Diddy probe could take months before feds decide whether to file charges. Here’s why
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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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Federal agents swarmed the Miami Beach and Los Angeles homes of Sean “Diddy” Combs during simultaneous raids on Monday — and even questioned the superstar hip-hop producer at a local airport — but it’s going to be a while before prosecutors consider charging him in an unfolding sex-trafficking investigation.
The search warrants, which reflect a road map of insider information from people linked to Combs who have sued him, allowed agents to focus on collecting electronic equipment such as laptops, mobile phones and other devices at the mega-rapper’s estates, according to sources familiar with the probe.
Homeland Security Investigations agents will now pore over the evidence gathered from the searches to verify whether Combs pressured his staff and associates to hire prostitutes and possibly minors to have sex with him as he traveled across the country, as alleged in recent civil lawsuits, the sources said. That review, along with testimony from cooperating witnesses and potential victims, could take weeks or months before the feds decide whether they have enough to bring charges.
“This investigation is about the electronics,” one source told the Miami Herald.
Read More: What did agents find when they raided Diddy’s mansion? Where is the mogul? What to know
Diddy’s attorney: He is ‘innocent’
In a statement sent Tuesday evening to the Herald, an attorney for Combs decried the federal agents’ raids and said he is “innocent and will continue to fight every single day to clear his name.”
“Yesterday, there was a gross overuse of military-level force as search warrants were executed at Mr. Combs’ residences,” said the statement from attorney Aaron Dyer. “... Mr. Combs was never detained but spoke to and cooperated with authorities. Despite media speculation, neither Mr. Combs nor any of his family members have been arrested nor has their ability to travel been restricted in any way.
“This unprecedented ambush —paired with an advanced, coordinated media presence — leads to a premature rush to judgment of Mr. Combs ... based on meritless accusations made in civil lawsuits. There has been no finding of criminal or civil liability with any of these allegations.”
READ MORE: Feds’ raid on Diddy’s Miami Beach mansion goes into the night in sex-trafficking probe
What prosecutors will need to prove
The investigation, led by HSI’s office in New York and prosecutors at the Southern District of New York in Manhattan, will depend on whether the evidence shows Combs used both money and force to coerce sex workers and possibly underage girls into having sexual encounters with him at his homes in Miami Beach, Los Angeles and elsewhere.
While federal agents were able to question Combs on Monday afternoon at Miami Opa-locka Executive Airport, they eventually let him go. A plane linked to Diddy was at the airport in Antigua and Barbuda Tuesday, an official with that country’s government told the Herald, but immigration records do not show him arriving in the Caribbean country.
In South Florida, sex-trafficking probes are commonplace but hard to make, because authorities have to show that a perpetrator either physically threatened or forced women to engage in sexual activity with them or others for money. Getting victims to testify is also a challenge because they often fear retaliation.
Such cases can be less difficult to make if the victims are underage girls or boys, but even then there’s always the question of whether they will cooperate as witnesses.
In South Florida’s most notorious case, federal prosecutors chose not to bring sex-trafficking charges against wealthy New York investor Jeffrey Epstein, who was suspected of sexually abusing young women and teen-age girls at his estate in Palm Beach.
Instead, in 2006, the feds let state authorities pursue two lighter charges of soliciting prostitution, which led to a lenient jail term of 13 months and eventually a huge scandal that climaxed with Epstein’s suicide in a New York jail in 2019 as he faced new sex-trafficking charges there.
Lawsuit details illicit sexual activities
Lawyers with decades of experience in sex-trafficking cases say that proving them is extremely challenging, not only because of their complexity but because of the credibility of witnesses.
In cases involving adults, prosecutors have to show that a trafficker used “force, fraud, or coercion to subject victims to engage in commercial sex” under federal law. In cases involving minors, the barriers to prosecution are not as high because the victims are under 18 years of age.
The former chief of the special prosecutions section at the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami from 2008 to 2019 said that making a sex-trafficking case boils down to knowing the scheme and showing a pattern.
“The key to these kinds of cases is to treat them like a complex crime,” said Barbara Martinez, a partner with the Holland and Knight law firm in Miami. “What you’re looking for are pieces of a puzzle that you’re putting together.”
She said the federal searches of Combs’ estates will produce a mountain of emails, text messages and social media posts that will fit into a compelling timeline: “The goal is always to corroborate things that don’t lie,” she said.
Fort Lauderdale attorney Bradley Edwards, who obtained civil settlements for about 200 Epstein victims over more than a decade, said prosecutors in the Combs’ sex-trafficking case will be able to build upon evidence disclosed by accusers in prior lawsuits brought against the music producer.
Edwards cited the latest one filed in New York last month by music producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, who says Combs, his staff and other executives knew about — and were involved in — illicit and unwanted sexual activities in Florida, New York, California and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Jones, who plays multiple instruments and was hired by Combs in 2022 to help produce his latest album, claims in the suit that Combs threatened him, groped him and drugged him. He also says he took video recordings of many of their interactions.
But Edwards said the most striking allegation in Jones’ case is his claim that he has “irrefutable evidence” of Combs “providing laced alcoholic beverages to minors and sex workers at his homes in California, New York, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Florida.”
“What he’s describing is the sex-trafficking of minors,” Edwards said, noting Jones could be a witness for federal investigators. “Somebody had to take notice of that. I’m assuming federal investigators are chasing that.”
Jones also claims Combs forced him to go to Booby Trap on the River in Miami to solicit strippers to have sex with Combs, the suit says, and that he made Jones wear a Bad Boy record-label cap to signal to the women that Combs wanted to pay for their services.
Women accuse Combs of rape, assaults
In civil lawsuits, four women have accused Combs of rape, assault and a litany of other abuses, dating back three decades. One of the allegations involved a minor, according to the Los Angeles Times.
His former girlfriend, Casandra Ventura, the singer known as Cassie, accused him of rape and repeated physical assaults and said he forced her to have sex with male prostitutes in front of him, according to a lawsuit in November 2023. It was resolved through a settlement almost immediately.
Her suit prompted others to go public with claims against the famous hip-hop mogul.
Joi Dickerson-Neal accused Combs in a lawsuit of drugging and raping her in 1991, recording the attack and then distributing the footage without her consent.
Liza Gardner filed a third suit in which she claimed Combs and an R&B singer sexually assaulted her.
Another lawsuit alleged Combs and former Bad Boy label president Harve Pierre gang-raped and sex-trafficked a 17-year-old girl. Pierre said in a statement the allegations were “disgusting,” “false” and a “desperate attempt for financial gain.”
After the filing of the fourth suit, Combs wrote on Instagram: “Enough is enough. For the last couple of weeks, I have sat silently and watched people try to assassinate my character, destroy my reputation and my legacy.
“Sickening allegations have been made against me by individuals looking for a quick payday. Let me be absolutely clear: I did not do any of the awful things being alleged. I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth.”
This story was originally published March 26, 2024 at 6:13 PM.
