Sean “Diddy” Combs arrested in New York, his lawyer tells CNN

CNN
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Controversial musician and producer Sean “Diddy” Combs has been arrested, the mogul’s lawyer told CNN.

Combs – who has been in New York City since last week – was arrested Monday at the Park Hyatt hotel on 57th Street in Manhattan and taken into custody by Homeland Security Investigations at around 8:15 p.m., a source familiar with the proceedings told CNN. Charges are currently unclear.

Negotiations on Combs' surrender have already begun and the sealed indictment was voted on Monday, the source said.

“We are disappointed by the U.S. Attorney's decision to continue what we believe is an unjustified prosecution of Mr. Combs,” Marc Agnifilo, an attorney for Combs, told CNN.

Combs' lawyer said the musician is cooperating with the investigation and moved to New York last week to await charges. His team maintains his innocence and says he has “nothing to hide.”

“Sean 'Diddy' Combs is a music icon, a self-made entrepreneur, a loving family man and a proven philanthropist who has spent the last 30 years building an empire, adoring his children and advocating for the advancement of the black community. He is not a perfect person, but he is not a criminal,” Agnifilo told CNN. “To his credit, Mr. Combs has been consistently cooperative with this investigation and voluntarily relocated to New York last week in anticipation of these charges. Please reserve judgment until you know all of the facts. These are the actions of an innocent man with nothing to hide and he looks forward to clearing his name in court.”

Also on Monday, Damian Williams, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, released the following statement: “This evening, federal agents arrested Sean Combs on a sealed indictment filed by the SDNY. We expect to unseal the indictment in the morning and will have more to say then.”

Earlier this year, Combs became the target of a months-long investigation by the Homeland Security Investigations Agency into sex trafficking, which included spectacular searches of the musician's homes in Los Angeles and Miami in March.

Since last November, 10 lawsuits have been filed against Combs, nine of which directly accused him of sexual assault. As CNN previously reported, several of these accusers met with federal investigators for questioning as part of the extensive investigation.

In May, CNN exclusively reported that federal investigators were preparing to bring Combs' accusers to testify in federal court – a significant escalation in the government's investigation that suggested the Justice Department may be seeking criminal charges against the rapper and businessman.

Combs has previously and repeatedly denied all wrongdoing alleged in the various lawsuits, but he publicly apologized after CNN exclusively released surveillance footage earlier this year that showed Combs brutally attacking his ex-girlfriend Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura in a Los Angeles hotel in March 2016.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.

CNN's Kara Scannell and John Miller contributed to this report.