After 10 lawsuits for sexual harassment, abuse and rape, almost a year since the many accusations by his declared victims became known, explicit videos where he is seen beating his victims, searches of his properties by the FBI and even a sentence of 100 million dollars, the rapper and businessman Sean Combs, 54 years old, known as Puff Daddy or Diddy, has been arrested by the authorities. At the moment, the charges of the arrest, which took place in Manhattan, the heart of New York, on Monday, are not clear, but it is known that a grand jury (which is not authorized to speak in public) has convicted him. His lawyer has confirmed the arrest to CNN and has assured that it is “unfair”.
A grand jury operates in secret. The prosecution takes the case in secret, presents it to the grand jury, which is made up of anonymous citizens, and all that is known is that they are working on the matter and what their decision is when it is made. In this case, the decision is to file charges, and Combs has been arrested on those charges.
The lawsuits against Combs date back to mid-November 2023. The first was from his long-time ex-girlfriend, Casandra Ventura, known as Cassie, who accused him of rape, sexual abuse, sexual assault, and sex trafficking, as well as of having beaten her systematically and in front of his employees for years and frequently. A day later, the artist decided to withdraw the lawsuit, but opened the way for many more to arrive. Just a few weeks later, Joi Dickerson-Neal arrived (accusing Combs of raping her and recording it in 1991, when she was 19 years old) and Liza Gardner (who claimed that he assaulted her and a friend in 1990). In December, one of the most serious was known, the complaint of a fourth woman – for the moment anonymous – who recounted how several of the musician’s collaborators sexually trafficked her by flying her from Detroit to the rapper’s studio in New York to rape her when she was a minor.
In 2024, the lawsuits continued. In February, Rodney Jones Jr., a producer and regular collaborator of Combs, accused him of non-consensual touching. In May, there were the complaints of Crystal McKinney, who explained that in 2003 he forced her to perform oral sex after drugging her in his studio; and that of April Lampros, a former fashion student, whom he assaulted in New York. In June, there was another that was later known, already in September, by a man named Derrick Lee Cardello-Smith, 51, who accuses him of abuse at a party in 1997 and who has obtained 100 million dollars. The penultimate one is from July by a woman named Adria English, who worked for him at a luxurious party in 2004 and accused him of a crime of sex trafficking, of forcing her to drink alcohol and consume drugs and of offering her for “sexual exchanges.”
The latest lawsuit against Combs came just five days before his arrest. It was from a singer named Dawn Richard, formerly of a band called Danity Kane, which Combs helped create on a television talent show called Making the Band from the music network MTV. She claims that for years the rapper manipulated her, forcing her to do his bidding and, if not, preventing her from singing. He demanded that she strip to her underwear in front of him, entered her dressing room without permission, groped her and hit her on the buttocks, threw objects at her when he got angry, and, on occasion, did not pay her and deprived her and her colleagues of food and sleep.
Last March, federal authorities in the United States conducted an investigation at Combs’ homes in Los Angeles, California, and Miami, Florida.
“We are disappointed with the prosecution’s decision to pursue Combs in what we believe is an unfair trial,” the attorney, named Marc Agnifilo, told media outlets such as CNN and People. He also explained that the musician has cooperated with the investigation and that last week he moved to New York in anticipation of the charges on Monday. According to his legal team, he is innocent and “has nothing to hide.” The lawyer describes his client as “a musical icon, self-made businessman, family man and well-known philanthropist who has spent 30 years building an empire, doting on his children and working to uplift the black community.” “He is an imperfect person, but not a criminal,” they say.
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