Federal brokers raided houses in Los Angeles and the Miami space on Monday which are linked to hip-hop mogul Sean Combs, an individual with information of the case stated.
Homeland Safety Investigations carried out the operations however didn’t present particulars in regards to the case, together with whether or not Mr. Combs was the goal or what felony expenses have been being investigated. Combs, also referred to as Puff Daddy or Diddy, has been accused of sexual assault and intercourse trafficking in a number of civil lawsuits in current months.
A spokesman for Mr. Combs didn’t reply to a request for remark.
The felony investigation was being led by federal prosecutors from the Southern District of New York and federal Homeland Safety brokers, a legislation enforcement official stated. Nicholas Biase, a spokesman for the Southern District, declined to remark.
In a press release, Homeland Safety stated New York brokers “carried out legislation enforcement actions as a part of an ongoing investigation, with help from HSI Los Angeles, HSI Miami and our native legislation enforcement companions.”
Video from Fox 11 (KTTV), an area tv station in Los Angeles, confirmed armed law enforcement officials coming into a house within the Holmby Hills space of the town, which an officer stated was linked to Mr. Public information in California additionally point out that the home is owned by an organization led by Mr. Combs.
The raids have been a surprising growth within the profession of Combs, 54, a producer, file govt and occasional rapper who has been one of the vital influential and widely known figures within the music enterprise over the previous 30 years.
He performed a pivotal position in reworking hip-hop into a world industrial drive, creating hits and larger-than-life personas for rap and R&B artists like Infamous BIG and Mary J. Blige. He additionally had smash hits with songs like “I will Be Lacking You” (1997), a ballad for the Infamous B.I.G. following his homicide in a drive-by capturing, which featured Religion Evans, the rapper’s widow, and a pattern of the Police’s click on “Each breath you’re taking.”
However Combs was additionally dogged for many years by allegations of violence. In November, he was sued for sexual assault by Casandra Ventura, his ex-girlfriend, who can also be signed to his file label, Dangerous Boy, as efficiency artist Cassie.
In her lawsuit, Ventura accused Combs of forcing her to have interaction in sexual exercise with prostitutes for years. The lawsuit claims that because of these encounters, which occurred in a number of cities throughout america, Ms. Ventura was a sufferer of intercourse trafficking.
Ms. Ventura’s civil case was resolved in simply someday, together with her and Mr. Combs saying the dispute was resolved “amicably.”
That case, specified by an in depth 35-page grievance, drew headlines world wide and endangered the company model he had steadily constructed over many years. Within the months main as much as Ventura’s lawsuit, Combs obtained business awards and launched his first studio album in 17 years.
Even after the settlement, Ms. Ventura’s lawsuit was adopted by a number of different instances, every accusing Mr. Combs of sexual assault. In a case filed final month, a music producer, Rodney Jones, stated Combs had undesirable sexual contact with him and compelled him to rent prostitutes and take part in sexual acts with them. In current months, a lot of Combs’ enterprise companions have distanced themselves from him.
Federal investigators in New York have been main the investigation and conducting interviews asking potential witnesses about allegations of sexual misconduct towards Mr. Combs for a number of months, in response to an individual aware of the interviews.
Combs denied the allegations towards him. In December, after an nameless girl filed a lawsuit accusing Combs and two different males of raping her in a New York recording studio in 2003 when she was 17, the music mogul stated: “Disgusting allegations have been made towards me by people. on the lookout for a fast fee. Let me be completely clear: I didn’t do any of the horrible issues which are being alleged.”
After Jones’ lawsuit final month, Combs’ legal professional Shawn Holley stated Jones “is nothing greater than a liar who blatantly filed a $30 million lawsuit in search of an undeserved payday” and referred to as his accusations “pure fiction”. .” Holley and two different attorneys for Combs additionally didn’t reply to requests for remark Monday.
In a press release launched Monday, Douglas Wigdor, an legal professional representing Ventura and the nameless girl who sued Combs alleging assault at a New York studio, stated, “We’ll all the time help legislation enforcement when it seeks to prosecute those that violate the legislation. We hope that is the start of a course of that can maintain Mr. Combs accountable for his wicked conduct.”
The Miami Seashore residence searched was on Star Island, an unique enclave of mansions on Biscayne Bay standard with celebrities and the rich. On Monday, their normal tranquility was interrupted by a Homeland Safety Investigations van with flashing pink and blue lights, legislation enforcement officers in blue windbreakers and a minimum of two brokers with canine, in addition to journalists scattered throughout their grass-filled lawns. palm timber.
The same scene unfolded close to Combs’ Los Angeles residence, the place within the late afternoon a couple of dozen individuals, a lot of them journalists, wandered by means of the upscale Holmby Hills neighborhood, unable to cross the yellow warning tape hanging on South Mapleton Drive.
Some Los Angeles law enforcement officials blocked the street resulting in Mr. Combs’ property. These passing by have been , with drivers in luxurious SUVs slowing all the way down to take images of the competition.
The neighborhood, only a mile east of the College of California, Los Angeles, is used to consideration. With an extended record of well-known residents, it is the place Hugh Hefner threw lavish events on the Playboy Mansion and the place Michael Jackson lived in a fort shortly earlier than his demise. Most properties are surrounded by gates and greenery or vine-covered stone partitions – pillars of privateness for a neighborhood recognized for its exclusivity.
Hamed Aleaziz contributed reporting from Washington, D.C., Chelsea Rose Marcius from New York, Corina Knoll of Los Angeles and Veronica Zaragovia from Miami.
