Sean “Diddy” Combs, the disgraced hip-hop mogul, is charged with sex trafficking and organized crime in an indictment unsealed Tuesday. He was arrested in New York on Monday after being indicted by a federal grand jury. The arrest and indictment came after a months-long sex trafficking investigation and 10 months after a number of women came forward with allegations of sexual and other abuse.
Here’s a look at the key details of the three-count indictment.
Alleged attacks date back to 2008
The indictment contains explicit details of Combs’ alleged assaults on several women since 2008. He is accused of “verbal, emotional, physical and sexual” abuse and of “hitting, kicking, throwing objects at and sometimes pulling their hair” at the victims. The assaults took “days or weeks to heal.”
In a large portion of the indictment, investigators said Combs staged sexual encounters between his victims and male sex workers that he called “freak offs” – defined in the indictment as “elaborate and staged sex performances that Combs arranged, directed, masturbated during, and often electronically recorded.”
Authorities said these encounters sometimes lasted several days and often involved multiple prostitutes. Combs administered drugs to participants to “keep the victims obedient and submissive.” Raids on Combs’ homes in Los Angeles and Miami resulted in the seizure of supplies for the “freak offs,” including drugs and more than 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant, prosecutors said.
Combs is accused of leading criminal activities
The indictment alleges that Combs and others he was associated with were members of a criminal organization that engaged in multiple illegal activities, including sex trafficking, forced labor, transportation and coercion related to prostitution, drug offenses, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice. Combs is accused of directing the criminal schemes, and the indictment states that those who worked for him, including security guards, domestic staff, personal assistants, and “high-level supervisors,” were all knowingly or unknowingly part of the criminal enterprise.
According to prosecutors, Combs’ group attempted to maintain and protect his power through the use of violence. This included the use of firearms, threats of violence, coercion, and verbal, emotional, physical, and sexual abuse.
Prosecutors say Combs intimidated victims into silence
Combs carried or brandished firearms to “intimidate or threaten others,” including victims and witnesses to his attacks, the indictment says. During raids on his homes in Los Angeles and Miami, police officers said they found weapons and ammunition, including three AR-15s with “obscured” serial numbers.
The indictment also accuses Combs of exploiting his victims’ career aspirations in the music industry by using his money and influence to take advantage of them. Officials also said Combs used recordings of the “freak offs” to keep the victims from revealing themselves. Combs also controlled his victims’ homes, tracked their whereabouts, determined their appearance, monitored their medical records and supplied them with drugs, investigators said.
