Sean “Diddy” Combs charged with sex trafficking and organized crime

NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs ruled over a sordid sex crime empire. For years, he coerced and abused women, threatened them to keep them submissive and hired a series of aides to cover it up, according to an indictment unsealed Tuesday.

The music mogul was “engaged in a persistent and widespread pattern of abuse of women and other persons,” including physical violence, to “satisfy his sexual desires, protect his reputation and conceal his conduct,” the indictment states.

It describes how he lured female victims and male sex workers into drugged sexual performances, sometimes lasting days, known as “freak offs.” It also indirectly references an attack on his former girlfriend, R&B singer Cassie, which was caught on video.

Combs was arrested late Monday in Manhattan, about six months after federal authorities raided his luxury homes in Los Angeles and Miami as part of a sex trafficking investigation. He was scheduled to appear in court Tuesday afternoon.

Over the past year, the hip-hop impresario has been sued by people who claim he physically or sexually abused them. He has denied many of those allegations, and his attorney, Marc Agnifilo, said outside the courthouse Tuesday morning that Combs is innocent and will plead not guilty.

“He's in good spirits. He's confident,” said the lawyer, who said Combs came to New York voluntarily to “take advantage of the legal process and open the case.”

The indictment describes Combs, the 54-year-old founder of Bad Boy Records, as the head of a criminal organization that engaged in or attempted to engage in sex trafficking, forced labor, interstate transportation for the purpose of prostitution, drug offenses, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice. He is accused of repeatedly punching, kicking and dragging women, throwing and kicking objects – and using his personal assistants, security guards and domestic staff to help him cover it all up.

Combs and his associates used his “power and prestige” to “intimidate, threaten and enthrall” women, “often under the guise of a romantic relationship,” the indictment says. It says he then used violence, threats and coercion to get the women to participate in “freak offs” with male sex workers – “elaborate and staged sex performances” that Combs arranged, directed, masturbated during and often recorded.

Sometimes he arranged for the women to fly in and secured their participation by obtaining and providing drugs, controlling their careers, using his financial support, and through intimidation and violence, the indictment says.

The events could last several days, and Combs and the victims were often given IVs “to recover from the physical exertion and drug use” of the “freak offs,” the indictment says. It says his associates facilitated the “freak offs” by arranging the travel, booking hotel rooms where they took place, stocking those rooms with supplies such as medications, baby oil, lubricants, extra bedding and lighting, scheduling IV administrations and cleaning the rooms afterward.

During a search of Combs' homes in Miami and Los Angeles this year, officers seized narcotics and more than a thousand bottles of baby oil and lubricant, according to the indictment. Officers also seized firearms and ammunition, including three AR-15s with obscured serial numbers, the indictment says.

The document portrays Combs as a violent man who choked and shoved people, punched and kicked victims and sometimes pulled their hair, causing injuries that often took days or weeks to heal. His co-workers and colleagues sometimes witnessed his violence and stopped victims from leaving or tracked down those who tried, the indictment says.

It is alleged that Combs sometimes kept videos of victims engaging in sexual acts and used the recordings as “collateral” to force the women's obedience and silence. According to the indictment, he also exerted control over the victims by promising them career opportunities, providing and threatening to withhold financial support, dictating how they should look, monitoring their health records and controlling where they lived.

“The victims did not believe they could refuse Combs without jeopardizing their safety or risking further abuse,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said at a press conference on Tuesday. His office is taking the case to court.

When the threat of prosecution loomed, Combs and his accomplices pressured witnesses and victims to remain silent, offered them bribes and provided false accounts of events, the indictment says.

All of this, prosecutors allege, happened behind the facade of Combs' global music, lifestyle and clothing empire.

Combs was considered one of the most influential figures in hip-hop before a flood of allegations over the past year made him an outsider in the industry.

In November, Cassie, whose real name is Casandra Ventura, filed a lawsuit claiming he beat and raped her for years. She accused Combs of forcing her and others to have unwanted sex in drug-filled environments.

The lawsuit was settled within a day, but months later, CNN aired footage from the hotel's security cameras showing Combs punching, kicking and throwing Ventura to the ground. After the video aired, Combs apologized, saying, “I was disgusted when I did that.”

The indictment refers to the attack, but does not name Ventura, and says Combs tried to bribe a hotel security guard to keep quiet about it.

Douglas Wigdor, an attorney for Ventura, declined to comment Tuesday.

Combs and his lawyers have denied similar allegations by others in a series of lawsuits.

One woman said Combs raped her twenty years ago, when she was 17. A music producer filed suit, claiming Combs forced him to have sex with prostitutes. Another woman, April Lampros, said Combs subjected her to “horrific sexual encounters,” beginning in 1994, when she was a college student.

The AP typically does not name people who report sexual abuse unless they speak out publicly, as Ventura and Lampros did.

Combs has gotten out of legal trouble before.

In 2001, he was acquitted of weapons charges related to a shooting at a Manhattan nightclub two years earlier in which three people were injured.

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This story has been corrected to show that Combs is 54, not 58.

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Associated Press writer Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles contributed to this report.

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