Sean Diddy Combs is expected to appeal a federal judge’s decision to hold the hip-hop artist and music mogul without bail.
NEW YORK — Federal prosecutors on Tuesday unsealed a sweeping indictment against Sean “Diddy” Combs, which charges him with racketeering, sex trafficking by force and transportation to engage in prostitution.
The indictment accuses Combs of being the ringleader of a criminal “enterprise” that allowed him to sexually, physically, emotionally and verbally abuse his victims for years.
Combs “abused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct,” the indictment states. He also stands accused of narcotics offenses, arson, bribery, kidnapping, forced labor and other offenses.
The rapper’s attorney, Marc Agnifilo, told reporters Tuesday that Combs “knew this was coming” ever since the raids on his homes in Miami and Los Angeles in March. In a previous statement, Agnifilo called the charges against Combs “unjust” and said his client was “an innocent man with nothing to hide” who “looks forward to clearing his name in court.” Diddy pleaded not guilty Tuesday afternoon.
Here’s what to know about the indictment against Combs.
Alleged sexual violence and drug-fueled ‘Freak Offs’
Combs, along with his staff and associates who made up his alleged enterprise, “wielded the power and prestige” of Combs’ name in order “to intimidate, threaten, and lure female victims into Combs’ orbit, often under the pretense of a romantic relationship,” according to the indictment.
Some of the alleged sexual abuse by Combs occurred in the form of so-called “Freak Offs,” which prosecutors described as “elaborate and produced sex performances that Combs arranged, directed, masturbated during, and often electronically recorded.”
The indictment says “Freak Offs” “occurred regularly, sometimes lasted multiple days, and often involved multiple commercial sex workers,” who were at times allegedly transported across state lines or internationally.
Combs allegedly distributed drugs during these sexual performances in part to keep them “obedient and compliant,” according to the indictment.
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Before a “Freak Off,” enterprise members — Combs’ staff and associates, the indictment said — would allegedly arrange travel for the alleged victims, deliver Combs “large sums of cash” to pay the commercial sex workers and schedule the delivery of IV fluids, which both Combs and the women typically received afterward “to recover from the physical exertion and drug use,” according to the indictment.
The indictment also alleges Diddy would have his hotel rooms stocked with supplies, including drugs, baby oil, lubricant, linens and lighting. According to the indictment, searches of Combs’ homes in Miami and Los Angeles turned up narcotics and “more than 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant.”
If the alleged victims resisted participating in a “Freak Off,” Combs would allegedly threaten their careers and livelihoods, at times using “sensitive, embarrassing, and incriminating recordings” of them taken during “Freak Offs” “as collateral to ensure the continued obedience and silence of the victims,” prosecutors said.
“Victims believed they could not refuse Combs’ demands without risking their financial or job security or without repercussions in the form of physical and emotional abuse,” the indictment states.
Agnifilo, Diddy’s lawyer, said rather than evidence of sex trafficking, the defense said the “Freak Offs” were evidence of consenting adults experiencing intimacy “in a way that two adults want to be intimate.”
Alleged physical abuse and firearms
Combs physically abused his victims on numerous occasions, the indictment alleges, at times “striking, punching, dragging, throwing objects at, and kicking them.”
The physical abuse was allegedly “recurrent and widely known” among the staff and associates who made up his alleged enterprise, prosecutors said.
At times, Combs’ alleged victims were “required to remain in hiding” for days at a time in order to recover from their physical injuries without being seen, according to the indictment.
In addition to the alleged physical violence, the indictment alleges Combs allegedly maintained control over his alleged victims with “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.”
The indictment specifically references a March 2016 incident — which was captured on hotel security footage, which publicly surfaced in May — when Combs was seen beating his former girlfriend, Cassie Ventura. According to the indictment, Combs “kicked, dragged, and threw a vase” at Ventura as she attempted to flee, and alleges he tried to bribe a hotel security worker who intervened in order to ensure silence.
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Combs has consistently denied the allegations against him. Ventura’s suit, filed in November, was settled shortly thereafter with no admission of wrongdoing.
After the hotel surveillance footage was made public in May, Combs issued an apology, saying he “hit rock bottom.”
On multiple occasions, the indictment also alleges Combs “carried or brandished firearms to intimidate and threaten others,” including alleged victims and witnesses.
Law enforcement officers who searched Combs’ residences seized “three AR-15s with defaced serial numbers, as well as a drum magazine,” according to the indictment.
A culture of silence
Combs’ alleged enterprise — which prosecutors say involved security personnel, household staff, personal assistants, supervisors and other associates — was formed for the purposes of “preserving, protecting, promoting, and enhancing the power” Combs held, according to the indictment.
Combs’ enterprise allegedly relied on “securing absolute loyalty” from his associates in order to maintain their silence.
The indictment says the enterprise served to protect Combs’ alleged crimes from being revealed and prosecuted through threats of violence, abuse and retaliation. Those who “demonstrated loyalty to Combs and willingness to conceal his crimes” were rewarded, including with bribes, it states.
At times when Combs believed he might be facing law enforcement action — including less than a year ago when the video of his alleged assault on Ventura surfaced — Combs and alleged enterprise members “pressured witnesses and victims, including through attempted bribery, to stay silent and not report what they experienced or knew to law enforcement,” prosecutors wrote.
As part of this campaign, Combs and his associates allegedly made phone calls to victims and witnesses — at least two of which Combs recorded — in which they offered up “a false narrative of events in an effort to conceal Combs’ crimes,” the indictment said.