NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Kammen is being sued by the federal government in New York, his lawyer said Monday evening.
Prosecutors did not immediately release details of the charges, but Combs’ attorney, Marc Agnifilo, issued a statement saying, “We are disappointed with the decision to prosecute Mr. Combs, which we believe was an unjust prosecution by the United States Attorney’s Office.”
He added that Combs had traveled to New York last week in preparation for the charges.
“He is an imperfect person, but he is not a criminal,” Agnifilo said.
Criminal charges would be a major, but not unexpected, hit against one of the most prominent producers and famous names in hip-hop history.
The federal investigation into the 58-year-old Combs was revealed when Homeland Security Investigations agents simultaneously search warrants And raided Combs’ mansions in Los Angeles and Miami on March 25.
His defense attorney Aaron Dyer The day after the raids, he called them “an abusive use of military force,” said the allegations were “baseless” and said Combs was “innocent and will continue to fight” to clear his name.
Combs, then known as Puff Daddy, was at the center of the East Coast-West coast hip-hop battles of the ’90s as partner and producer with the Notorious B.I.G., who was fatally shot in 1997. But like many who survived the era, his image had softened over the years, as he morphed into a distinguished party host in Hollywood and the Hamptons, a fashion-forward businessman, and a devoted father who spoiled his children, some of whom lost their mothers in 2018.
But in November, a different picture began to emerge when his former protégé and girlfriend, the R&B-singer Cassiewas the first of several people to accuse him of sexual abuse with stories of a steady stream of sex workers in drug-fueled environments, some of whom were forced or coerced into having sex.
In her November lawsuit, Cassie alleged that she had been abused for years, including beatings and rape. Her lawsuit also alleged that Combs engaged in sex trafficking by “forcing her to perform forcible sexual acts in multiple jurisdictions” and by “harboring and transporting Plaintiff for sex purposes induced by force, fraud or coercion.” It also alleged that he forced her to assist him in trafficking male sex workers with whom Combs forced Cassie to have sex while he filmed.
The lawsuit has been settled arranged the next day, But the reverberations would last much longer. Combs lost his lingering allies, supporters and those who had yet to make their judgments when CNN aired a leaked video of him in May hitting Cassie, kicked her and threw her to the ground in a hotel hallway.
The next day, in his first real admission of wrongdoing since the flood of accusations began, Combs posted a video on social media apologizingand said, “I was disgusted when I did it” and “I am disgusted now.” Cassie’s trial was followed by at least half a dozen others in the months that followed.
In February, a music producer filed a lawsuit alleging that Combs forced him to approach prostitutes and pressured him to have sex with them.
Another of Combs’ accusers was a woman who said the rap producer raped her twenty years ago, when she was 17.
Another woman who filed a lawsuit, April Lampos, said she was a college student in 1994 when she met Combs and that a series of “terrifying sexual encounters” with Combs and those around him began that lasted for years.
Combs and his attorneys denied nearly all of the allegations in the lawsuits.
While authorities have not publicly said the lawsuits marked the start of the criminal investigation, Dyer said when the warrants were issued that the case was based on “baseless allegations made in civil lawsuits.”
Normally, the AP does not name people who say they were sexually abused unless they report it publicly, as Cassie and Lampros did.
As the founder of Bad Boy Records, Combs became one of the most influential hip-hop producers and managers of the past thirty years. In addition to the Notorious B.I.G., he has worked with a number of top artists, including Mary J. Blige, Usher, Lil Kim, Faith Evans and 112.
Combs’ roles in his businesses outside of music – including lucrative house brand spiritsA media company and the Sean John Fashion line — took a major hit when the allegations surfaced.
The consequences were even greater when the leaked video of the assault surfaced. Howard University cuts ties with him, and he gave his key to new york city at the request of the mayor.