Sean “Diddy” Combs was arrested in New York City on Monday, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.
The music mogul was taken into custody following a grand jury’s indictment, though the specific charges were not clear.
“We are disappointed with the decision to pursue what we believe is an unjust prosecution of Mr. Combs by the U.S. Attorney’s Office,” Marc Agnifilo, Combs’ attorney, told THR. “Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is a music icon, self-made entrepreneur, loving family man, and proven philanthropist who has spent the last 30 years building an empire, adoring his children, and working to uplift the Black community. He is an imperfect person but he Is not a criminal. To his credit Mr. Combs has been nothing but cooperative with this investigation and he voluntarily relocated to New York last week in anticipation of these charges. Please reserve your judgment until you have all the facts. These are the acts of an innocent man with nothing to hide, and he looks forward to clearing his name in court.”
The arrest comes as Combs continues to face serious legal trouble, most recently with a new sexual assault lawsuit filed by his former bandmate Dawn Richard last week. Richard’s suit included claims of battery, false imprisonment, withholding millions of dollars in unpaid royalties and wages, as well as stealing her copyrighted works.
Richard’s complaint was at least the eighth brought against him since his former girlfriend Casandra Ventura filed a lawsuit detailing years of physical and sexual abuse last year. That action quickly settled but led to other accusers, including Liza Gardner, Joi Dickerson-Neal and Crystal McKinney, bringing similar complaints.
Combs was also served a sexual assault lawsuit from producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones in February, who accused the music mogul of harassing and trafficking him. Combs filed a motion to dismiss Lil Rod’s suit in August. He has denied the other allegations as well, and largely said the accusers are looking for payouts. In
In March, federal law enforcement raided Diddy’s homes as part of an investigation into human trafficking. In May, a 2016 video surfaced showing Combs beating Ventura, running out of a hotel room chasing her toward the elevator, grabbing her by the back of the neck, throwing her on the floor, kicking her, shoving her and dragging her by her sweatshirt. Later in the footage, he returned kick her again, and then threw an object from a nearby table at her.
Diddy released a public apology several days after the video’s release, acknowledging the incident and saying “I was fucked up — I hit rock bottom — but I make no excuses. My behavior on that video is inexcusable.”
Ventura also reacted to the video’s release, saying that Diddy’s abuse “broke me down to someone I never thought I would become. With a lot of hard work, I am better today, but I will always be recovering from my past.”