Sean “Diddy” Combs, 54, will officially face criminal charges after the Bad Boy Entertainment founder was taken into federal custody in New York City on Monday, Sept. 16.
Combs has reportedly pleaded not guilty after being accused of running a criminal enterprise that engaged in forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice. He has been ordered to be held without bond pending trial in a three-count sex-trafficking indictment.
Andre Damian Williams Jr., United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, released a statement after the arrest and the following day during the press conference.
On Sept. 17, the federal government unsealed a three-count indictment against Sean Combs. The longtime record executive was charged with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution.
“As alleged in the indictment, for years, Sean Combs used the business empire he controlled to sexually abuse and exploit women, as well as to commit other acts of violence and obstruction of justice,” Williams said in a Sept. 17-dated statement.
Diddy has faced multiple allegations of unwanted sexual contact by numerous women and at least one man. In particular, his ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, accused the Harlem, New York, native of physical abuse, sexual misconduct, assault, rape and abuse that lasted nearly a decade.
Regarding the indictment directly, Williams said during the press conference, “The indictment alleges that between at least 2008 and the present, Combs abused and coerced victims to fulfill their sexual desires, protect his reputation and conceal his conduct.”
In light of the new charges, Diddy’s lawyer, Marc Agnifilo proposed a “bail package,” in which he will pay a $50,000,000 bond upon release, as well as sell his and his mother’s homes in Miami, Florida. All four of his daughters and mom, Janice Combs, have surrendered their passports. Bail has been denied.
He is already in the midst of selling his private jet, despite a chartered flight that traveled from Los Angeles to Teterboro, New Jersey on the morning of Sept. 17.
Ventura dated Diddy from 2007 to 2018. The “Me & U” singer settled a 2023 Adult Survivors Act lawsuit against Combs, who paid her a hefty settlement within 24 hours of her filing last November. In May 2024, CNN released footage of Diddy physically assaulting Ventura in a hotel hallway in 2016.
“When a member of the hotel security staff intervened, Combs attempted to bribe the staff member to ensure silence,” reads the federal indictment. The U.S. government also claimed Diddy’s security staff, household staff, personal assistants, and other close associates covered up his abuse.
Following Cassie Ventura’s civil case against Combs going public, Homeland Security investigators served search warrants on Diddy’s Los Angeles and Miami homes in March.
According to the indictment, law enforcement officials seized narcotics as well as so-called “Freak Offs supplies,” such as more than a thousand bottles of baby oil and lubricant, from Diddy’s residences. He also found “firearms and ammunition, including three AR-15s, each with defaced serial numbers, as well as a large capacity drum magazine.”
As noted in Cassie’s lawsuit, the feds also allege Diddy regularly arranged “Freak Offs” with commercial sex workers who were transported across state and international lines. He allegedly drugged and filmed some of the victims during those sex parties without their consent.
Sean “Diddy” Combs has been arrested in Manhattan after a Grand Jury Indictment
— Kevin Dalton (@TheKevinDalton) September 17, 2024
Combs has been under mounting scrutiny since a 2023 lawsuit by his former girlfriend, Cassie, accused him of sex trafficking and years of abuse pic.twitter.com/c0Ax04JwXK
“Combs subjected victims to physical, emotional, and verbal abuse to cause the victims to engage in Freak Offs,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office claimed in the indictment. “During and separate from Freak Offs, Combs, among other things, hit, kicked, threw objects at, and dragged victims, at times, by their hair. These assaults often resulted in injuries that took days or weeks to heal.”
Diddy was arrested in New York, where he has been since Sept. 5 and where TMZ reported him smiling with his family and interacting with fans. Approximately 30 minutes before he was arrested later that night at the Park Hyatt Hotel, he was seen hanging with several other unknown men in Midtown Manhattan on Sept. 16.
Diddy informed authorities of his domestic travel and his intent to self-surrender but according to the outlet, Diddy’s arrest was scheduled for Tuesday. However, law enforcement moved up their timeline for unknown reasons.
“We are disappointed with the decision to pursue what we believe is an unjust prosecution of Mr. Combs by the US Attorney’s Office,” Diddy’s lawyer, Agnifilo, told CNN.
In defense of his client, Agnifilo referred to Diddy as a “music icon, self-made entrepreneur, loving family man, and proven philanthropist.” He also called Combs an “imperfect person” but not a “criminal.”
After Cassie, four lawsuits followed with similar accusations. The Bad Boy founder initially denied all of the allegations leveled against him. However, he eventually admitted to assaulting Cassie after the viral went viral online. The three-time Grammy Award winner addressed the violent CNN footage with an apology shared on social media.
“I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I was disgusted then when I did it. I’m disgusted now,” Combs stated in a Facebook post.
The veteran music mogul went on to say that he began going to therapy and asked God for mercy.
Diddy is considered a “flight” risk and if found guilty he could face a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison and a statutory maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
