The Division of Homeland Safety’s investigation division hit Sean “Diddy” Combs with a number of raids at a number of Los Angeles and Miami properties linked to the media mogul.
A Homeland Safety Investigations spokesperson confirmed to JHB that HSI was working with its Los Angeles and Miami operations, together with native regulation enforcement, as a part of an investigation.
Footage from information helicopters confirmed officers surrounding a property linked to Diddy within the Holmby Hills space of Los Angeles. Footage additionally confirmed two males detained in cuffs on the Los Angeles property. Authorities additionally raided two different properties in Star Island, a neighborhood in Miami Seaside, Florida, in response to the Miami Herald.
The raids come after quite a few allegations of violence and sexual abuse in opposition to Diddy turned public late final yr, beginning with singer-songwriter Cassie Ventura’s damning lawsuit in November 2023, which was settled lower than 24 hours after it was filed.
“Earlier as we speak, Homeland Safety Investigations (HSI) New York executed regulation enforcement actions as a part of an ongoing investigation, with help from HSI Los Angeles, HSI Miami, and our native regulation enforcement companions. We are going to present additional data because it turns into out there,” a spokesperson for HSI advised JHB in a press release.
Although the precise case associated to the raids stays unclear, the raids are reportedly linked to a intercourse trafficking investigation, CBS homeland safety reporter Nicole Sganga said on X, previously Twitter, citing unnamed U.S. officers.
Rolling Stone and NBC Information reported Monday that a number of Jane and John Does had been interviewed by Southern District of New York investigators, with extra to return. NBC Information additionally reported that authorities seized Diddy’s telephones in Miami previous to a visit to the Bahamas.
The legal professional for Cassie and a Jane Doe launched a press release Monday in regards to the raids.
“We are going to all the time assist regulation enforcement when it seeks to prosecute people who have violated the regulation. Hopefully, that is the start of a course of that can maintain Mr. Combs chargeable for his wicked conduct,” legal professional Douglas Wigdor advised JHB in an emailed assertion.
An legal professional for Diddy didn’t instantly reply to JHB’s request for remark.
A minimum of two of a number of lawsuits in opposition to Diddy accuse him of intercourse trafficking, together with the go well with from Cassie and a Jane Doe. Cassie, who was previously in a relationship with Diddy, stated that he compelled her to partake in being sexual with male intercourse staff as he watched, fueled her dependency on substances, raped her and recurrently hit her. The go well with was quietly settled the next day. In December, Jane Doe accused Diddy of gang-raping her alongside file govt Harve Pierre when she was a teen in 2003.
Following Cassie’s go well with, two different ladies stepped ahead with allegations in opposition to him: a girl who stated Diddy and singer Aaron Corridor raped her within the early ’90s, and Joi Dickerson-Neal, who stated Diddy raped her and confirmed the footage to a number of folks. Their fits got here because the Grownup Survivors Act in New York was set to run out. The regulation briefly allowed accusers to deliver their allegations to court docket past the statute of limitations.
Lately, producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones accused Diddy of working a racketeering enterprise, lacing alcoholic drinks for folks in his dwelling and “fixed unsolicited and unauthorized groping.” In response to his grievance filed in February, Jones obtained “a whole lot of hours of footage and audio data of Mr. Combs, his employees, and his visitors participating in severe criminality.” Jones additionally linked Diddy to a capturing at a preferred recording studio in Los Angeles and claimed that Diddy additionally stated he was “accountable” for the 1999 killing of rapper Shyne.
“It’s about rattling time. Typically justice delayed is just not justice denied, as long as justice finally arrives,” Tyrone Blackburn, the legal professional for Lil Rod and the lady who claimed Diddy and Corridor raped her within the Nineties, advised Rolling Stone.
Diddy, nicknamed “Brother Love,” has denied the allegations in opposition to him.
“Sickening allegations have been made in opposition to me by people in search of a fast payday. Let me be completely clear: I didn’t do any of the terrible issues being alleged. I’ll struggle for my identify, my household and for the reality,” Diddy stated in a December assertion.
Because the allegations got here out, he has stepped down because the chairman of media firm Revolt and confronted the nixing of a actuality present that may doc his life.