Sean “Diddy” Combs was arrested in New York Metropolis on Monday, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.
The music mogul was taken into custody following a grand jury’s indictment, although the precise costs weren’t clear.
“We’re disenchanted with the choice to pursue what we consider is an unjust prosecution of Mr. Combs by the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace,” Marc Agnifilo, Combs’ legal professional, informed THR. “Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is a music icon, self-made entrepreneur, loving household man, and confirmed philanthropist who has spent the final 30 years constructing an empire, adoring his kids, and dealing to uplift the Black neighborhood. He’s an imperfect individual however he Shouldn’t be a legal. To his credit score Mr. Combs has been nothing however cooperative with this investigation and he voluntarily relocated to New York final week in anticipation of those costs. Please reserve your judgment till you’ve all of the info. These are the acts of an harmless man with nothing to cover, and he seems to be ahead to clearing his identify in courtroom.”
The arrest comes as Combs continues to face critical authorized hassle, most lately with a brand new sexual assault lawsuit filed by his former bandmate Daybreak Richard final week. Richard’s go well with included claims of battery, false imprisonment, withholding thousands and thousands of {dollars} in unpaid royalties and wages, in addition to stealing her copyrighted works.
Richard’s grievance was a minimum of the eighth introduced in opposition to him since his former girlfriend Casandra Ventura filed a lawsuit detailing years of bodily and sexual abuse final 12 months. That motion rapidly settled however led to different accusers, together with Liza Gardner, Joi Dickerson-Neal and Crystal McKinney, bringing related complaints.
Combs was additionally 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 movement to dismiss Lil Rod’s go well with in August. He has denied the opposite allegations as effectively, and largely stated the accusers are on the lookout for payouts. In
In March, federal regulation enforcement raided Diddy’s houses as a part of an investigation into human trafficking. In Could, a 2016 video surfaced displaying Combs beating Ventura, working out of a resort room chasing her towards the elevator, grabbing her by the again of the neck, throwing her on the ground, kicking her, shoving her and dragging her by her sweatshirt. Later within the footage, he returned kick her once more, after which threw an object from a close-by desk at her.
Diddy launched a public apology a number of days after the video’s launch, acknowledging the incident and saying “I used to be fucked up — I hit all-time low — however I make no excuses. My habits on that video is inexcusable.”
Ventura additionally reacted to the video’s launch, saying that Diddy’s abuse “broke me all the way down to somebody I by no means thought I might turn into. With quite a lot of arduous work, I’m higher immediately, however I’ll all the time be recovering from my previous.”