Sean Combs Pleads Not Guilty to Racketeering, Conspiracy and Sex Trafficking Charges
Faced with charges of racketeering, conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution, Sean Combs pleaded not guilty in a Manhattan federal court Tuesday afternoon.
He is being held in federal custody without bail until his trial, after federal Magistrate Judge Robyn Tamofsky made that ruling. Combs’ attorney has reportedly started an appeal of that decision with a hearing set for Wednesday. Earlier in the day, Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said his office would be seeking pre-trial detention for the former music mogul and fashion designer.
More from WWD
Previously known as “Puff Daddy” and “P. Diddy” at different points in his career, the 54-year-old Combs, who resides in Miami, was taken into custody in New York City. Investigators allege that between 2008 and the present, Combs “abused, threatened, and coerced women and others, and led a racketeering conspiracy that engaged in sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice, among other crimes,” according to the federal indictment that was unsealed Tuesday.
The music producer and musician is accused of using his business “to sexually abuse and exploit women, as well as to commit other acts of violence and obstruction of justice,” according to Williams, who said the investigation is ongoing.
Combs’ attorney Marc Agnifilo of the Agnifilo Law Group and executives at his firm did not respond to a media request Tuesday.
The numerous allegations in the 14-page indictment include claims that Combs assaulted women by striking, punching, dragging, throwing objects at them and kicking them, among other things. These instances were said to have started from at least in or about 2009 and to have continued for years. In one March 2016 instance, which was captured on video and later shared publicly, Combs allegedly kicked, dragged and threw a vase at a woman as she attempted to leave a Los Angeles hotel, the indictment noted. When a hotel security employee intervened, Combs allegedly attempted to bribe them.
There also claims that Combs used his business including employees “to facilitate and cover up his abuse and commercial sex.” Those allegations were said to have included security staff, household employees, personal assistants and high-ranking supervisors, who acted as intermediaries and their conduct was “facilitated and assisted by Combs’ control of his namesake business.”
The indictment described the Combs Enterprise as a global business in media, entertainment and lifestyle industries that includes record labels, a recording studio, an apparel line, an alcoholic spirits business, a marketing agency, a television network and a media company. There are allegations of “unlawful activities” by staffers that were preserving, protecting, promoting and enhancing the power of Combs Enterprise, including its leader, “through violence, the use of firearms, coercion and verbal, emotional, physical and sexual abuse.”
The indictment also claims multiple acts of bribery, forced labor, sex trafficking, transportation and inducement to travel for purposes of prostitution; bribery of a witness; aiding and abetting; conspiracy, and other illegal sexual activities; tampering with a witness, victim or informant; multiple offenses with intent to distribute narcotics and controlled substances including cocaine.
During search-warranted seizures at Combs’ residences in Miami and Los Angeles, agents retrieved his electronic devices, firearms and ammunition, including three AR-15s with defaced serial numbers and a “large capacity” drum magazine that contained about 59 rounds, as well as 1,000-plus bottles of baby oil and lubricants, said Williams during Tuesday’s press conference.
Investigators found images and videos of multiple victims of “Freak Offs, elaborate sex performances that Combs arranged, directed, masturbated during and often electronically recorded,” prosecutors claimed.
With assistance from Combs Enterprise’s “members and associates,” Combs allegedly transported commercial sex workers across state lines and internationally. He is also accused of distributing controlled substances to victims, in part to keep them “obedient and compliant,” according to the indictment.
Combs’ former attorney Benjamin Brafman declined to comment on his current situation.
Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura, a former girlfriend of Combs’, declined to comment about his arrest, as did her attorney Douglas Wigdor, founding partner of Wigdor Law. In a complaint that she had filed — and settled with Combs 24 hours later — Ventura alleged that she had suffered from sexual abuse, sexual battery, rape and a hostile work environment during her 13-year involvement with Combs. A former model and then aspiring musician, Ventura had said she met Combs in 2005, when she was 19 and he was 37.
In May, Combs had issued an apology for assaulting Ventura in a Los Angeles hotel in 2016. The video footage of the incident had been widely shared publicly.
Separately, Dawn Kane, a former member of “Danity Kane,” a music group that Combs started, filed a suit against him for sexual harassment and abuse last week. Following Combs’ arrest, Kane’s attorney Lisa Bloom of The Bloom Firm “implored other accusers to come forward in solidarity and join us in this fight.”
Combs was once a leading force in fashion. In 1998, the Harlem-born creative launched Sean John sportswear. The label referred to his given name and was sold to retailers like Macy’s and Dillards. The streetwear helped to create a new hip-hop-inspired sector and competed with brands like Jay-Z’s Rocawear and Nelly’s Apple Bottom Jeans. After first being nominated for the Council of Fashion Designers of America’s award for menswear designer of the year in 2000, he won it in 2004 and helped forge business opportunities for other designers of color.
During his fashion career, Combs invested in Zac Posen’s business in 2004 and the entrepreneur bought the Enyce brand from Liz Claiborne for an undisclosed sum in 2008. Combs joined forces with Estée Lauder to develop fragrances including “Unforgivable.” Wearing a gray pin-striped suit, Combs rang the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange in 2006. Twelve years later, with 13 fragrances under his belt, Combs was considered to be one of the most successful celebrity entrants in the fragrance business, according to WWD.
In 1998, prior to launching his Sean John label, Combs told WWD, “Rap is the music of the Millennium and rap stars are the barometers of fashion.” The-then 27-year-old was dialed into the fashion scene, having developed a close personal relationship with Donatella Versace. She flew him to Paris for her couture show in Paris and often gave him Versace clothes. Combs dedicated “I’ll Be Missing You” to the memory of Gianni Versace at the 1998 World Music Awards.
Kimora Lee Simmons, a former model-turned-designer, helped to define the convergence of music and fashion on Seventh Avenue through her involvement with Phat Farm, which her ex-husband Russell, a cofounder of Def Jam Records, started in 1992. Kimora Lee Simmons declined comment about Combs’ current situation through a spokesperson Tuesday. Media requests to Posen and to his namesake company, which is now owned by Centric Brands, were unreturned Tuesday.
In 2003, investor Ron Burkle bolstered the Sean John business with about $100 million, according to a report in WWD at that time. Representatives at Burkle’s firm The Yucaipa Companies did not respond to media requests Tuesday.
Combs was also said to have been mentored by hedge fund billionaire and Bridgewater Associates’ chief executive officer Ray Dalio. Media requests to Bridgewater Associates and Ray Dalio’s Principles were unreturned Tuesday. Combs reportedly has been known to cold-email titans, as was the case when he approached then-Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban about redesigning the NBA’s team uniforms in 2003.
At its peak in 2016, Sean John generated retail sales of $450 million. But the business had significantly dwindled in recent years. After selling a majority stake in his Sean John business to Global Brands Group in 2016, Combs bought back the brand five years later at auction for a reported $7.5 million in 2021.
Best of WWD
Sign up for WWD's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
