The man who was arrested on drug charges as he tried to board a private jet with Diddy at the Miami airport is a 25-year-old basketball player from Ohio.
Brendan Paul, an amateur music producer and graduate of Fairmont State University in West Virginia, is accused of being his employer Diddy’s “drug mule” in a federal lawsuit filed against the rap mogul. has been done.
Paul was taken into custody at Opa Locka Airport on Monday after federal agents intercepted Diddy’s plane as he tried to board the plane.
He was arrested on suspicion of first-degree possession of cocaine and marijuana candy, according to an arrest report obtained by the newspaper. Both charges are felonies in Florida.
The 6-foot-tall Ohio man was released on bond from jail, according to the report. The drugs found in his bag on Monday are not connected to Diddy and he has not been arrested.
Paul is originally from Shaker Heights, Ohio, and still lives in the state, according to police reports, with his current address listed in Chagrin Falls, near Cleveland.
He lives with his parents, Kurt and Mary Jo, in an $829,000 four-bed, six-bathroom home.
Paul attended Brewster Academy, a private boarding school in New England, for his first three years of high school, before transferring to Hawken High School, a private full-time school in Ohio, in the fourth grade.
Paul attended Syracuse University in New York for his freshman and sophomore years and transferred to Fairmont State University for his final two years.
He played Division I school basketball from 2018 to 2020 and transferred to a Division II team in 2020, but averaged less than 10 minutes per game.
He became an amateur music producer during the pandemic after his basketball career didn’t work out. He “started making beats from his laptop” According to a 2020 Facebook post.
He eventually began producing Diddy on The Love Album, released in September.
The young producer posted a photo of him and Diddy in the studio while working on the album. Celebrate your accomplishments on Facebook. He also posted a photo from the album’s release party, which featured romantic red rose pedals and “love-inspired” drinks on the table.
Paul also posted a photo of Combs’ private all-black G550 Gulfstream jet on his social media in October, calling his time with Combs “visceral.”
After Paul’s arrest, Diddy was seen pacing around outside Opa Locka Miami Airport on Monday afternoon, looking stressed.
Diddy, who has an estimated net worth of $1 billion, had his homes in Beverly Hills and Miami searched on Monday by Homeland Security agents, who seized computer equipment and other evidence from his homes.
Law enforcement officials said the raid was part of a federal sex trafficking investigation.
Diddy denies all charges, and his lawyer on Tuesday called it a “witch hunt.”
“Yesterday, a search warrant was executed at Mr. Combs’ residence, resulting in grossly excessive use of military-grade force. There is no excuse for the excessive use of force or hostility displayed by authorities, or the treatment of children and employees. No,” attorney Aaron Dyer said in a statement.
