Homes belonging to Sean “Diddy” Combs in Los Angeles and Miami had been raided by officers from US Homeland Safety on Monday, 25 March.
The rapper and music mogul – who’s credited with serving to launch the careers of artists together with Biggie Smalls, Mary J Blige and Usher – has confronted a string of various accusations up to now six months, together with sexual assault.
Right here’s all the pieces you must know:
Why are the properties being raided?
Combs’ Los Angeles mansion is within the upmarket Holmby Hills space, close to Bel Air and Beverly Hills, whereas his Miami Seaside house is situated on the unique Star Island.
The raids are “in reference to a federal intercourse trafficking investigation” in response to Fox 11, who had been first to report on the raids.
In a press release issued on Monday, Homeland Safety stated: “Earlier at the moment, Homeland Safety Investigations New York executed regulation enforcement actions as a part of an ongoing investigation with help from HSI Los Angeles, HSI Miami and our native regulation enforcement companions.
“We are going to present additional info because it turns into out there.”
Legislation enforcement officers outdoors a house owned by Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs in Los Angeles
(AP)
NBC Information cited an unnamed supply as saying that three girls and a person have been interviewed by federal officers in Manhattan and three different interviews are scheduled regarding allegations of intercourse trafficking, sexual assault, and the solicitation and distribution of unlawful narcotics and firearms.
It stays unconfirmed whether or not Combs himself is the main focus of the investigation,
Fox 11 has additionally shared video footage of the raid taken from an overhead helicopter that reveals a number of people in handcuffs outdoors the property, together with two males.
What are the accusations in opposition to Combs?
The rapper and music mogul, 54, has confronted a string of sexual assault allegations in latest months.
In February, a male music producer accused Combs of sexually assaulting him and forcing him to sleep with intercourse employees.
The lawsuit, filed in federal courtroom in New York, accused the music mogul of repeated cases of unsolicited groping and sexual touching. It additionally stated that the person needed to work in a toilet whereas Combs showered and walked round bare.
One other lawsuit, filed in December, alleged that Combs had gang-raped a 17-year-old lady in 2003.
The plaintiff, recognized as Jane Doe, accused Combs of plying her with medicine and alcohol at his New York studio after which raping her together with two associates.
The swimsuit accused Combs of a “intercourse trafficking scheme,” by which Jane Doe was flown by non-public jet from her house in Michigan to New York.
Combs has vehemently denied all accusations in opposition to him.
Lawsuit with Cassie
In November, he and R&B singer Cassie, whose full identify is Cassandra Ventura, settled a lawsuit after she claimed that she was trafficked, raped and crushed by the rapper on many events over 10 years.
Cassie (left) and Sean “Diddy” Combs on the 2017 Met Gala
(Getty Photographs)
Her lawsuit alleged that Combs introduced the singer into his “ostentatious, fast-paced, and drug-fueled way of life” not lengthy after she met him, and signed her to his label when she was 19 and he was 37 in 2005.
Cassie stated that the sample of abuse started as quickly as their relationship began and that, as she was attempting to finish it in 2018, he pressured her into her Los Angeles house and raped her.
Her accusations in opposition to Combs had been introduced by way of the New York Grownup Survivors Act (ASA), which expired at midnight on 23 November 2023
The act supplied survivors a one-year window to pursue civil litigation no matter when the abuse occurred, which means incidents from many years had been lastly dropped at mild.
Over 2,500 circumstances had been filed beneath the ASA earlier than its expiry at midnight on 23 November 2023, courtroom knowledge despatched to The Unbiased confirmed.
Survivors introduced lawsuits in opposition to among the state’s strongest males, together with main gamers in leisure, resembling Invoice Cosby, Harvey Weinstein, Axl Rose, and Combs.
What has Combs stated?
The mogul has strongly denied all of the accusations in opposition to him and vowed to “struggle for my identify, my household and for the reality.”
In a press release in December, following the lawsuit introduced by Jane Doe, he known as the claims “sickening” and stated his accusers had been “searching for a fast payday”.
“Let me be completely clear: I didn’t do any of the terrible issues being alleged,” he stated in a press release. “I’ll struggle for my identify, my household and for the reality.”
Combs has vehemently denied all of the accusations in opposition to him
(Getty Photographs for MTV)
Combs’s lawyer, Shawn Holley, branded the occasions described within the lawsuit as “pure fiction”.
“We have now overwhelming, indeniable proof that his claims are full lies,” he stated. “We are going to handle these outlandish allegations in courtroom and take all acceptable motion in opposition to those that make them.”
Following the settlement with Ventura, Ben Brafman, one other lawyer for Combs, instructed The Unbiased: “Simply so we’re clear, a choice to settle a lawsuit, particularly in 2023, is on no account an admission of wrongdoing.
“Mr. Combs’s determination to settle the lawsuit doesn’t in any means undermine his flat-out denial of the claims.
“He’s joyful they received to a mutual settlement and desires Ms Ventura the most effective.”
