Sean “Diddy” Combs, a hip-hop kingmaker and three-time Grammy winner, was arrested by New York federal authorities on Monday, according to his attorney.
Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) agents made the arrest in Manhattan on Monday, sources familiar with the matter told NBC New York. Combs was arrested in the lobby of a hotel, a spokesman told NBC News.
In a statement released late Monday night, Combs’ attorney Marc Agnifilo said they were “disappointed by the decision to pursue what we believe is an unjustified prosecution” and called the entertainment star “an imperfect person, but not a criminal.”
It was not immediately clear what charges Combs would face, but Agnifilo said the charges came from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, suggesting federal charges would be brought.
“To Mr. Combs’ credit, he has been consistently cooperative with this investigation and voluntarily relocated to New York last week in anticipation of these charges. Please reserve judgment until you know all of the facts,” Agnifilo’s statement said. “These are the actions of an innocent man who has nothing to hide and he looks forward to clearing his name in court.”
Spokespeople for Homeland Security Investigations declined to comment. Damian Williams, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, confirmed in a post on X that “federal agents arrested Sean Combs tonight on a sealed indictment from the SDNY.” Williams added that they expect to unseal the indictment Tuesday morning.
Williams is expected to hold a press conference at 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday.
Combs is scheduled to appear in court in Lower Manhattan. The charges are apparently related to allegations of sex trafficking, sexual assault, and the recruitment and distribution of illegal drugs and firearms.
Combs, 54, has been under federal investigation since at least March 2024, when HSI executed search warrants on Combs’ property. At the time of those searches, NBC News reported that three women and one man were being questioned by federal agents in Manhattan in connection with the above allegations against Combs.
These search warrants were also part of an investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
According to three law enforcement sources familiar with the search warrants, HSI agents in Miami seized Combs’ phones before he was scheduled to leave for a trip to the Bahamas. Combs was in the Miami area when federal authorities conducted the searches, sources said.
Cassie Ventura breaks her silence. After Sean “Diddy” Combs apologized on social media over the weekend for what he called his “inexcusable” behavior during a 2016 hotel surveillance video in which the rapper apparently attacked his ex-girlfriend, the “Me & U” singer posted a statement on Instagram on May 23.
In May, Combs apologized after a video obtained by CNN showed him hitting his then-girlfriend Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura in a Los Angeles hotel in 2016.
In an apology video posted on Instagram, Combs admitted the incident and said he takes “full responsibility.”
“It’s so difficult to reflect on the darkest times in life, but sometimes you have to,” Combs said. “I was devastated – I mean, I was devastated – but I’m not making excuses.”
Combs initially denied Ventura’s allegations of assault and sex trafficking, which she detailed in a federal court lawsuit filed in November. The two settled the next day for an undisclosed amount.
When Combs admitted to the assault, Meredith Firetog, an attorney for Ventura, said, “When Cassie and several other women came forward, he denied everything and suggested that his victims were only after money.”
Firetog added: “The fact that he only felt compelled to ‘apologize’ when his repeated denials were proven false shows his pathetic desperation.”
The former music manager has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged with any crime.
Chloe Melas of NBC News contributed to this report.
