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Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post Diddy performs in Tallahassee, Fla., in November 2018.
The Washington Post / Herb Scribner, Anne Branigin
16:04 JST, March 26, 2024
The Department of Homeland Security raided multiple homes belonging to Sean “Diddy” Combs on Monday as the hip-hop mogul faces several lawsuits over accusations including physical abuse, sexual assault and sex trafficking.
“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. We will provide further information as it becomes available,” the DHS said in a statement.
A spokesperson for HSI declined to comment beyond the statement and did not say how many of Combs’s homes were raided. The entertainer has homes in Los Angeles, New York and Miami.
A law enforcement official, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation, confirmed the searches are part of a sex trafficking investigation.
Video clips said to be from the raid circulated on social media Monday afternoon, showing several armored vehicles and law enforcement officers surrounding the home in Los Angeles.
Heavily armed law enforcement officers appeared to enter the garage of the mansion in video footage published by Fox 11. Law enforcement authorities detained people from inside the house, but it was unclear if any arrests had been made. Police appeared to guide one man in a blue shirt out of the house with his hands behind his head, the footage showed.
Police departments for Miami-Dade, Beverly Hills and Los Angeles referred to the Homeland Security Department when asked for comment.
The federal raid follows months of allegations of sexual abuse against Combs.
Combs’s former girlfriend, R&B singer Cassie, filed a blockbuster lawsuit against Combs in November. The suit alleged that Cassie had suffered a “cycle of abuse, violence, and sex trafficking” at the hands of the famed producer. According to the lawsuit, Combs would force Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, to participate in sex parties with male sex workers, flying them into “multiple cities in the United States as well as abroad.”
Cassie’s lawsuit was soon followed by others. Three more women filed sexual assault claims against Combs in 2023, including an anonymous woman who accused Combs and Harve Pierre, the former chief executive of Bad Boy Entertainment, of trafficking her from Detroit to New York City in 2003, where she was allegedly gang-raped. She was 17 at the time.
In February, producer Rodney Jones filed a federal lawsuit against Combs and several of his associates. Jones worked on Combs’s most recent project, “The Love Album,” from 2022 and 2023. He alleges that during that time, Combs would ask him to seek out sex workers to attend all-night parties, during which Combs would give alcoholic beverages laced with drugs to the women who attended, including minors. Jones also accused Combs of displaying and distributing “unregistered illegal firearms.”
Combs settled with Cassie the day after she filed her lawsuit, saying that they “decided to resolve this matter amicably.” Combs has denied all the allegations against him and has called the lawsuits filed by his other accusers “a money grab.”
