Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs has been charged with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion and transportation to engage in prostitution, according to legal documents.
The rapper and music mogul is expected to appear before a judge later today (September 17), where the charges will be read. If convicted, he could face a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a maximum of life.
Diddy was arrested in New York on Monday (September 16) after being indicted by a grand jury in Manhattan. The arrest followed a string of sexual misconduct allegations filed against him over the past year.
He is charged with “a persistent and pervasive pattern of abuse toward women and other individuals” that spanned “decades”. According to the indictment, Combs “abused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfil his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct,” (per Variety).
Federal prosecutors allege that Combs manipulated these women through drugs, asserting control over their careers, wielding his financial power over them and subjecting them to violence and punishment. The indictment says that he “hit, kicked, threw objects at, and dragged victims, sometimes by their hair.”
The indictment alleges that Diddy and his associates would coerce victims into participating in days-long sex events called “freak offs”, which were “elaborate and produced sex performances that Combs arranged, directed, masturbated during, and often electronically recorded.”
Prosecutors also allege that footage of the “freak offs” would be used as “collateral” to deter victims from coming forward about the abuse.
According to the indictment, Combs would hire male sex workers for these events, sometimes arranging for them to be transported across state lines or internationally. Afterwards, Diddy and the participants often required IV fluids to recover from drug use, the indictment alleges.
Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a press conference earlier today that the women were given ketamine, ecstasy and GHB.
Searches of Diddy’s residences in March saw investigators seize “freak off supplies” including drugs and more than 1000 bottles of baby oil and other lubricant, according to the indictment.
The searches also allegedly found multiple AR-15s with defaced serial numbers, as well as a drum magazine. Prosecutors say that Diddy and his security personnel carried firearms and that the rapper sometimes brandished a gun to threaten victims and witnesses in the case.
Diddy is also accused of causing an unnamed victim to “engage in commercial sex acts” and “knowingly transported an individual in interstate and foreign commerce with intent that the individual engage in prostitution.”
Williams said that Diddy “did not do all this on his own”, and that once the federal investigation began, he and his associates attempted to impede it by pressuring witnesses and victims to stay silent. This included “making phone calls to witnesses and victims and giving them a false narrative of what they had experienced,” Williams said.
Williams went on to say that the indictment proves that no one is above the law, “no matter how powerful or wealthy or famous you may be.”
Diddy’s legal representative Marc Agnifilo has asserted that he is innocent, and said that he will “fight like hell” to free him on bail, TMZ has reported.
Prosecutors have asked that Combs be held without bail, writing in a 16-page detention letter that Combs and a coconspirator kidnapped someone at gunpoint in 2011, and later set fire to another person’s convertible using a Molotov cocktail.
The government also argued that Combs poses a flight risk, given his tremendous wealth and connections.
NME have reached out to Diddy’s representatives for comment.
Following his arrest this morning, Agnifilo told Variety: “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.”
The statement continues: “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.”
The charges follow a wave of accusations and lawsuits against Combs, beginning in November 2023 when R&B singer and ex Cassie filed a lawsuit against him on allegations of physical and sexual abuse. Diddy denied the claims before the pair settled the lawsuit “to mutual satisfaction” a day after it was filed. Footage of Combs’ attack on Cassie was later released to the public in May, and Diddy issued an apology for his actions at the time.
A week after Ventura’s original lawsuit filed in November last year, two new allegations were made against Diddy; one woman claimed Combs drugged and sexually assaulted her and the other alleged that Combs and singer-songwriter Aaron Hall took turns raping the plaintiff and her friend in 1990 or 1991 – adding that Diddy turned violent days later. Diddy went online to deny all allegations against him, but Hall hasn’t replied to the accusations.
Earlier this year, producer Rodney ‘Lil Rod’ Jones sued Combs alleging he sexually assaulted him, had parties where sex workers and underage girls were present, and coerced him to sleep with prostitutes. Diddy replied, saying Jones’ claims were “pure fiction”.
Diddy continues to deny any wrongdoing.
On May 22, he was accused of drugging and assaulting Crystal McKinney, a former model. McKinney accused him of assaulting her at a Men’s Fashion Week event in 2003 by giving her a “powerful” joint and then assaulting her in a bathroom. Diddy did not respond for comment.
A former porn actress also came forward on July 4 to accuse the rapper of sex trafficking. Diddy’s lawyer has denied the claims, maintaining that “Mr Combs has never sexually assaulted or sex trafficked anyone.”
Diddy is expected to appear in a Manhattan courtroom later today.
