Explained: The criminal charges against Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs
As of September 16th, Sean Combs – the billionaire hip-hop mogul known as ‘Diddy’ – is in the custody of the New York Police Department following his indictment by a grand jury. Combs has been charged with racketeering, sex trafficking by force, and transportation to engage in prostitution, with state prosecutors listing a string of specific criminal actions they are seeking to prove he engaged in.
According to the indictment, Combs is accused of “violence, use of firearms, threats, coercion, and verbal, emotional, physical and sexual abuse.” He allegedly “manipulated women to participate in highly orchestrated performances of sexual activity,” it adds.
Prosecuting US Attorney Damian Williams claimed that Combs made video recordings of what he called “freak-offs”, lengthy episodes of sexual abuse also involving male prostitutes, to use as “collateral” so that he could blackmail victims into silence.
The rapper is additionally alleged to have “hit, kicked, [thrown] objects at, and dragged victims, at times, by their hair.” These allegations are consistent with hotel surveillance footage CNN released earlier this year of Combs assaulting his former girlfriend Cassie Ventura in 2016. Combs subsequently admitted to the incident and made a public apology.
Combs has pleaded not guilty to all charges brought against him, and his legal team attempted to post $50million bail for his release pending trial. However, Judge Robyn Tarnofsky has denied bail, arguing that there’s a significant risk of the defendant fleeing the country. She further suggested that the danger posed to witnesses and alleged victims by Combs if he’s not kept in police custody is “quite serious”, citing his history of drug abuse and anger issues.
His attorney Marc Agnifilo is critical of the decision to refuse his client bail. “He came here to turn himself in,” he told the media in a statement outside Manhattan Federal Court. But Combs is set to remain in jail until his trial begins, at some point in the next 70 days. An exact date for the start of the trial is yet to be decided.
Cassie Ventura’s allegations against Diddy
Diddy’s long-term partner until 2018, Cassie Ventura, is the one who started the chain of events that has led to his arrest this week. In November last year, Ventura filed a civil lawsuit against Combs alleging that she was the victim of sex-trafficking, rape and battery at the hands of the hip-hop star. Combs promptly settled the lawsuit with Ventura out of court, paying her around $30million to drop the case.
However, that wasn’t the end of the story. In May this year, CCTV footage from March 2016 emerged showing Combs chasing Ventura down a hotel corridor before punching, kicking and stamping on her. It appears that this is one of the incidents Ventura referred to in the original court filing of her lawsuit, in which she claimed Combs was “extremely intoxicated” at the time and left her with a “black eye”.
In light of the video, Combs apologised for his actions.
What other accusations have been made against Diddy?
Aside from the video evidence that was published later, Ventura’s lawsuit also led other alleged victims to come forward and accuse Diddy of criminal acts. The first was Joie Dickerson-Neal, who claimed that Combs drugged and sexually assaulted her when she was a college student in 1991 while recording a video of the assault.
Three other women who retain their anonymity came forward between November and December with lawsuits accusing Combs and his associates of drugging and raping them. Then, once the video footage of Combs’ assault on Ventura was released, two more alleged victims, Crystal McKinney and April Lampros, came forward with accusations that the rapper had sexually assaulted them.
Lampros was a student when she first met Combs in 1995 and alleges that he assaulted her repeatedly over several years from that point. McKinney says the assault against her took place in a New York recording studio in 2003 and that she was drugged prior to the incident.
Meanwhile, music producer Rodney ‘Lil Rod’ Jones claims Diddy forced him into sex acts during “freak-offs” following unwanted advances by the rapper’s associates. And Derrick Lee Cardello-Smith was awarded $100million nine days ago after Combs failed to appear at a hearing for the case Cardello-Smith was bringing against him for drugging and sexual assault.
Most recently, a former member of Diddy’s band, Dawn Richard, accused him of physically and sexually abusing her over a prolonged period during their collaboration.
When were Diddy’s homes raided by police?
With the allegations against him stacking up, Florida and California police obtained warrants to raid Diddy’s homes in Miami Beach and Los Angeles in March this year. There, according to the New York grand jury indictment, they found “firearms, drugs, more than 1000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant.”
It’s not yet clear whether any video tapes or files which may be submitted as evidence of Combs’ alleged crimes were discovered by police. Nevertheless, it’s clear that this was an operation which involved considerable planning, and prosecutors are confident that they have the evidence to convict the star in the case they’re bringing against him.
Has Diddy responded to the allegations?
There’s been no response by the rapper himself to any of the allegations made against him since his apology in relation to the release of video footage showing him assaulting Ventura in May. When a third successive lawsuit for sexual assault was brought against him last December, he made a statement claiming, “I did not do any of the awful things being alleged. I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth.”
Now, his responses to the case being brought against him come from his legal representatives. “It was adults and consensual,” Agnifilo told CNN on September 17th, in reference to the “freak-offs” where many of Diddy’s crimes are alleged to have occurred. “And everybody who was there wanted to be there.”
As it stands, the Manhattan Federal Court are yet to reveal the date of Combs’ trial. The rapper has pled not guilty to all of the charges, and will remain in custody after being denied bail.
For help, advice or more information regarding sexual harassment, assault and rape in the UK, visit the Rape Crisis charity website. In the US, visit RAINN.
Never Miss A Beat
The Far Out Music Newsletter
All the latest music news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.