30, NewsNation learned that Combs added two new additions to his legal team: powerhouse attorneys Anthony Ricco and Alexandra Shapiro.
On Oct. 8, Combs filed his third appeal, asking to be released on bond in his sex abuse case as he awaits trial. In new legal documents, obtained by NewsNation, Combs’ legal team argues the music mogul poses “no conceivable flight risk.”
Diddy faces multiple charges
Prosecutors laid out the case against Combs in a grand jury indictment. He is accused of using his music empire to engage in sex trafficking and accused of having a pattern of abusing women.
The indictment says Combs often lured victims by promising a romantic relationship before using threats, intimidation and abuse to get them to engage in various sexual activities. Those included so-called “Freak Offs” where victims were directed to engage in extended sex acts with male sex workers on film.
Prosecutors allege Combs drugged victims during those sessions and sometimes kept the footage without the victim being aware he was doing so. They also say the physical exertion was such that Combs and victims often required IV fluids afterward.
Diddy arrested
Following his arrest, Combs’ attorney, Marc Agnifilo, issued a statement asking the public to reserve judgment until all the facts are in and noting that Combs has cooperated with the investigation.
“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,” Agnifilo said.
Why were Diddy’s homes raided?
While federal authorities had given sparse public comment as to what prompted the raids, NewsNation affiliate WPIX reported at the time they were part of an ongoing sex trafficking investigation.
Authorities had also reportedly widened their probe to include potential witness intimidation, sexual assault and firearms violations, according to a New York Post report.
What happened during the raids on Diddy’s home?
Investigators seized firearms and phones belonging to Combs. Along with a heavy presence of officers wearing protective gear and weapons, command trucks were parked outside both properties during the raids.
Combs’ sons, Justin and Christian “King” Combs, were handcuffed during the raid at their father’s Los Angeles home.
Justin’s mother, Misa Hylton, said she has retained high-profile attorney Jeffrey Lichtman to look into the “excessive use of force” used on Justin and Christian during the raid, which she called “unnecessary and certainly not required by this search warrant,” in an Instagram post April 2.
“(The force) used against my sons Justin and Christian is deplorable. If these were the sons of a non-Black celebrity, they would not have been handled with the same aggression,” she wrote. “The attempt to humiliate and terrorize these innocent young BLACK MEN is despicable!”
Hylton also posted security footage from the raid showing heavily armed federal agents entering Combs’ home and pushing Christian, who had his hands above his head, against a wall while handcuffing him.
Justin is seen walking with his hands above his head while a gun is aimed at him.
Law enforcement arrested Combs’ alleged drug “mule,” Brendan Paul, 25, who was traveling with the producer at the Miami-Opa locka Executive Airport the same day the raids took place.
Paul, a former Syracuse University basketball player, was arrested on felony charges of possession of suspected cocaine and possession of suspected marijuana candy, per an arrest affidavit. The affidavit adds that officers found cocaine and edibles in Paul’s travel bags.
What accusations is Diddy facing?
In addition to the indictment, the music producer has been slapped with multiple civil suits in the last year, each containing a multitude of disturbing accusations. Much of the content in the lawsuits matches with the case prosecutors have laid out against Combs.
Singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, who had been in a decadelong relationship with Combs in the early 2000s, filed a lawsuit in New York federal court last November alleging sex trafficking, human trafficking, sexual battery, sexual assault and gender-motivated violence, among other causes of action.
Ventura alleged that she became lured into and eventually trapped in a pattern of abuse involving forced drug use, rape, battery and forced sex acts with male sex workers.
She settled the lawsuit with her former partner one day later, but her suit spawned several more alleged victims to come forward.
Hotel surveillance video from 2016 obtained by CNN appeared to show Combs violently attacking, kicking and shoving Ventura at the now-closed InterContinental Hotel in the Century City neighborhood of Los Angeles.
In the video, Combs is seen running in a towel after Ventura who is seen standing in front of an elevator bank. He aggressively grabs and drags her down and then kicks her before picking up her luggage. He is then seen dragging her on the floor back to a hotel room as she braces her head.
Two days later, Combs released an apology video admitting he beat Ventura in the hotel hallway.
Combs said in the video, which he posted to Instagram and Facebook, that he was “truly sorry” and that his actions were “inexcusable.”
“I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I was disgusted then when I did it. I’m disgusted now,” the music mogul said. “It’s so difficult to reflect on the darkest times in your life, but sometimes you got to do that,” Combs said, adding, “I went and I sought out professional help. I got into going to therapy, going to rehab. I had to ask God for his mercy and grace. I’m so sorry.”
Ventura broke her silence almost a week after the release of the video saying she “will always be recovering from my past,” in an Instagram post.
“It takes a lot of heart to tell the truth out of a situation that you were powerless in,” she said. “I offer my hand to those that are still living in fear. Reach out to your people, don’t cut them off. No one should carry this weight alone.”
She also asked that everyone “open your heart to believing victims the first time” and that “Domestic Violence is THE issue.”
TMZ reported Ventura worked with federal investigators for weeks, potentially even before the raids. The outlet reported that she may have helped investigators establish probable cause to obtain search warrants.
In February, music producer Rodney Jones filed a lawsuit alleging Combs coerced him to solicit prostitutes and pressured him to have sex with them.
In other lawsuits, a woman said the rap producer trafficked and raped her two decades ago when she was 17. Another woman said Combs filmed his sexual assault on her and later used it as “revenge porn” when she was a student at Syracuse University.
Combs was also sued by Dawn Richard, a member of his former band Danity Kane, for sexual assault and years of “inhumane working conditions.”
In her suit, Richard says that Combs withheld her earnings and subjected her to “years of inhumane working conditions which included groping, assault, and false imprisonment, among other violations.”
Combs’ lawyers filed a motion to dismiss some claims filed by the former Syracuse students April 26, stating that he cannot be sued because certain laws didn’t exist when the 1991 allegations were made against him.
He also filed a motion to dismiss a lawsuit accusing him of sexually assaulting a 17-year-old in 2003.
Combs and his attorneys have denied all of the lawsuits’ allegations. They also deny accusations from a lawyer in Houston who says he represents 120 other people who say they were victims of sexual assault by Combs. On Monday, Oct. 14, the first six of those lawsuits were filed in the Southern District of New York.
In September, Combs was hit with a massive $100 million default judgment after failing to dispute sexual assault allegations made in a lawsuit by a Michigan inmate, Derrick Lee Cardello-Smith, 51.
Cardello-Smith filed a lawsuit accusing Combs of drugging and sexually assaulting him at a party in Detroit in 1997.
Combs was due to appear in Lenawee County Circuit Court for a virtual hearing on but when he failed to show up, a judge awarded Cardello-Smith a multi-million default judgment.
Ariel Mitchell-Kidd revealed horrific details about an alleged rape that happened between Combs and one of her new clients in 2018 on “Banfield.”
Roger Bands, who worked as Combs‘ head of security from 2003 to 2012, said during an appearance on NewsNation’s “CUOMO” that his ex-boss flew women across state lines for parties and invited men he’d “never seen before” into the hotel rooms.
In a documentary on the allegations surrounding the music producer that was released by TMZ, former Danity Kane singer Aubrey O’Day said Combs’ “mistreatment was enough to have changed the course and direction of my entire life.”
Despite the disturbing allegations, BET News host Marc Lamont Hill noted in the documentary that the entertainment industry has been “eerily and noticeably quiet” during the investigation into Combs.
Music producer Suge Knight, who co-founded rival label Death Row Records and is serving a 28-year prison sentence, offered support to the embattled music mogul, saying he felt bad for Combs’ family.
Upon first hearing the allegations, Knights said he felt that it was “a bad day for hip-hop, a bad day for the culture,” and that “it makes us all look bad.”
Mitchell-Kidd previously represented Combs accuser Adria English. She joined NewsNation’s “Banfield” on Oct. 2 to explain why she has since requested to withdraw from her client’s case.
“We agreed that she would stop undermining me,” Mitchell-Kidd said on “Banfield.” “Then she went behind my back and violated it again. So fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. That’s where we are.”
Former adult film actress Adria English alleged that from 2004 and 2009, the music mogul forced her to take drugs and have sex with guests at his New York and Miami mansions.
Mitchell-Kidd has also spoken about alleged videotapes of Combs and a “high-profile” celebrity having sex.
A young A-list celebrity who was secretly recorded at one of Combs’ “freakoffs” is “horrified” at the possibility that the video may become public, the New York Post first reported.
Two members of this male celebrity’s inner circle told the Post the footage is being shopped around to media outlets.
Mitchell-Kidd told NewsNation’s “Banfield” on Oct. 4 that one or two major news networks are in a “bidding war” for the footage.
Diddy’s mom issued a statement about her son’s legal battles
Sean “Diddy” Combs’ mother, Janice Smalls Combs, condemned the allegations against her son, likening the investigation to a “public lynching” rooted in “lies” for “financial gain.”
Smalls Combs acknowledged a video showing her son assaulting Ventura in 2016.
Diddy has been implicated by Tupac’s alleged killer
The family of Tupac Shakur has hired an attorney to investigate a possible link between his 1996 murder and Combs. Duane “Keffe D” Davis was arrested last year and charged with the murder. Davis had previously accused Combs of being involved in the planning, and claimed that Combs allegedly offered $1 million for Shakur’s murder.
Davis has made allegations against Combs for over 15 years, but he has not been named in any investigation connected to Shakur’s killing
Court papers filed in the case against Davis include several interviews of Davis conducted by law enforcement in the last two decades. Prosecutors included a transcript of a “Surreptitiously Recorded Interview” with Davis by Las Vegas Metropolitan Police in 2009 where he repeated his claims about Combs’ alleged connection to the murder. The agency has said that Combs has never been considered a suspect in Shakur’s death.
Davis claims Combs allegedly disliked Shakur because the rapper called him out on his songs.
Where did Diddy go after the raid?
Immediately after the raids, TMZ tracked the rapper’s personal jet. The outlet initially reported the aircraft was on the ground in Antigua. It’s unknown if Combs was on the plane.
“Antigua, as we know, is an extradition country, so probably not the best place to flee to if Diddy was indeed on that plane if that’s where he is,” former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani said during an interview on “Banfield.”
Weeks after, Combs was reportedly spotted at Topgolf in Miami with his 17-year-old daughters. One day later, fitness coach Wes Watson posted a picture of himself and Combs at the Pura Vida restaurant in Miami.
“Came to just GRAB a SHOT of ESPRESSO and I Ran into DIDDY‼️,” Watson wrote.
On Easter Sunday, Combs posted a picture of his daughter, writing, “HAPPY EASTER from Baby Love” as the caption.
Combs shared a cryptic video on his social media in early May, which shows him standing on an overcast beach with heavy winds over a narration saying, “Steady in the storm. Looks bad, looks tough, but remains steady in the storm.”
The video also showed the camera moving down a white hallway, with scenes of him hugging someone and praying in a group circle.
“Not hysterical. Not frantic. Not anxious. Not fretful,” a voice states over the scenes.
He lost the honorary “Sean Diddy Combs Day” once proclaimed by the Miami Beach Commission in light of a turbulent few months. A resolution stated that the city commission and mayor were rescinding the proclamation as it was “no longer in harmony with the City’s values of safety, community well-being, and respect.”
On Sept. 16, Combs was taken into custody in New York.
Diddy denied bail
Combs will stay in jail as he awaits trial. After having it denied on Tuesday, Sept. 17, lawyers for Combs offered a new judge a $50 million bail package that included GPS monitoring and strict limitations on visitors.
That package was rejected by U.S. District Judge Andrew L. Carter, who ruled Combs’ plan was “insufficient” to ensure the safety of the community and the integrity of his case.
Carter concurred with prosecutors who found that “no condition or set of conditions” governing his release could guard against the risk of Combs threatening or harming witnesses — one of the other central charges in his case.
Diddy’s lawyers want leaks stopped
On Wednesday, Oct. 9, Combs’ lawyers filed a motion for a hearing over allegations that the federal government, specifically the Department of Homeland Security, is behind “unlawful leaks that resulted in prejudicial pre-trial publicity” that will damage Combs’ ability to get a fair trial. They want a judge to suppress any leaked evidence, including the infamous 2016 tape showing Diddy assaulting his former girlfriend.
Attorneys Agnifilo and Geragos called the video the “most egregious” leak. Security footage from the Intercontinental Hotel in Los Angeles shows Combs assaulting former girlfriend Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura.
NewsNation’s Caitlyn Shelton, Patrick Djordjevic and Liz Jassin contributed to this story.
If you or someone you know needs help, please call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-4673.
