NEW YORK -- Sean "Diddy" Combs faces federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges in an indictment, unsealed Tuesday, claiming he hit and abused women for over a decade and presided over a sordid empire of sexual crimes.
The music mogul "engaged in a persistent and pervasive pattern of abuse toward women and other individuals," according to an indictment unsealed Tuesday.
The indictment details allegations dating to 2008 that he abused, threatened and coerced women for years "to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct." He is accused of inducing female victims and male sex workers into drugged-up, sometimes dayslong sexual performances dubbed "Freak Offs" in the indictment. It also refers obliquely to an attack on his former girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie, that was captured on video.
Combs was arrested late Monday in Manhattan, roughly six months after federal authorities conducting a sex trafficking investigation raided his luxurious homes in Los Angeles and Miami. He was due in court Tuesday to face the charges.
Over the past year, Combs has been sued by people who say he subjected them to physical or sexual abuse. He has denied many of those allegations, and his lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, said outside the courthouse Tuesday morning that Combs would plead not guilty and that he would "fight like hell" to try to get his client released from custody.
Of Combs, Agnifilo said, “His spirits are good. He’s confident.”
The indictment describes Combs, 54, as the head of a criminal enterprise that engaged or attempted to engage in activities including sex trafficking, forced labour, interstate transportation for purposes of prostitution, drug offenses, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice. He's accused of striking, punching and dragging women on numerous occasions, throwing objects and kicking them -- and enlisting his personal assistants, security and household staff to help him hide it all.
Combs and his associates wielded his "power and prestige" to "intimidate, threaten, and lure" women into his orbit, "often under the pretense of a romantic relationship," the indictment says. It says he then would use force, threats and coercion to get the women to engage in with male sex workers in the "Freak Offs" -- "elaborate and produced sex performances" that Combs arranged, directed, masturbated during and often recorded.
He sometimes arranged to fly the women in and ensured their participation by procuring and providing drugs, controlling their careers, leveraging his financial support, and using intimidation and violence, according to the indictment.
The events could last for days, and Combs and victims would often receive IV fluids "to recover from the physical exertion and drug use" from "Freak Offs," the indictment said. It said his employees facilitated "Freak Offs" by arranging travel, booking hotel rooms where they would take place and stocking those rooms with supplies, including drugs, baby oil, lubricants, extra linens and lighting, scheduling the delivery of IV fluids, and then cleaning the rooms afterward.
During a search of Combs' homes in Miami and Los Angeles this year, law enforcement seized narcotics and more than a thousand bottles of baby oil and lubricant, according to the indictment. Agents also seized firearms and ammunition, including three AR-15s with defaced serial numbers, the indictment said.
It alleges that, unbeknownst to his victims, Combs sometimes kept his videos of them engaging in sex acts and used the recordings as "collateral" to ensure the women's continued obedience and silence. He also exerted control over victims by promising career opportunities, providing and threatening to withhold financial support, dictating how they looked, monitoring their health records and controlling where they lived, according to the indictment.
As the threat of criminal charges loomed, Combs and his associates pressured witnesses and victims to stay silent, including by attempting to bribe them and providing them with a false narrative of events, the indictment says.
All of this, prosecutors allege, was happening behind the facade of Combs' global music, lifestyle and clothing empire.
Combs was recognized as one of the most influential figures in hip-hop before a flood of allegations that emerged over the past year turned him into an industry pariah.
In November, Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, filed a lawsuit saying he had beaten and raped her for years. She accused Combs of coercing her, and others, into unwanted sex in drug-fueled settings.
The suit was settled in one day, but months later, CNN aired hotel security footage showing Combs punching and kicking Ventura and throwing her on a floor. After the video aired, Combs apologized, saying, "I was disgusted when I did it."
The indictment refers to the attack, without naming Ventura, and says Combs tried to bribe a hotel security staffer to stay mum about it.
Combs and his attorneys denied similar allegations made by others in a string of lawsuits.
Douglas Wigdor, a lawyer for Ventura, said in a statement Tuesday that "neither Ms. Ventura nor I have any comment."
"We appreciate your understanding and if that changes, we will certainly let you know," he added.
A woman said Combs raped her two decades ago when she was 17. A music producer sued, saying Combs forced him to have sex with prostitutes. Another woman, April Lampros, said Combs subjected her to "terrifying sexual encounters," starting when she was a college student in 1994.
The AP does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, as Ventura and Lampros did.
Combs, the founder of Bad Boy Records, has gotten out of legal trouble before.
In 2001, he was acquitted of charges related to a Manhattan nightclub shooting two years earlier that injured three people. His then-protege, Shyne, was convicted of assault and other charges and served about eight years in prison.
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Associated Press writers Jennifer Peltz in New York and Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
Correction:
This story has been corrected to show that Combs is 54, not 58.
