Last November, Cassie filed a federal lawsuit against Sean “Puffy” Combs. Her lawsuit was devastating – Combs violently abused Cassie for years, he trafficked her to other men, he exploited her, he medically and emotionally abused her. Combs settled out of court with her within 24 hours, but Cassie’s lawsuit got the ball rolling. Suddenly, multiple investigations popped up, and Combs’ other victims began speaking out and getting lawyers. In March of this year, federal authorities raided Combs’ properties in Florida and California. Months ago, we also heard that a federal grand jury was being impaneled. Well, the grand jury indicted, and Combs was arrested in Manhattan last night.
Sean Combs, the music mogul whose career has been upended by sexual assault lawsuits and a federal investigation, was arrested at a Manhattan hotel on Monday evening after a grand jury indicted him.
The indictment is sealed and the charges were not announced but Marc Agnifilo, a lawyer for Mr. Combs, said he believed he was being charged with racketeering and sex trafficking.
A statement from Mr. Combs’s legal team said they were disappointed with the decision to prosecute him and noted that he had been cooperative with the investigation and had “voluntarily relocated to New York last week in anticipation of these charges.”
“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,” the statement said. “He is an imperfect person but he is not a criminal.”
Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said in a statement posted on social media late Monday that “we expect to move to unseal the indictment in the morning and will have more to say at that time.”
Mr. Agnifilo said Mr. Combs had been arrested by officers with Homeland Security Investigations at about 8:30 p.m. at the hotel where he was staying, the Park Hyatt New York on 57th Street. It is expected he will be held overnight and then arraigned on Tuesday.
Arrested by Homeland Security, not FBI. Interesting. It feels like the indictment is very heavy on human trafficking and interstate sex crimes, although I’m sure the raids on Combs’ homes uncovered a wealth of crimes across the board. The arraignment should be interesting and I actually have some faith that Combs won’t be able to wriggle out of this. It feels like the feds did everything by the book and they built a strong case. But we’ll see. I hope Cassie is having a beautiful and peaceful day.
Photos courtesy of Cover Images, Avalon Red.