Sean “Diddy” Combs attends Sean “Diddy” Combs Fulfills $1 Million Pledge To Howard University At Howard Homecoming – Yardfest at Howard University on October 20, 2023 in Washington, DC.
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Federal agents on Monday raided properties owned by hip hop music mogul Sean Combs in Los Angeles and Miami, NBC News reported, citing sources.
The Department of Homeland Security agents were authorized to search the properties by warrants issued in Manhattan federal court, law enforcement sources said.
A source familiar with the situation told NBC that three women and one man have been interviewed in New York by federal authorities in connection to a probe involving possible sex trafficking, sexual assault, the solicitation and distribution of illegal narcotics and firearms related to 54-year-old Combs, who is also known as “Diddy,” “Puff Daddy,” and “P. Diddy.”
Interviews with three more women, identified as “Jane Does,” are scheduled.
“Earlier today, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New York executed law enforcement actions as part of an ongoing investigation, with assistance from HSI Los Angeles, HSI Miami, and our local law enforcement partners,” Homeland Security said in a statement to NBC 4 Los Angeles.
Combs’ lawyer, Benjamin Brafman, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from CNBC.
The raids come four months after the singer Cassie sued Combs in Manhattan federal court, accusing him of raping and sex trafficking her.
Cassie’s suit says that in 2005, when she was 19 years old, Combs lured her into a professional relationship by signing her to his label, Bad Boy Records, and within several years induced her into a sexual relationship, and introduced her “to a lifestyle of excessive alcohol and substance abuse and required her to procure illicit prescriptions to satisfy his own addictions.”
The suit claimed Combs raped Cassie, whose full name is Casandra Ventura, in her home after she tried to leave him, “blew up” another man’s car after learning of his romantic interest her and often beat and kicked her.
It also said that Combs “forced Ms. Ventura to engage in sex acts with male sex workers while masturbating and filming the encounters.”
The day after she filed that suit, Cassie and Combs agreed to settle her complaint for undisclosed terms.
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