Hip-hop mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs pleads not guilty to sex trafficking and racketeering charges

Sean "Diddy" Combs pleaded not guilty Tuesday to federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges.

The rapper and producer faces federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges in an indictment, unsealed Tuesday, claiming he hit and abused women for more than a decade and presided over a sordid empire of sexual crimes.

His defence attorney has said that he will appeal the decision to deny Combs bail.

The indictment details allegations dating to 2008 that he abused, threatened and coerced women for years “to fulfil 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 days-long 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.

It describes the inducement of female victims and male sex workers into these “Freak Offs” that Combs arranged, directed, masturbated during and often recorded. The events would sometimes last days and require IVs to recover from, the indictment said, and Combs used his employees as though they were a film crew.

It alleges he coerced and abused women for years while using blackmail, including the videos he shot, and shocking acts of violence to keep his victims in line, coordinated and facilitated from the top down by a network of associates and employees.

Combs was arrested late Monday (16 September) in a Manhattan hotel lobby, according to a person familiar with the arrest who spoke with AP on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak publicly.

This is just the latest chapter in a string of sordid legal troubles for Combs after multiple people have filed lawsuits against the star alleging him of sexual and physical abuse.

Marc Agnifilo, Combs’ lawyer, has said the rapper was cooperating with the ongoing investigation and had relocated to New York in anticipation of the charges.

Agnifilo said they were “disappointed” with the decision and that Combs is “an imperfect person, but he is not a criminal”.

What has Diddy been accused of already?

Combs’ criminal charges in New York are an unsurprising escalation from the 25 March raid by Homeland Security Investigation agents on his homes in Los Angeles and Miami.

His attorney Anthony Dyer called the raids a “gross use of military-level force” as Homeland Security served the search warrants in a sex-trafficking investigation.

The first allegations of sexual impropriety emerged last November when R&B singer Cassie, and former girlfriend, alleged him of years of abuse, beatings, forcing her to have sex with other men, and raping her during the period after she signed to his label in 2005-2007.

It also said he compelled her to help him traffic male sex workers Combs would force Cassie to have sex with while he filmed.

The suit was settled the following day, but its reverberations would last far longer. Combs lost lingering allies, supporters and those reserving judgement when CNN in May aired a leaked video of him punching Cassie, kicking her and throwing her on the floor in a hotel hallway.

Combs acknowledged the suit publicly, posting a video saying “I was disgusted when I did it” and “I’m disgusted now.”

This was only the beginning of sexual abuse suits filed against Combs. In February, a music producer filed a lawsuit alleging Combs coerced him to solicit prostitutes and pressured him to have sex with them.

Another of Combs’ accusers was a woman who said the rap producer raped her two decades ago when she was 17.

Another woman who filed a lawsuit, April Lampros, said she was a college student in 1994 when she met Combs, and a series of “terrifying sexual encounters” with Combs and those around him began that lasted for years.

Combs and his attorneys have denied nearly all of the lawsuits’ allegations.

Who is Diddy?

Sean John Combs, better known by his stage names "Puff Daddy" and "P.Diddy" or simply "Diddy", is an American rapper, producer, record executive and entrepreneur, who founded Bad Boy Records in 1993.

Establishing himself as one of the most influential figures in the entertainment industry, he is credited with discovering the likes of Mary J. Blige, Faith Evans and Usher.

Then known as Puff Daddy, was at the centre of the East Coast-West Coast hip-hop battles of the 1990s as the partner and producer of the Notorious B.I.G., who was shot and killed in 1997.

Outside of music, Combs has successfully ventured into areas like fashion, fragrance and media. He has been the brand ambassador for vodka brand Cîroc since 2007 and co-founded the television network and news website Revolt in 2013.

Forbes estimated his net worth to be at $1 billion (€922m) in 2022.

Combs has faced various arrests before, and decades ago he was at the centre of one of the biggest hip-hop industry trials of its era.

That trial stemmed from a Manhattan nightclub shooting that injured three people in 1999. His then-girlfriend, singer and actor Jennifer Lopez, was also there when the shots rang out.

Combs ultimately was acquitted of charges that he took an illegal gun into the club and tried to bribe his driver to take the fall for the weapon. His then-protégé, Shyne, was convicted of assault and other charges in the shooting and served about eight years in prison. Now going by Moses Barrow, he’s a member of the House of Representatives in his native Belize.

Also in 1999, Combs was arrested on a charge of beating up a record executive in New York. Combs pleaded guilty to harassment, which is a violation, and was sentenced to an anger management class.