The indictment and details were not immediately released by prosecutors, but Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams confirmed in a statement that federal agents had taken Combs into custody.
Also see – Video of “Diddy” Combs' assault on Cassie Ventura in 2016 (Source:CNN)
“We expect to move to unseal the indictment this morning and will provide more information at that time,” Williams said in a statement.
Combs was arrested in the lobby of a Manhattan hotel, according to a person familiar with the arrest who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.
Rapper Marc Agnifilo's attorney said Combs has cooperated with the investigation and moved to New York last week to await indictment.
“We are disappointed in the decision of the district attorney's office to prosecute Mr. Combs, which we believe is unfair,” Agnifilo said, describing his client as a music icon and a “loving family man.”
“He is a flawed person, but he is not a criminal,” Agnifilo said in a statement, adding: “Please reserve judgment until you know all the facts. These are the actions of an innocent man with nothing to hide, and he is eager to clear his name in court.”
The criminal charges are a major, but not unexpected, blow to one of the most prominent producers and most famous names in hip-hop history.
The federal investigation into Combs, 58, came to light when homeland security agents conducted simultaneous searches of Combs' homes in Los Angeles and Miami on March 25.
The day after the raids, his lawyer Aaron Dyer called them a “gross use of military force” and said the allegations were “baseless.”
Combs, then known as Puff Daddy, was at the center of East and West Coast hip-hop battles in the 1990s as the partner and producer of Notorious B.I.G., who was shot and killed in 1997. But like many who survived that era, his public image softened with age into a polished host of Hollywood and Hamptons parties, a fashion-forward businessman and a doting father who spoiled his children, some of whom lost their mothers in 2018.
But a different picture began to emerge in November, when his former protégé and girlfriend, R&B singer Cassie, became the first of several people to sue him for sexual abuse, with stories of a steady stream of sex workers in drug-fueled settings, where some of those involved were coerced or cajoled into having sex.
In the lawsuit she filed in November, Cassie alleges years of abuse, including beatings and rape. She also claims that Combs engaged in sex trafficking by “requiring her to engage in forced sexual acts in multiple jurisdictions” and “harboring and transporting the plaintiff for sexual purposes induced by force, fraud or coercion.”
She also said he forced her to help him recruit male sex workers who Combs would force to have sex with Cassie while he filmed.
The lawsuit was settled the next day, but its repercussions lasted much longer. Combs lost allies, supporters and those who reserved judgment when CNN aired video in May of him punching and kicking Cassie and throwing her to the ground in a hotel hallway.
The next day, for the first time since the wave of allegations began, Combs posted a video on social media apologizing: “I was disgusted when I did it” and “I’m disgusted now.” Cassie’s complaint was followed by at least a half-dozen others in the months that followed.
In February, a music producer filed a lawsuit alleging that Combs coerced him into soliciting prostitutes and pressured him into having sex with them.
Another of Combs' accusers is a woman who claims the rap producer raped her 20 years ago, when she was 17.
Another woman who filed the complaint, April Lampros, said she was a college student in 1994 when she met Combs, and that a series of “terrifying sexual encounters” with Combs and his entourage began that lasted for years.
Combs and his lawyers have denied nearly all of the plaintiffs' allegations.
Although authorities have not publicly stated that the lawsuits triggered the criminal investigation, Dyer said when the warrants were served that the case was based on “baseless accusations made in civil lawsuits.”
The AP generally does not name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, as Cassie and Lampros have done.
As the founder of Bad Boy Records, Combs has become one of the most influential hip-hop producers and executives of the last three decades. With Notorious B.I.G., he has worked with a slew of top artists, including Mary J. Blige, Usher, Lil Kim, Faith Evans and 112.
Combs' roles in his businesses beyond music — including lucrative private-label spirits, a media company and the Sean John clothing line — have been badly shaken by the allegations.
The consequences were even more serious when the video of the beating was leaked. Howard University cut ties with him and he surrendered his key to the City of New York at the request of the mayor.
Combs has been the subject of several arrests before, and decades ago he was at the center of one of the biggest trials in the hip-hop industry at the time.
The trial stemmed from a shooting at a Manhattan nightclub in 1999 that left three people injured. His then-girlfriend, singer and actress Jennifer Lopez, was also present when the shots rang out.
Combs was eventually acquitted of charges that he brought an illegal gun into the nightclub and tried to bribe his driver to take responsibility for the weapon. His then-protégé, Shyne, was convicted of assault and other charges in the shooting and served about eight years in prison. Now known as Moses Barrow, he is a member of the House of Representatives in his native Belize.
Also in 1999, Combs was arrested for beating a record producer in New York. He pleaded guilty to harassment, a misdemeanor, and was ordered to take an anger management course.
