Disgraced hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs is facing federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges in an indictment unsealed Tuesday. He was indicted by a federal grand jury and arrested in New York on Monday. The arrest and indictment came 10 months after a months-long sex trafficking investigation and a string of women came forward with allegations of sexual and other abuse.
Before the indictment was unsealed, Combs' attorney, Mark Anifilo, said he was aware of the charges and that Combs was “innocent of these charges.”
Key details of the three indictments include:
The assault allegations date back to 2008
The indictment details Combs' alleged assaults on multiple women since 2008. He is accused of “verbal, emotional, physical and sexual” abuse, including “punching, kicking, throwing objects at the victims and, in some cases, dragging them by their hair,” leaving injuries that took “days to weeks to heal.”
A major focus of the indictment is that investigators say Combs orchestrated sexual acts between the victims and male prostitutes that he called “freak offs,” which the indictment defines as “elaborately staged sexual acts that Combs planned, supervised, and during which he masturbated, and which he often electronically recorded.”
Authorities said the activities could last for days and often involved multiple prostitutes, with Combs drugging participants to “make the victims docile and submissive.” Prosecutors said searches of Combs' Los Angeles and Miami homes led to the seizure of drugs and more than 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant, among other “freak-off” paraphernalia.
Combs is accused of being the leader of a criminal organisation.
According to the indictment, Combs and those he associated with were members of a criminal organization that engaged in several illegal activities, including sex trafficking, forced labor, prostitution-related transportation and coercion, drug offenses, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice. Combs is accused of leading the criminal activities, and those who worked for him, including security guards, domestic servants, personal assistants and “senior managers,” were all involved, either knowingly or unknowingly, in the criminal organization, according to the indictment.
Prosecutors say the group surrounding Combs sought to maintain and protect their power over him through violent tactics, including the use of firearms, threats of violence, coercion and verbal, emotional, physical and sexual abuse.
“Mr. Combs did not do this all by himself,” Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damien Williams said at a press conference Tuesday morning. “He used his business, its employees and other associates to get his way.”
Williams also said Combs' employees were involved in planning and preparing the “freak-offs,” often supplying materials, cleaning hotel rooms after the attacks and helping cover up the assaults.
Racketeering conspiracy charges have often been used to take down the Mafia and drug cartels.
Prosecutors allege Combs threatened the victim into keeping quiet.
According to the indictment, Combs possessed or brandished a firearm with the intent to “intimidate or threaten others,” including victims and witnesses to the assault. Law enforcement officials who searched his homes in Los Angeles and Miami said they found firearms and ammunition, including three AR-15s with “defaced” serial numbers.
The indictment also accuses Combs of using his money and influence to exploit the victims' desire to build careers in the music industry. Authorities also say Combs used recordings of “Freak Off” to discourage victims from coming forward. Investigators say Combs controlled the victims' housing, tracked their whereabouts, dictated their appearance, monitored their medical records and supplied them with drugs.
Other court documents detail several other violent and threatening acts carried out by Combs and his associates, including kidnapping one person at gunpoint and cutting open the roof of a convertible and throwing a Molotov cocktail inside, causing it to explode, and say the cases are corroborated by police reports, fire department records and witnesses.
The investigation is ongoing and further arrests are possible.
Prosecutors have interviewed more than 50 victims and witnesses to Combs' abuse and say they expect more to come forward to testify.
Prosecutors said some details could not be released because the investigation is ongoing, including information about witnesses who have given or are scheduled to give testimony.
Williams said Tuesday he was asking for Combs to be held in custody while he awaits trial. Asked whether charges would be filed against Combs' associates or employees, Williams said he “cannot rule anything out.”
“Our investigation is very active and ongoing,” he added.
