Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs: What is the American rapper accused of?

Sean “Diddy” Combs, one of the most successful music moguls of all time, is facing a series of sexual assault allegations that could end a three-decade-long career. The American rapper was arrested on September 17 and charged with sex trafficking and racketeering by New York prosecutors.

Since the indictment, more than 120 new allegations have been made against Combs, who has pleaded not guilty. A judge denied him bail after prosecutors argued he posed a “threat to the community.”

Combs has denied all allegations of criminal wrongdoing. But he faces an uphill battle to clear his name.

Combs, 54, was arrested at a New York hotel on charges of conspiracy, forcible sex trafficking and transportation for the purpose of prostitution.

Federal prosecutors accused him of “creating a criminal enterprise” in which he “abused, threatened and coerced women and others around him to satisfy his sexual desires, protect his reputation and conceal his conduct.”

They said Combs used drugs, violence and the power of his status to “lure female victims” into prolonged sexual acts called “Freak Offs.”

They also revealed that they discovered guns, ammunition and more than 1,000 bottles of lube during searches of Combs’ homes in Miami and Los Angeles in March.

Born in New York in 1969, Combs was raised by his mother Janice, a teaching assistant. His father, Melvin, was a former member of the United States Air Force who was involved in organized crime.

The future music mogul was just three years old when his father was shot dead in a car during a drug deal, after being wrongly identified as a police informant. An athletic kid who loved music, Combs flirted with stardom as a teenager, dancing in music videos for the British pop-rock group Fine Young Cannibals and for American soul diva Diana Ross.

While studying business at Howard University in Washington, D.C., in the early 1990s, Combs gained a reputation for throwing lavish parties that sometimes attracted more than a thousand guests. He often hired famous artists to play at these events, which caught the attention of music impresario Andre Harrell and landed him an internship at his label, Uptown Records, based in New York.

He dropped out of university to devote himself to his work and it didn’t take long for him to break through. Combs signed a young Brooklyn rapper, known as Biggie Smalls, and began producing his first album. The album, considered one of the best rap works of all time, sold millions of copies.

Tragedy struck in 1997, when Biggie was gunned down in a shooting in Los Angeles, a murder that was never solved but was linked to the turf wars that affected rap music throughout the decade. Combs, who witnessed the incident, paid tribute to his protégé by writing the song I’ll Be Missing You, which became one of the biggest hits of the year and effectively launched his own musical career .

Combs has also branched out beyond music into a range of other businesses, including clothing, beverages and television production. In 2022, his name appeared in the list of billionaires of the American magazine Forbes.

In 1991, Combs co-hosted an event at the City College of New York that ended in tragedy. Nearly 5,000 people showed up in a gymnasium with a capacity of less than 2,800. A stampede occurred and nine people were killed. No criminal charges were filed, but relatives of the victims sued the developers, the college and the City of New York. Combs paid $750,000 as part of a $3.8 million settlement.

In May 1999, he was arrested on suspicion of assaulting music industry executive Steve Stout following a disagreement over a music video. Combs pleaded guilty to harassment and was sentenced to a day of anger management classes.

The same year, he was charged with criminal possession of a weapon, but was later acquitted.

Then, in 2015, Combs got into a fight with his son’s football coach following an argument during practice. He was later arrested and charged with assault with a deadly weapon, but the charges were later dropped.

The first allegations of abuse were made by his model ex-girlfriend, Gina Huynh, in 2019, during an interview with YouTube personality Tasha K. Although the allegations did not reach mainstream media Americans.

On November 16, 2023, Combs was accused of rape and abuse by his former partner, artist Cassie. She filed a civil complaint in federal court in New York, claiming that the music mogul sexually and physically assaulted her during their 13-year relationship. A day after the suit was filed, both sides said they had settled the matter “amicably,” although Combs’ lawyer said the settlement was “in no way an admission of wrongdoing.”

But the same week, two other women came forward. One of them, Joi Dickerson-Neal, accused the star of drugging and assaulting her when she was a student in 1991. Combs has denied all allegations and a spokesperson called the lawsuits ” extortion maneuvers.

A month later, a fourth woman filed a lawsuit, claiming she was the victim of “sex trafficking” and “gang rape” by Combs and two other men when she was 17. In response, Combs said he “did not do any of the horrible things that he is accused of.”

In March of this year, police raided two properties owned by Combs in Los Angeles and Miami. Six months later, he was arrested in a New York hotel, and on October 1, Tony Buzbee, a Texas lawyer, held a press conference to announce that more than 100 people, men and women, would individually sue the rapper for sexual assault, rape and sexual exploitation. Mr. Buzbee added that some of the alleged victims were minors at the time of the events.

Erica Wolff, a lawyer representing Mr. Combs, said the rapper “categorically” denies the allegations, calling them “false and defamatory.”

Throughout his three-decade career, Mr. Combs changed his artistic name several times in an attempt to rebuild his image. It will take more than that to restore his reputation today.