Sean “Diddy” Combs Charged With Sex Trafficking and Racketeering in Unsealed Indictment

Sean “Diddy” Combs has been charged with sex trafficking and racketeering for directing a vast criminal enterprise through which he assaulted and trafficked women with the help of his various businesses from at least 2008.

Federal prosecutors, in an indictment unsealed on Tuesday, accused the music mogul of engaging in a “pervasive pattern of abuse” that included assaulting and arranging forced sexual encounters with women.

For decades, Combs “abused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct,” the indictment stated. The sex trafficking allegations revolve around claims that he “manipulated women to participate in highly orchestrated performances of sexual activity with male commercial sex workers,” who were often flown in across state lines and internationally.

“To carry out this conduct, 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,” said Damian Williams, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, in a press conference announcing the charges.

Combs is set to appear in court Tuesday morning after a late-night arrest the prior night following in a federal grand jury indictment. His lawyer Marc Agnifilo said outside the courthouse that Combs will plead not guilty to charges of racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution, according to the Associated Press.

Prosecutors will oppose Combs being released on bail, Williams said. He faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

In a statement after Combs was arrested, Agnifilo said the U.S. Attorney’s Office is pursuing an “unjust prosecution.” He added that Combs, who relocated to New York last week in anticipation of being charged, has cooperated in the investigation. “Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is a music icon, self-made entrepreneur, loving family man, and proven philanthropist who has spent the last 30 years building an empire, adoring his children, and working to uplift the Black community,” Agnifilo, a former federal and state prosecutor, said. “He is an imperfect person, but he is not a criminal.”

Combs has been facing deepening legal trouble, with federal law enforcement raiding his homes in March as part of an investigation into human trafficking. A lawsuit filed last week from former bandmate Dawn Richard, who accused him of sexual harassment and assault when she was a member of a musical trio with the hip-hop mogul, marked the tenth complaint brought against Combs since his former girlfriend Casandra Ventura filed a lawsuit against him detailing years of physical and sexual abuse. That action quickly settled but led to other accusers, including Liza Gardner, Joi Dickerson-Neal and Crystal McKinney, bringing similar complaints. Combs has denied the allegations and largely said the accusers are looking for payouts.

Those claims were undermined when CNN in May released hotel security footage of Combs assaulting Ventura. After, the rapper apologized and stated he was “digusted when I did it,” though he continued to deny other allegations of assault.

The indictment details a sprawling criminal enterprise comprised of Bad Boy Entertainment and the mogul’s various other businesses, which allegedly aided and concealed his crimes. Prosecutors alleged they were vehicles through which Combs engaged in crimes, including acts of violence, sex trafficking, forced labor, coercion to engage in prostitution and narcotics distribution.

The enterprise allegedly leveraged the prestige of Combs’ status to “intimidate, threaten and lure female victims” into the mogul’s orbit, often under the pretense of a romantic relationship, the indictment said. Combs then forced them to engage in extended sex acts with male prostitutes he referred to as “Freak Offs,” prosecutors alleged. In arranging these performances, which were often recorded, Combs and his associates transported sex workers across state lines and internationally.

Combs exerted control over his victims through physical violence, promises of career opportunities, threatening to withhold financial support, controlling their housing and supplying them with drugs, according to the indictment. “Victims believed they could not refuse Combs’ demands without risking their financial or job security or without repercussions in the form of physical or emotional abuse,” it stated. “Combs also used the sensitive, embarrassing, and incriminating recordings that he made during Freak Offs as collateral to ensure the continued obedience and silence of the victims.”

Prosecutors said members of the criminal enterprise included high-ranking supervisors of Combs’ businesses, personal assistants, security and household staff who booked hotel rooms, supplied materials for the forced sexual encounters and arranged travel for the sex workers and victims. At times, they carried and brandished firearms to intimidate victims and witnesses, who were in some instances required to stay in hiding to recover from injuries.

Asked whether Combs’ associates are under investigation, Williams stated that the probe is “ongoing, both as to him and anyone else we believe committed the crimes with him.”

In March, law enforcement seized from Combs’ Miami and Los Angeles residences narcotics, more than 1,000 bottles of lubricant and three AR-15 rifles with defaced serial numbers according to the indictment.

Combs operates a global business in the media, entertainment and lifestyle industries, including record labels, a recording studio, apparel line, spirits business, marketing agency and a TV network. Several of those companies have been named in lawsuits accusing them of aiding his crimes. Last year, he stepped down as chairman of Revolt amid sexual assault allegations. When the assault allegations first surfaced, Combs twice attempted to intimidate and bribe witnesses into staying silent and told them to lie to law enforcement, prosecutors claimed.

The mogul, who has denied accusations of sex crimes, is expected to mount a sprawling defense. His lawyer Marc Agnifilo represented Keith Raniere, the founder of NXIVM, on sex trafficking and racketeering charges in a case brought by the government. Agnifilo’s defense, like that of Harvey Weinstein and Danny Masterson in other high-profile prosecutions dealing with sex crimes, revolved around arguments that the encounters were all consensual. In 2019, a jury found Raniere guilty on all charges.