Sean “Diddy” Combs arrested in New York City over mounting allegations of sexual abuse and assault

Sean “Diddy” Combs was arrested in Manhattan on Monday evening after a grand jury indicted him.

He was taken into federal custody at around 9 p.m. local time in the lobby of the Park Hyatt Hotel, according to the ^ “New York Post: The New York Post”. The newspaper reported that Combs had traveled to New York in anticipation of his arrest.

The charges remained sealed Monday evening. The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York said in a statement that prosecutors expected to request disclosure of the indictment in the morning.

The arrest of the hip-hop tycoon was first reported The New York Times.

Combs, 54, has been facing mounting allegations of abuse, sexual assault and sex trafficking, which began last November with a lawsuit filed by his ex-girlfriend, “Me & U” singer Cassie Ventura.

Although Combs quietly settled the lawsuit with Ventura a day after filing it, the floodgates were open: at least seven other women and two men later filed their own civil lawsuits against the Bad Boy Records founder.

In March, federal agents from the Department of Homeland Security raided Combs' homes in Miami and Los Angeles. Few details were released at the time, but reports circulated that investigators were conducting a sex trafficking investigation.

Around this time, federal prosecutors in New York began interviewing witnesses about Combs' alleged criminal activities.

Combs' attorney Marc Agnifilo said in a statement to TMZ on Monday that they were “disappointed” by “the decision to pursue what we believe is an unjustified criminal prosecution” of the rapper.

“He is an imperfect human being, but he is not a criminal,” Agnifilo continued. “To Mr. Combs' credit, he has cooperated fully with this investigation and voluntarily relocated to New York last week in anticipation of these charges.”

“Please reserve judgment until you know all the facts. These are the actions of an innocent man who has nothing to hide and he looks forward to clearing his name in court.”

Combs has repeatedly and vehemently denied any wrongdoing and called his accusers blackmailers looking for a quick buck.

Combs' most recent accuser, Dawn Richard, a former member of the girl group Danity Kane, sued him just last week.

She accused him of sexual and verbal abuse over a period of nearly ten years. He also “deprived her of her rightful earnings, stole her copyrighted works, and subjected her to inhumane working conditions for years, including groping, assault, and false imprisonment.”

Richard also said she witnessed Combs physically abusing several women, including Ventura.

“In the decades following his rise to fame, Mr. Combs' star-studded, larger-than-life personality overshadowed his vicious temper and pervasive acts of violence toward those in his inner circle – especially women,” their complaint said.

Days after Ventura filed her first lawsuit last November, two other women, Liza Gardner and Joi Dickerson-Neal, independently came forward accusing Combs of sexual assault. Gardner's lawsuit alleged that Combs and a friend “forcibly and unlawfully raped” her when she was 16 years old.

A fourth woman, an unidentified perpetrator, claimed in a lawsuit filed in December that she was 17 when Combs and his inner circle abducted her from Michigan to New York City and gang raped her.

Combs addressed the mounting allegations for the first time this month. “Enough is enough. I have stood by in silence as people have tried to destroy my reputation and my legacy,” he said.

“I have been subjected to vile accusations by individuals seeking a quick payday. Let me be very clear: I have not done any of the horrible things I am accused of.”

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In February, music producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones filed a sexual assault, human trafficking and organized crime lawsuit against Combs in federal court. Jones accused the mogul of groping him, secretly drugging him and forcing him to solicit sex workers while the two worked on his Grammy-nominated album in 2022 and 2023.

“He’s a monster,” Jones said Rolling Stone late last month. “He'll do whatever it takes to get exactly what he wants. He won't take no for an answer.”

Another woman, Grace O'Marcaigh, sued him in April, while two others, Crystal McKinney and April Lampros, filed separate lawsuits in May.

“I am confident that justice will prevail and the veil will be lifted so that no other woman has to endure what I went through,” Lampros told the Daily Beast through her lawyer at the time.

The week before Lampros filed her complaint, CNN released surveillance footage showing Combs attacking Ventura in the hallway of a hotel room in 2016. Combs apologized and said he was “sincerely sorry” for his “inexcusable” behavior in the video.

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“I was disgusted when I did it. And I still am today,” he said.

In her own response to the video a few days later, Ventura urged the public to believe victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.

“It takes a lot of heart to speak the truth in a situation where you were powerless,” she wrote. “I extend my hand to those who are still living in fear. Extend your hand to your people, don't cut off contact. No one should bear this burden alone.”

In June, Michigan prison inmate Derrick Lee Cardello-Smith accused Combs of drugging and sexually assaulting him at a party in 1997. Cardello-Smith was sentenced to up to 75 years in prison for first-degree sexual abuse and kidnapping in other cases. Combs' lawyers dismissed his allegations as “frivolous” and insisted the two men never met.

But Cardello-Smith was awarded $100 million in a default judgment earlier this month after Combs failed to appear in court or respond to his demands. The rapper was ordered by a judge to pay $10 million every month for 10 months starting October 1.

It was the first sexual assault conviction against Combs since his legal troubles began with Ventura's lawsuit. Combs' lawyers vowed to appeal the ruling.