NEW YORK — Sean “Diddy” Combs has been charged with sex trafficking by force, transportation to engage in prostitution and racketeering conspiracy, alleging he ran an “enterprise that he engaged in sex trafficking, forced labor or, kidnapping, arson and other crimes,” according to the indictment unsealed on Tuesday.
Federal prosecutors said Combs “abused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct” from 2008 to now. The allegations mirror 11 civil complaints filed against him since 2023.
Combs, with help from Combs Enterprise associates, is accused of transporting commercial sex workers across state lines and internationally, the indictment said.
Combs allegedly “manipulated women to participate in highly orchestrated performances of sexual activity with male commercial sex workers,” the indictment said, and he allegedly coerced the women into participating by giving them drugs, “controlling their careers, leveraging his financial support and threatening to cut off the same, and using intimidation and violence.”
“Sometimes unbeknownst to the victims, Combs kept videos he filmed of victims engaging in sex acts with commercial sex workers,” federal prosecutors said.
The mogul is accused of verbal, emotional, physical and sexual abuse, the federal indictment said.
The indictment alleges Combs’ victims were enmeshed in a web of control through “physical violence” and the promise of career advancement, with Combs “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.”
When Combs didn’t “get his way, he was violent,” Damian Williams, U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, said at a news conference Tuesday.
Federal prosecutors mention the 2016 hotel surveillance video that showed Combs allegedly physically assaulting his former girlfriend, Cassie Ventura.
When a hotel security worker intervened, Combs tried to bribe the worker with a “stack of cash” to keep the incident quiet, Williams said.
Combs is accused of carrying guns to intimidate or threaten witnesses, Williams said.
In a search at Combs’ Miami home, police found three AR-15 rifles and a drum magazine, prosecutors said.
Combs wasarrested at the Park Hyatt hotel in Midtown Manhattan in Midtown Manhattan Monday night and he spent the night in federal custody, sources told ABC News.
Combs “knew this was coming,” the music mogul’s lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, told reporters Tuesday on his way into federal court. “We brought him to New York two weeks ago because, sure, we knew this day would come and it’s here.”
He said Combs has anticipated federal charges ever since the March raids on his homes in Florida and California.
Combs’ spirits are good, Agnifilo said, adding, “He’s dealing with this head on the way he has dealt with every challenge in his life.”
Agnifilo said in an earlier statement, “We are disappointed with the decision to pursue what we believe is an unjust prosecution of Mr. Combs by the U.S. Attorney’s Office. 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.”
“He is an imperfect person, but he is not a criminal,” Agnifilo said. “To his credit Mr. Combs has been nothing but cooperative with this investigation and he voluntarily relocated to New York last week in anticipation of these charges. Please reserve your judgment until you have all the facts. These are the acts of an innocent man with nothing to hide, and he looks forward to clearing his name in court.”
Federal prosecutors want Combs detained in federal custody while he awaits trial, arguing in a letter to the judge that he’s “dangerous” and poses an ongoing threat to the community.
“The defendant also poses a significant risk of obstructing justice,” prosecutors said. “During the course of the charged conduct, the defendant has attempted to bribe security staff and threatened and interfered with witnesses to his criminal conduct. He has already tried to obstruct the Government’s investigation of this case, repeatedly contacting victims and witnesses and feeding them false narratives of events.”
“There are simply no conditions that would ensure that the defendant’s efforts to obstruct and tamper with witnesses will stop,” prosecutors said.
Williams said no one is above the law.
“A year ago, Sean Combs stood in Times Square and was handed a key to New York City. Today, he’s been indicted and will face justice in the Southern District of New York,” he said.
Williams stressed that the investigation is ongoing and he encouraged anyone with information to come forward.
Combs has been under investigation for the better part of a year since Ventura came forward with allegations in a civil lawsuit. At least 10 additional lawsuits followed. Combs has denied the allegations in all of them.
In March, when Combs’ Los Angeles and Miami homes were raided by federal agents, a Homeland Security Investigations spokesperson said the raid was executed as part of an “ongoing investigation.” Law enforcement sources told ABC News in March that federal agents seized a number of electronic devices as part of the court-authorized searches of Combs’ two properties in the federal sex trafficking investigation.
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