Sean “Diddy” Combs‘ luxurious houses have been raided by Homeland Security brokers on Monday, and quite a few sources have come ahead to media retailers saying the rap mogul is underneath federal investigation for intercourse trafficking. The raids come as Combs faces a number of lawsuits over allegations of sexual assault.
Two properties owned by Combs in Los Angeles and Miami have been searched. Footage taken by an ABC7 information helicopter confirmed brokers in bulletproof vests getting into the Los Angeles mansion and staying on the property for hours seizing proof.
Footage obtained by Global News confirmed police canine and brokers in Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) jackets looking Combs’ Miami Beach mansion. Huge containers of proof have been seen being loaded into vans.
A regulation enforcement officer leads out a canine as federal brokers stand on the entrance to a property belonging to rapper Sean (Diddy) Combs, Monday, March 25, 2024, on Star Island in Miami Beach, Fla.
AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell
In an announcement, Homeland Security officers mentioned it “executed law enforcement actions as part of an ongoing investigation, with assistance from HSI Los Angeles, HSI Miami, and our local law enforcement partners.”
Two sources in regulation enforcement advised The Associated Press that the raids on Combs’ houses have been a part of an ongoing intercourse trafficking investigation by federal authorities in New York.
Sources advised NBC News that the feds are additionally probing allegations of sexual assault and the solicitation and distribution of unlawful narcotics and firearms. Combs was within the Miami space when the properties have been raided and Homeland Security seized his telephones earlier than he was scheduled to fly to the Bahamas for a visit, three regulation enforcement sources advised the outlet. It’s not clear if Combs has left the U.S.
Law enforcement rides an armoured car close to a property belonging to Sean (Diddy) Combs on Monday, March 25, 2024, in Los Angeles.
AP Photo/Eric Thayer
Two males, later recognized as Combs’ sons, have been seen in handcuffs outdoors the Los Angeles residence, footage confirmed. Combs’ sons weren’t arrested, a supply advised the outlet. They have been being detained as regulation enforcement officers searched the property, related to Combs’ Bad Boy Films firm.
Combs has been on the centre of 5 sexual assault lawsuits in as many months. He has vehemently denied any wrongdoing.
Breaking information from Canada and all over the world
despatched to your electronic mail, because it occurs.
In November 2023, Combs’ former longtime accomplice R&B singer Cassie Ventura accused the music mogul of repeated rape and bodily assault spanning practically a decade. In her lawsuit, Ventura, who was signed to Combs’ document label, mentioned the rapper “punched, beat, kicked and stomped” her and compelled her to have intercourse with male prostitutes whereas he filmed them. The go well with was settled the day after it was filed.
Shortly after, a girl who appeared in a music video with Combs got here ahead and filed a lawsuit towards him accusing him of slipping medicine into her drink and sexually assaulting her in 1991. Joi Dickerson-Neal accused Combs of then sharing a recording of the rape with different males within the music business as a type of “revenge porn.”
A 3rd girl accused Combs and R&B singer Aaron Hall of sexually assaulting her and a good friend at an residence within the early Nineties. The girl, recognized solely as Jane Doe, mentioned she and her good friend have been “coerced” into having intercourse.
In February, a music producer filed a lawsuit alleging Combs coerced him to solicit prostitutes and pressured him to have intercourse with them.
In a fifth lawsuit, Combs is accused of raping and trafficking a 17-year-old woman in 2003 after he invited her to his studio and “plied” her with medicine and alcohol. The girl, recognized solely as Jane Doe, claims she was “gang raped” by Combs, Harve Pierre, the previous president of Bad Boy Entertainment, and one other unnamed particular person.
Combs had mentioned in a December 2023 assertion, “I did not do any of the awful things being alleged.”
Douglas Wigdor, a lawyer who represents Ventura and one other girl who sued Combs, mentioned in an announcement Monday that the accusers assist the raids on Combs’ houses.
“Hopefully, this is the beginning of a process that will hold Mr. Combs responsible for his depraved conduct.”
— With recordsdata from The Associated Press and Global News’ Sarah Do Couto
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.