Mo’ money, mo’ problems. Rapper, music icon, and self-made entrepreneur Sean “Diddy” Combs suddenly has quite a legal resume to go with his musical one.
Diddy spent decades in the music industry building a strong legacy through his Bad Boy empire and multiple side hustles to become one of the hip-hop artists on Forbes list of billionaires in 2022. He has five No. 1s on the Billboard Hot 100 and 15 hits in the top 10 — and that doesn’t even include his work producing hits for others.
But none of that matters when you’re facing the kinds of charges Diddy is facing.
“The thing about legacies is that they’re fragile — and something that took decades to be put together brick by brick can be seemingly dismantled overnight,” the Billboard editorial team wrote along with this full timeline of Diddy’s sexual misconduct allegations.
After a wave of civil lawsuits against him for a variety of sexual misconduct, Diddy was officially criminally charged with sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution, according to an indictment unsealed Tuesday.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, of the Southern District of New York, said during a news conference that federal prosecutors would be seeking detention for Combs, as reported by CBS News.
Are we surprised? Was the writing always on the wall?
In the indictment, prosecutors allege that Diddy was part of a criminal organization that engaged in or attempted to engage in sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, obstruction of justice and other offenses. Williams said there were multiple victims in the case, but he didn’t provide a specific number and he urged others to come forward to authorities, according to CBS News.
“The indictment alleges that between at least 2008 and the present, Combs abused, threatened and coerced victims to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation and conceal his conduct,” Williams told reporters Tuesday. “As alleged in the indictment, to carry out this conduct, Sean Combs led and participated in a racketeering conspiracy that used the business empire he controlled to carry out criminal activity.”
For years, Diddy “abused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires,” prosecutors wrote in the indictment.
The rapper and producer had denied all the allegations prior to his arrest via a tweet on X.
Diddy’s Lawyer: ‘Unjust’
Diddy’s lawyer Marc Agnifilo said in a media statement that they’re “disappointed with the decision to pursue what we believe is an unjust prosecution of Mr Combs by the U.S. Attorney’s Office.”
The Ladies of The View
The ladies of The View, including Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin, Sara Haines, and Alyssa Farah Griffin, took the topic to the table this morning.
Diddy’s Former Girlfriend Cassie Ventura
Who the rapper really is behind the curtain was first revealed in November when his former girlfriend Cassie Ventura sued the music mogul in federal court on allegations of rape and a decade-long pattern of physical and sexual abuse.
The singer claimed that Diddy was in charge of every aspect of her life including where she lived, what she wore, and even her medical records. The lawsuit included multiple accounts of specific instances of abuse, including one that was caught on video and recently released.
Diddy denied Cassie’s claims, then settled the suit, then apologized when a tape of him assaulting Ventura emerged.
Diddy’s Former Assistant Suzi Siegi
Diddy’s former assistant Suzi Siegi, who was his assistant from 2008 and 2009 when he and Ventura first began dating, told CNN that “there was not one cell in my body that was surprised” by the disturbing 2016 clip. The video showed the rapper violently beating Ventura in a hotel hallway.
“I felt sick and I felt violently angry,” Siegi said after watching the video. “It’s so disturbing that the video doesn’t lie.”
Several other celebrities have casually spoken out about Diddy’s behavior as well.
Usher
In 2016, singer Usher, who lived with Diddy for some time when he was a teenager, told radio personality Howard Stern that “very curious things took place that he didn’t really understand.” He referred to the time as “wild and cray time.” And when Stern asked Usher if he would ever send his kids to Puffy Camp, he responded with “hell no!”
And in a 2004 interview with Rolling Stone, Usher was quoted as saying, “Puff introduced me to a totally different set of shit, sex specifically… sex is so hot in the industry — there are always girls around. You’d open a door and see somebody doing it or several people in a room having an orgy. You never know what was going to happen.”
Aubrey O’Day of Danity Kane
Aubrey O’Day, who was a member of the girl group Danity Kane that was founded and managed by Diddy, also recently spoke out after his homes were raided by federal agents. She said “what you sow, you shall reap.”
O’Day also went to X to express her happiness about Diddy’s arrest.
And others are tagging O’Day in tweets that validate her accusations of him.
Previously in 2022, O’Day said she was fired from the group because “she wasn’t willing to do what was expected of her — not talent-wise, but in other areas.”
Mase
Rapper Mase, another former artist of Diddy’s, called the raid “big payback” and said that it was amazing that it happened on the anniversary of “Life After Death,” which was the last album released by DIddy’s best friend Notorious B.I.G.
Mase also previously has said that he “escaped Diddy” when he eventually got his publishing rights back from the music mogul after leaving Bad Boy Records. When referring to all of Diddy’s misconduct allegations, Mase said on his podcast “everything now that we see playing out was all of the things that I escaped.”
50 Cent
Rapper 50 Cent, whose real name is Curtis Jackson, wrote on X “Now it’s not Diddy do it, it’s Diddy done. They don’t come like that unless they got a case.”
Lil Rod
Just weeks before the raid, music producer Rodney Jones Jr., also known as Lil Rod, filed a $30 million lawsuit against Diddy alleging sexual harassment and threatening him for more than a year. According to the suit, Jones claims that he was subjected to possible drugging and rape, ritual humiliation, and being cheated out of more that $50,000 of work on Diddy’s album.
When Diddy’s homes were raided, Jones told Rolling Stone, “it’s about damn time. Sometimes justice delayed is not justice denied so long as justice ultimately arrives.”