Sean Combs Indicted on Charges of Sex Trafficking and Racketeering
Music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs has been indicted on three counts of sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution, according to The New York Times.
“He’s going to fight this with all of his energy and all of his might, and the full confidence of his lawyers,” Combs’ attorney Marc Agnifilo said Tuesday (via the Times). “And I expect a long battle with a good result for Mr. Combs.”
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Combs, who was arrested Monday night following a federal investigation, is expected to appear for his arraignment later today at a federal courthouse in New York City. Update (5:05 pm ET): Combs has entered a plea of “not guilty,” and has been ordered to be detained pending trial, with his request for bail denied.
The 14-page indictment alleges that the defendant “abused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct. To do so, Combs relied on the employees, resources, and influence of the multi-faceted business empire that he led and controlled — creating a criminal enterprise whose members and associates engaged in, and attempted to engage in, among other crimes, sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice.”
Combs’ arrest comes 10 months after several women first filed suit against the Bad Boy Entertainment founder. In November, Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura, who had a long-term relationship with Combs, claimed he raped and beat her. The suit was soon settled, with Combs’ lawyer issued a statement that read in part, “Mr. Combs’ decision to settle the lawsuit does not in any way undermine his flat-out denial of the claims.”
Days later, Joi Dickerson-Neal filed a complaint in New York Supreme Court alleging that Combs drugged and sexually assaulted her and created “revenge porn” that he also circulated. A spokesperson for Combs said, “These are fabricated claims falsely alleging misconduct from over 30 years ago and filed at the last minute. This is nothing but a money grab.”
Next, a woman listed as Jane Doe claimed that Combs and singer Aaron Hall raped her in the early ’90s, and another Jane Doe alleged that Combs was one of a group of men who gave her drugs and alcohol and then gang-raped her in 2003 when she was 17.
“Enough is enough,” Combs wrote on Instagram in early December, saying that people were out to “assassinate my character, destroy my reputation and my legacy.” He called the allegations “sickening” and accused the women who’d come forward as only being interested in “a quick payday.”
He added: “Let me be absolutely clear: I did not do any of the awful things being alleged. I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth.”
In light of the allegations, Hulu pulled the plug on a planned reality series focused on Combs and his family. The producer, record executive and performer has a long list of TV credits, having served as a judge on Fox’s The Four, and as an executive producer on such unscripted titles as Making the Band, Run’s House, Daddy’s Girls and I Want to Work for Diddy. He also co-founded the cable network Revolt.
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