Sean Combs – also referred to as P Diddy and Puff Daddy – has been embroiled in a string of great allegations in current months.
The 54-year-old’s properties in Los Angeles and Miami had been raided by Homeland Safety Investigations brokers on 25 March.
However what precisely is he accused of – and what has he needed to say about it?
What are the allegations?
The raids on the rapper‘s properties had been a part of an ongoing sex-trafficking investigation by federal authorities in New York.
Based on Sky’s US companion community NBC Information, three ladies and a person had been interviewed by federal officers in Manhattan in relation to the probe.
The investigation contains additional allegations of sexual assault, solicitation, and distribution of unlawful medication and firearms.
Combs has additionally lately confronted a number of lawsuits accusing him of sexual misconduct and different wrongdoing.
In February, a music producer alleged Combs coerced him to solicit prostitutes and pressured him to have intercourse with them.
Combs’s lawyer responded by saying: “Now we have overwhelming, indeniable proof that his claims are full lies”.
The rapper’s former protégé and girlfriend, R&B singer Cassie, additionally sued him in November alleging she was trafficked, raped, plied with medication and crushed by Combs over a 10-year interval.
The lawsuit claimed he pressured her to have intercourse with male prostitutes whereas he filmed them. The case was settled the day after it was filed.
Combs with former girlfriend Cassie Ventura in 2015. Pic: Reuters
Additionally in November, Combs was sued by Joie Dickerson-Neal who alleged he drugged and sexually assaulted her when she was a psychology pupil at Syracuse College in January 1991. She additionally accused him of filming the assault.
Combs rejected the claims as “made up and never credible”, with a spokesperson branding them “purely a cash seize and nothing extra”.
One other of the rapper’s accusers is a girl who claims he “gang raped” her twenty years in the past after she was plied with medication and alcohol on the age of 17.
What has Sean Combs stated?
He has denied all of the allegations.
In a press release in December, Combs described the claims he was going through then as “sickening” and alleged his accusers had been “in search of a fast payday”.
“Let me be completely clear: I didn’t do any of the terrible issues being alleged. I’ll combat for my identify, my household and for the reality,” he stated.
Following the raids on his home in late March, Combs’s lawyer Aaron Dyer stated there had been a “gross overuse of military-level power as search warrants had been executed”.
“There is no such thing as a excuse for the extreme present of power and hostility exhibited by authorities or the best way his kids and workers had been handled,” he added.
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Mr Dyer stated Combs had not been arrested or had his capacity to journey restricted, and neither had any of his relations.
“This unprecedented ambush – paired with a sophisticated, coordinated media presence – results in a untimely rush to judgement of Mr Combs and is nothing greater than a witch hunt based mostly on meritless accusations made in civil lawsuits.
“There was no discovering of felony or civil legal responsibility with any of those allegations. Mr Combs is harmless and can proceed to combat each single day to clear his identify.”
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Diddy’s properties raided
Have there been any repercussions?
Two properties owned by Combs had been searched by federal brokers on 25 March.
NBC Information reported a number of telephones had been additionally seized from the musician in Miami earlier than he was scheduled to depart on a visit to the Bahamas.
Final 12 months, Combs stepped down as chairman of his cable tv community Revolt amid the sexual abuse allegations.
Combs on the Met Gala in Might 2023. Pic: Reuters
Revolt introduced Combs’s determination through social media. It’s not clear if he’ll ever return to the media firm – which beforehand stated he had “no operational or day-to-day position” on the community.
“This determination helps to make sure that Revolt stays steadfastly targeted on our mission to create significant content material for the tradition and amplify the voices of all Black individuals all through this nation and African diaspora,” the community stated.
Combs additionally created a web based market known as Empower International that featured Black-owned manufacturers. Its web site continues to be energetic, however has no merchandise at present listed on the market.
Why is he well-known?
Combs is among the many most influential hip-hop producers of the previous three a long time.
Often known as Puff Daddy and P Diddy, he constructed certainly one of hip-hop’s largest empires, blazing a path with a number of entities connected to his identify.
He’s the founding father of Dangerous Boy Data and a three-time Grammy winner who has labored with top-tier artists together with Infamous BIG, Mary J Blige, Usher, Lil Kim, Religion Evans and 112.
His newest album, The Love Album – Off the Grid, was launched final 12 months days after Combs was honoured on the MTV VMAs.
It was nominated for greatest progressive R&B album at February’s Grammy Awards, which he didn’t attend.
