American rapper and document producer Sean “Diddy” Combs has been refused bail by a New York choose following his arrest by Homeland Safety on Monday on suspicion of intercourse trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and interstate transportation for prostitution.
On Tuesday, he was ordered to stay in jail whereas he awaits trial.
Detailing the fees, Damian Williams, lawyer for the Southern District of New York informed a press briefing: “Combs abused, threatened and coerced victims to fulfil his sexual needs, defend his popularity, and conceal his conduct.”
In an interview with with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins, Combs’ lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, insisted that Combs was absolutely cooperating with the authorities. “Mr Combs got here to New York on September 5, as quickly as we realised that this indictment was going to be coming down,” he mentioned.
On Monday, an announcement from Combs and his lawyer learn: “Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is a music icon, self-made entrepreneur, loving household man, and confirmed philanthropist who has spent the final 30 years constructing an empire, adoring his kids, and dealing to uplift the Black neighborhood.”
In March, properties owned by Combs in Los Angeles and Miami have been raided by Homeland Safety as a part of an ongoing federal investigation primarily targeted on allegations of intercourse trafficking. The musician can also be dealing with a number of court docket circumstances over allegations of sexual assault which span again to the Nineties.
Who’s Sean “Diddy” Combs and what number of occasions has he confronted lawsuits or legal fees up to now?
Who’s Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs?
An American rapper and document producer from Harlem in New York Metropolis, Sean Combs has modified the identify he’s identified by a number of occasions over time.
He was often known as “Puff Daddy” within the early Nineties when he first got here to fame earlier than altering his identify to “P Diddy” in 2001. He dropped the “P” in 2005, changing into simply “Diddy”.
Combs joined document manufacturing group Uptown Information as an intern in 1990 and swiftly rose via the company ranks, changing into expertise director and later vice chairman of the document label. Nonetheless, on account of inner conflicts with Uptown Information founder, Andre Harrell, Combs was fired in 1993.
Combs then based the document label, Dangerous Boy Leisure, the identical yr, signing artists in hip-hop and R&B together with stars comparable to The Infamous B.I.G (Biggie Smalls), Religion Evans, 112, Craig Mack, the Lox and Mase. Different big-name artists he helped set up included Mariah Carey and Mary J Blige.
Combs’s first solo album, No Manner Out which was launched in June 1997, included the favored tune, “I’ll Be Lacking You”. It was devoted to The Infamous B.I.G who had died the earlier month. The album premiered on the prime spot on the Billboard 200 chart and obtained optimistic critiques from critics, finally incomes him his inaugural Grammy Award for Greatest Rap Album.
In 1997, Combs obtained the ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Music Award for Songwriter of the 12 months.
In 2009, he received the NAACP Picture Award for Excellent Actor in a Tv Film, Mini-Collection or Dramatic Particular for his position in “A Raisin within the Solar”, a 2008 tv movie adaptation of Lorraine Hansberry’s acclaimed play from 1959.
In 2013, Combs launched his cable information community, Revolt. However a rising variety of sexual abuse allegations in opposition to him triggered Combs to step down as chairman of the Revolt cable tv community in November final yr.
In 2022, Combs obtained the BET Lifetime Achievement Award for his “contributions to music and tradition” over three a long time.
Regardless of his successes, nevertheless, Combs has additionally hit the headlines due to his many and diverse authorized troubles.
When has Combs confronted allegations and fees earlier than?
In 1996, Combs was discovered responsible of “legal mischief” for threatening a New York Submit photographer with a gun. He was fined $1,000.
In December 1999, Combs and his then-girlfriend, the actor and singer Jennifer Lopez, have been concerned in a taking pictures incident in Membership New York in Manhattan. Combs was charged with 4 counts of unlawful gun possession and one rely of bribery for allegedly persuading his driver, Wardel Fenderson, to assert possession of a weapon found within the automobile he used to go away the scene.
Though Lopez was arrested with Combs and held at a police precinct in New York Metropolis for about 14 hours she was ultimately launched with the fees in opposition to her utterly dropped. Combs was later acquitted of all fees.
Combs has additionally confronted a large number of sexual assault allegations. Though lots of the fees have been introduced in opposition to him solely within the final couple of years, a few of them relate to incidents that occurred within the Nineties and 2000s.
November 2023: Cassie Ventura information lawsuit for sexual abuse
Singer and dancer Cassie Ventura, 38, Combs’ accomplice from 2007 to 2018, filed a lawsuit within the US District Courtroom in Manhattan on November 16, 2023 alleging years of abuse, trafficking and rape over a 10-year interval beginning in 2008 when she was 19 and he was 37. The lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed quantity the day after it was filed and by no means reached court docket.
Though Combs denied any abuse of Ventura, in Might this yr, CNN obtained a 2016 surveillance video of Combs violently assaulting her in a resort in California.
A 2016 surveillance video obtained by CNN exhibits Sean “Diddy” Combs violently seize, shove, drag and kick his then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura throughout an altercation in a resort in California. https://t.co/JrnJhWOaQt pic.twitter.com/xeRBtoGBDV
— CNN (@CNN) May 17, 2024
November 2023: Joi Dickerson information lawsuit for sexual abuse
Joi Dickerson and one other unidentified plaintiff filed lawsuits in opposition to Combs in Manhattan Supreme Courtroom in New York Metropolis on November 23, 2023 alleging sexual abuse and coerced drug use throughout the early Nineties.
Throughout Dickerson’s time as a pupil at Syracuse College, she labored with Combs on a music video venture. This collaboration concerned the 1990 tune “Straight From The Soul”, carried out by Finesse and Synquis, a hip-hop rap duo signed to Uptown Information, Combs’s employer on the time.
December 2023: Unidentified lady alleges rape
An unidentified lady, known as “Jane Doe”, is cited in a federal lawsuit in opposition to Combs within the US District Courtroom in Manhattan, filed on December 6, 2023. The go well with alleges that Combs and two different people raped the girl when she was aged 17 in 2003. The incident was alleged to have taken place after they transported her from Detroit to a studio in New York the place they rendered her unable to defend herself by administering medication.
In Might, Combs’s attorneys filed a movement to dismiss the lawsuit as a result of statute of limitations and inadequate particulars within the case. The case remains to be pending.
February 2024: Music producer accuses Combs of sexual assault
Music producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones filed a lawsuit within the US District Courtroom for the Southern District of New York on February 26 this yr accusing Combs of undesirable sexual contact, pressured sexual acts with intercourse employees, and illegal drug use pressured by Combs.
March 2024: Combs residences raided by the Division of Homeland Safety
On March 25, a number of residences in Los Angeles and Miami linked to Combs have been raided by the investigation division of the Division of Homeland Safety. On the time it was reported that the raids have been related to a intercourse trafficking investigation.
Combs’s lawyer, Aaron Dryer, said on the time: “This unprecedented ambush – paired with a sophisticated, coordinated media presence – results in a untimely rush to judgement of Mr Combs and is nothing greater than a witch hunt based mostly on meritless accusations made in civil lawsuits.”
April 2024: Combs is called as co-defendant on sexual assault fees
Combs was named as a co-defendant in a legal lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Courtroom on April 4, during which Grace O’Marcaigh alleges that Combs’s son, Christian “King” Combs, 26, sexually assaulted her on a yacht employed by Combs. The lawsuit additional claims that Combs performed a job in facilitating the assault and bribed the captain of the yacht to remain quiet in regards to the incident.
Might 2024: Vogue pupil alleges sexual assault
April Lampros, 51, a former pupil at New York’s Vogue Institute of Expertise, filed a lawsuit within the US District Courtroom for the Southern District of New York on Might 23 alleging that Combs subjected her to sexual assault on a number of events between the mid-Nineties and early 2000s.
June 2024: Combs is accused of sexual assault at a celebration
Derrick Lee Smith, a 51-year-old prisoner from Michigan who’s being held in Earnest C Brooks Correctional Facility, convicted of first-degree legal sexual conduct and kidnapping from Michigan, accused Combs of drugging and sexually assaulting him at a celebration at a Vacation Inn in Detroit almost three a long time in the past. On account of the rapper’s failure to seem in court docket, Smith was granted a default judgement of $100 million on September 9.
Nonetheless, this week attorneys for Combs moved to overturn the ruling, stating that the statute of limitations for submitting the lawsuit expired in 2007 and the allegations lack credibility.
September 2024: Combs sued for sexual assault by Daybreak Richard
On September 11, Combs was sued within the US District Courtroom for the Southern District of New York by Daybreak Richard, 41, from New Orleans. Richard is a former member of American lady group Danity Kane, which was fashioned in 2005 for the fact TV collection Making the Band 3, created by Combs. She alleges sexual assault and psychological abuse by Combs throughout the time she was concerned within the present.
