Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Arrested in New York as Lawyers Insist He Is ‘Not a Criminal’: Report

Getty Sean Diddy Combs.

Music entrepreneur Sean “Diddy” Combs was arrested in New York City on the evening of September 16 following a grand jury indictment, The New York Times reported.

The indictment was released on September 17. The indictment charges Combs with racketeering, accusing him of having “abused, threatened and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct.”

He was accused of creating “a criminal enterprise whose members and associates engaged in, and attempted to engage in, among other crimes, sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice.” Combs was also charged with sex trafficking by fraud, force or coercion, and transportation to engage in prostitution, the indictment says.

Combs is also accused of holding regular “Freak Offs,” coercing women into elaborate sexual performances with sex workers, the indictment says.

Combs’ attorneys spoke out on Combs’ behalf to the Times, expressing disappointment and saying that Combs “voluntarily relocated to New York last week in anticipation of these charges.”

Combs’ legal team told The Times that he is “not a criminal.”

“Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is a music icon, self-made entrepreneur, loving family man, and proven philanthropist who has spent the last 30 years building an empire, adoring his children, and working to uplift the Black community,” the statement said. “He is an imperfect person but he is not a criminal,” the statement read, according to The Times.

The Arrest Comes After Sean Combs Faced a Series of Accusations in Lawsuits

GettyProducer and musician Sean “P. Diddy” Combs receives the Third Annual H.O.O.P.S (Helping Out Our Public Schools) Award at the 2005 Net Gain Basketball Tournament at Basketball City, Pier 63, April 11, 2005 in New York City.

The Times did not specify the exact nature of the accusations, but the story does note that Combs “has been under intense public scrutiny since a former girlfriend, Casandra Ventura, filed a lawsuit last November accusing him of years of sexual and physical abuse.”

According to Rolling Stone, the arrest comes after Homeland Security raided Combs’ homes last spring and he faced “a wave of sexual abuse lawsuits.”

Rolling Stone reported that Ventura made accusations of “sex trafficking and abuse” against Combs in her lawsuit, but he settled with her privately. After that point, Combs was sued by eight women and a man for accusations “ranging from sex trafficking to sexual assault,” Rolling Stone reported.

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Was Notified in July That He Was Being Criminally Investigated, Reports Say

Homeland Security Investigation agents are seen at the entrance of US producer and musician Sean “Diddy” Combs’s home at Star Island in Miami Beach on March 25, 2024. Homes belonging to Sean “Diddy” Combs were being raided by federal agents, media reported on March 25, with the US hip hop mogul at the center of sex trafficking and sex assault lawsuits.

In July, NBC News reported that Combs was notified by federal authorities in the Southern District of New York “that he is a subject of an ongoing criminal investigation.”

At that time, sources told NBC News that “a federal grand jury is hearing evidence” but there was “no indication that charges are imminent.”

According to NBC News, Combs apologized for a video showing him “beating” Ventura in 2016 at a hotel in Los Angeles while she was his girlfriend.

In a video apology that he posted to Instagram, Combs said he took “full responsibility,” NBC reported.

“It’s so difficult to reflect on the darkest times in your life, but sometimes you got to do that,” Combs said, according to NBC. “I was (expletive) — I mean, I hit rock bottom — but I make no excuses.”

Combs’ Instagram page only has two posts on it, although he has almost 20 million followers.