By Matt McGregor
Contributing Writer
Federal authorities charged Sean “Diddy” Combs with racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking during the rap artist’s appearance in court on Tuesday.
Almost six months after federal authorities raided his homes in Los Angeles and Miami, Combs, 54, was arrested on Monday evening in Manhattan and was due in the U.S. Southern District Court of New York.
According to the indictment unsealed on Tuesday, Combs “abused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct.”
The indictment alleges that this criminal enterprise involved kidnapping, forced labor, arson, bribery, obstruction of justice, and sex trafficking “from at least in or about 2008” to 2018.
On several multiple occasions, Combs allegedly engaged in abusive sexual behavior involving the drugging and recording of victims during events he orchestrated called “Freak Offs.”
He allegedly “subjected victims to physical, emotional and verbal abuse to cause the victims to engage” in these acts while maintaining control with threats of “physical violence, promises of career opportunities, granting and threatening to withhold financial support, and by other coercive means, including tracking their whereabouts, dictating the victims’ appearance, monitoring their medical records, controlling their housing, and supplying them with controlled substances.”
Since the raid, more people have filed lawsuits against the rapper and owner of Bad Boy Records alleging physical and sexual abuse.
Combs’s attorney, Marc Agnifilo, said his client denies the allegations and will plead not guilty.
“His spirits are good,” Agnifilo said. “He’s confident.”
Among those who filed suit against the rapper and producer was his former girlfriend R&B singer Cassie, who alleged that he had physically and sexually assaulted her for years.
Though the suit was settled, Combs was later seen assaulting Cassie on hotel security footage aired by CNN.
Regarding what happened in the footage, Combs apologized, saying, “I was disgusted when I did it.”
The indictment alleges that Combs’s “criminal enterprise” involved multiple employees such as security and household staff, personal assistants, and high-ranking supervisors and was to fulfill “his personal desires” of “sexual gratification, including through the exploitation of women and the use of commercial sex workers.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
