Sean “Diddy” Combs was arrested Monday in New York amid a federal sex trafficking investigation, sources told The Times.
Details of the charges against him were not immediately available. A grand jury had been convened to investigate the allegations. He has strongly denied any wrongdoing.
Sources said Combs was arrested without incident at a New York hotel where he had been living.
“We are disappointed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s decision to pursue what we believe is an unfair prosecution against Mr. Combs,” Combs’ attorney, Marc Agnifilo, said in a statement. “Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is a music icon, a self-taught entrepreneur, a loving family man, and a proven philanthropist who has spent the last 30 years building an empire, doting on his children, and working to uplift the Black community.”
The attorney said Combs was “a flawed person, but not a criminal. To his credit, Combs has done nothing but cooperate with this investigation and voluntarily moved to New York last week in anticipation of these charges. Please reserve judgment until you have all the facts. These are the actions of an innocent man who has nothing to hide and who hopes to clear his name in court.”
On March 25, Homeland Security agents conducted searches at mansions owned by the co-founder of Bad Boy Entertainment as part of a federal investigation into sex trafficking allegations involving the hip-hop mogul and entrepreneur, law enforcement sources said.
The 17,000-square-foot Holmby Hills mansion where Combs debuted his LP “The Love Album: Off the Grid” a year ago was swarmed by Homeland Security Investigations agents serving a search warrant and gathering evidence on behalf of an investigation by prosecutors in the Southern District of New York, according to law enforcement officials familiar with the probe.
Diddy's attorney, Aaron Dyer, described “a gross use of military-level excessive force” in March when the search warrants were executed.
“This unprecedented ambush, combined with a coordinated and advanced media presence, leads to a premature judgment against Mr. Combs and is nothing more than a witch hunt based on baseless allegations made in civil lawsuits. No civil or criminal liability has been determined in any of these allegations,” he said in a statement at the time.
Sources close to the music icon, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, said in March that investigators searching Combs' Los Angeles home appeared to have emptied safes, dismantled electronics and left papers strewn across some rooms.
Days before the raid, Combs was scheduled to fly to spend spring break with his school-aged daughters, but he decided to delay the trip after learning of the search, the sources said. He still has his passport, they added. Homeland Security agents did not detain Combs at an executive airport in Miami, but they did stop a plane on the ground, they said.
Times staff writer Alexandra Del Rosario contributed to this report.
