Hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs was arrested Monday in New York City. The indictment was unsealed Tuesday morning, and it outlined three federal charges against the rap star.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York presented charges against Combs for racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and interstate transportation for prostitution.
‘The freak offs sometimes lasted days at a time, involved multiple commercial sex workers, and often involved a variety of narcotics — such as ketamine, ecstasy, and GHB [gamma hydroxybutyrate] — which Combs distributed to the victims to keep them obedient and compliant.’
According to the indictment, “Members and associates of the Combs Enterprise engaged in, and attempted to engage in, among other activities, sex trafficking, forced labor, interstate transportation for purposes of prostitution, coercion and enticement to engage in prostitution, narcotics offenses, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice.”
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams told reporters during a Tuesday press conference, “A year ago, Sean Combs stood in Times Square and was handed a key to New York City. Today, he’s been indicted and will face justice in the Southern District of New York.”
Federal prosecutors are seeking to detain Combs ahead of trial.
“So we will be seeking detention,” Williams said. “There is a presumption of detention in a case like this, and we think that’s warranted.”
Williams was asked if Combs could be in danger while behind bars — a reference to the death of Jeffrey Epstein in jail.
“We are concerned with anyone’s safety whenever they are detained prior to trial, it’s part of our obligation,” Williams responded. “But I do not draw any sort of connection between Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide and what may or may not happen to any other defendant while they are detained pretrial. Our position is that pretrial detention is warranted [for Combs] under the law and based on the facts of this case.”
Williams declared that the investigation was not done and refused to take future charges off the table.
“This investigation is ongoing, and I encourage anyone with information about this case to come forward and to do it quickly,” he stated.
Williams added, “Between at least 2008 and the present, Combs abused, threatened, and coerced victims to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct.”
He continued, “Sean Combs led and participated in a racketeering conspiracy that used the business empire he controlled to carry out criminal activity, including sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and the obstruction of justice.”
According to prosecutors, Combs “engaged in a persistent and pervasive pattern” of physical, verbal, emotional, and sexual abuse “toward women and other individuals.”
The complaint also alleges that on numerous occasions, Combs “assaulted women by, among other things, striking, punching, dragging, throwing objects at, and kicking them.”
The indictment claims Combs used his businesses and employees “to carry out, facilitate, and cover up his abuse and commercial sex.” According to the complaint, the businesses included Bad Boy Entertainment, Combs Enterprises, and Combs Global.
He ‘subjected victims [to] physical, emotional, and verbal abuse so that they would participate in the freak offs.’
Prosecutors alleged Combs was able to garner “absolute loyalty” from business members through “acts of violence and threats.” The Combs Enterprise reportedly avoided detection for illegal activities through “acts of intimidation, manipulation, bribery, and threats of retaliation against individuals who witnessed the crimes committed by members and associates of the enterprise.”
The alleged physical abuse victims purportedly were inflicted with injuries that would take “days or weeks to heal.”
The indictment describes sex acts known as “freak offs,” for which Combs allegedly organized the transportation of sex workers across state lines and internationally — and often recorded them.
Williams told reporters, “The freak offs sometimes lasted days at a time, involved multiple commercial sex workers, and often involved a variety of narcotics — such as ketamine, ecstasy, and GHB [gamma hydroxybutyrate] — which Combs distributed to the victims to keep them obedient and compliant.”
The sex acts also involved IV fluids and lighting, according to the three-count indictment.
During these sex performances, Combs is alleged to have “subjected victims to physical, emotional, and verbal abuse.” The victims were reportedly threatened with a loss of income or livelihood if they declined to participate in the sex parties.
Williams claimed Diddy would become “violent” when he “didn’t get his way,” adding that he “subjected victims [to] physical, emotional, and verbal abuse so that they would participate in the freak offs.”
Williams also noted evidence of the freak offs — “electronic devices that contain images and videos of the freak offs with multiple victims” — seized from raids on Combs’ properties in Miami and Los Angeles in March.
Federal prosecutors said more than 1,000 bottles of baby oil and other lubricants were seized from Combs’ homes that were used in these sex performances.
Law enforcement also seized three AR-15 rifles, ammunition, and a large-capacity drum magazine. The serial numbers on the AR-15s had been defaced, according to prosecutors.
Following Combs’ arrest Monday, his attorney — Marc Agnifilo — described the entertainment mogul as “an innocent man with nothing to hide.”
“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,” Agnifilo said.
However, Williams disagreed and stated: “Generally, and with increasing frequency, the word cooperative or cooperating has taken on tremendous elasticity, and it no longer really bears any relation to what the word means when we use it in a very specific context. Responding to lawful process and the like does not qualify as cooperation when we use that term here.”
If convicted on all charges, Combs faces up to life in prison.
In May, disturbing footage surfaced of Diddy brutally assaulting his former girlfriend Casandra Ventura at a California hotel in 2016. The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office said the rapper would not be prosecuted.
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Arrest, Celebrities, Celebrity arrests, Crime, Diddy, Entertainment, Federal government, Freak offs, Prostitution, Sean combs, Sean diddy combs, Sex crimes, Sex trafficking