What did agents find when they raided Diddy’s mansion? Where is the mogul? What to know
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Federal probe into music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs
Sean “Diddy” Combs was indicted on federal sex trafficking charges after his Star Island mansion was raided.
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Four people in Diddy’s entourage were cuffed by federal agents after they raided his Miami Beach mansion Monday. Another Diddy associate was busted on drug charges at the Opa-locka airport. And the rap mogul was questioned by agents at the airport before a plane linked to him flew to a Caribbean island.
The agents ultimately let the four go, but Miami-Dade Police arrested a man at Miami Opa-locka Executive Airport on Monday afternoon who was described as Diddy’s “mule” in a lawsuit against the music producer.
At the same airport, federal agents seized Diddy’s phone and questioned him before clearing him to fly with family and friends to Antigua and Barbuda, a twin-island Caribbean nation just east of Puerto Rico. On Tuesday morning, the plane was at V. C. Bird International Airport in Antigua and Barbuda, but there is no evidence that Diddy landed in Antigua and Barbuda, a government official on the island told the Herald.
Antigua and Barbuda has an extradition treaty with the United States, the official noted.
UPDATE: Is Diddy back in Miami Beach after the feds raided his Star Island home? What we know
The incidents followed Monday’s raids by Homeland Security Investigations agents at Diddy’s mansions on Star Island in Miami Beach and in Los Angeles, part of an ongoing sex-trafficking investigation into the rap mogul. A source familiar with the Miami Beach raid told the Herald that Diddy, whose legal name is Sean Combs, and his entourage arrived in Miami over the weekend and were here when federal agents simultaneously searched his homes on Star Island and in Los Angeles.
READ MORE: Feds’ raid on Diddy’s Miami Beach mansion goes into the night in sex-trafficking probe
The feds were concerned that Diddy, 54, would destroy evidence, prompting the secretly coordinated raids, the source said.
The raids came a month after a lawsuit filed by music producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones accused Diddy of being the leader of a criminal enterprise that could qualify as a “widespread and dangerous criminal sex trafficking organization.” On Monday, Jones amended the complaint, filed in New York federal court, to name the actor Cuba Gooding Jr. as a co-defendant.
In a statement to the Herald Tuesday evening, attorney Aaron Dyer, who is representing Diddy, slammed the raid as a “gross overuse of military-level force.” He also said Diddy was never detained and “spoke to and cooperated with authorities.”
“This unprecedented ambush — paired with an advanced, coordinated media presence — leads to a premature rush to judgment of Mr. Combs and is nothing more than a witch hunt based on meritless accusations made in civil lawsuits,” Dyer said. “There has been no finding of criminal or civil liability with any of these allegations. Mr. Combs is innocent and will continue to fight every single day to clear his name.”
READ MORE: Diddy probe could take months before feds decide whether to file charges. Here’s why
The swarms of federal agents largely disappeared from Star Island Tuesday, as life returned to normal for the tony neighborhood, except for the media throng lined up by Diddy’s compound on Star Island. The hip hop mogul owns two homes there: 1 Star Island Drive, which Diddy bought from two other Miami luminaries, Gloria and Emilio Estefan, for $35 million in 2021; and 2 Star Island Drive, the home federal agents raided on Monday.
A woman visiting her friend on Star Island told the Herald Tuesday morning that she witnessed agents leaving Diddy’s compound with several people in handcuffs. She also said landscapers working on top of palm trees told her they had seen a “tank” ramming the custom-made, 15-feet-tall gate at the home.
What did agents find?
Homeland Security Investigations agents from Miami and New York searched the Star Island mansion from 3:30 p.m. until after midnight.
The home appeared as if no one lived in it, the source familiar with the raid said. Agents seized electronics found inside — and four of Diddy’s staffers were detained, handcuffed and questioned, according to the source. They were let go.
Prosecutors from the federal Southern District of New York, where Jones filed the lawsuit, are heading the sex-trafficking investigation. Jones is one of their key witnesses, a source with knowledge of the investigation told the Miami Herald.
READ MORE: What is Diddy facing? Accusations mount as rap mogul’s Miami Beach mansion raided
Several people — including singer Cassie — came forward before the search warrant was executed, the source said. The witnesses’ information helped agents establish probable cause to obtain the warrant.
Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Elizabeth Ventura, is one of four women who have accused Diddy of sexual assault in separate lawsuits over the past five months. In the filing, Cassie says Diddy raped her and made her have sex with male sex workers while they were dating. Diddy settled that lawsuit almost immediately after it was filed in November in New York.
READ MORE: Look inside Diddy’s Miami Beach mansion after feds raided it amid bombshell lawsuit
What happened at Opa-locka airport?
One of Diddy’s alleged associates, Brendon Paul, 25, of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, was arrested by Miami-Dade Police at the Opa-locka airport at 4:30 Monday afternoon. He was charged with possession of cocaine and suspected marijuana-laced candy.
He posted a $2,500 bond and got out of the Miami-Dade County jail. He is due to make his first court appearance on April 24.
A law enforcement source said Miami-Dade Police working a different detail at the airport were asked to take a look at the plane linked to Diddy by Homeland Security Investigations agents. Once inside the aircraft, the source said, they found the drugs in Paul’s possession.
Paul is described in Jones’ lawsuit as Diddy’s “mule,” court records show. Jones also alleges that Paul distributes drugs and weapons — and pays sex workers — for the mogul.
The scenes at Star Island and Miami strip club
Outside Diddy’s compound Tuesday morning, drivers of two black SUVs with tinted windows — a Mercedes-Benz and a Cadillac Escalade —were walking in and out of one of Diddy’s mansions through a partially opened, 15-feet-tall gate that was damaged.
The two men were wearing black rain jackets and black surgical masks. Miami Beach police vehicles were patrolling the gated neighborhood, home to the Estefans and other luminaries.
A white Range Rover with a realty company sign was also parked outside the Star Island mansion — an indication that Diddy might be considering selling his Star Island mansion, one of two he owns on the island, the second at 2 Star Island Drive.
A neighbor who lives across the island told the Miami Herald Monday night there are frequent parties at the mansion and people coming and going at all hours, their cars parked along the exclusive island’s single palm-lined road.
READ MORE: Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ Miami timeline includes more than just making music
At the Booby Trap on the River, a 24/7 strip club, it was business as usual Tuesday afternoon. Few men were inside the club, which sits on the Miami River at 3615 NW S. River Dr.
In his lawsuit, Jones alleges that Diddy forced him to invite sex workers from Booby Trap to Diddy’s Star Island home. The workers, the filing states, were “accustomed to servicing” the mogul.
A source familiar with the club’s operation told the Herald Tuesday that VIPs often show up at the club, spending thousands of dollars in a couple of hours. When asked if Diddy has frequented the club, he said “all of them” have partied there.
Miami Herald staff writers Jacqueline Charles, Joey Flechas and Charles Rabin contributed to this report.
This story was originally published March 26, 2024 at 5:36 PM with the headline "What did agents find when they raided Diddy’s mansion? Where is the mogul? What to know."
