Sean Combs charged in Manhattan federal court with sex trafficking and other federal offenses

Alleged behavior occurred over more than a decade in multiple states

Damian Williams, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, and William S. Walker, Acting Special Agent in Charge of the New York Field Office of Homeland Security Investigations (“HSI”), announced that SEAN COMBS, aka “Puff Daddy,” aka “P. Diddy,” aka “PD,” aka “Love,” was arrested this morning and charged with three counts of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution. The indictment unsealed today alleges that between 2008 and the present, COMBS abused, threatened, and coerced women and others, and led a racketeering conspiracy that involved sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice, among other crimes. COMBS is expected to be arraigned this afternoon in federal court in Manhattan before Judge Robyn F. Tarnofsky.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said: “As alleged in the indictment, Sean Combs used the business empire he controlled for years to sexually abuse and exploit women, and to commit other acts of violence and obstruction of justice. Today, he is charged with racketeering and sex trafficking. If you have been a victim of Combs’ alleged abuse – or if you know anything about his alleged crimes – we urge you to come forward. This investigation is far from over.”

William S. Walker, Acting Special Agent in Charge of HSI, said, “Today, we shatter any false sense of impunity by exposing the defendant’s alleged pattern of manipulation, exploitation, and outright abuse. Make no mistake: We are here today only because of the unwavering strength of victims and witnesses who have already endured unspeakable hardships. I commend them for their courage and urge anyone who believes they are a victim of sex trafficking to contact HSI by email at (email address)or via our mobile tip line: 1-877-4-HSITIP.”

According to the indictment released today:(1)

From at least 2008 to the present, COMBS operated a criminal enterprise that existed to facilitate his abuse and exploitation of women, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct. As part of that criminal enterprise, COMBS, along with other members and associates of the enterprise, committed crimes including sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice.

Among other things, COMBS’s sexual abuse of women included forcing them to engage in frequent, days-long sexual activities with male commercial sex workers, some of whom were transported across state lines. These events, which COMBS called “Freak Offs,” were elaborate sexual performances that COMBS organized, directed, and often electronically recorded. To secure participation in Freak Offs, COMBS used violence and intimidation and leveraged his power over his victims—power he gained by obtaining and distributing drugs to them, exploiting and threatening to cut off his financial support of them, and controlling their careers. COMBS also threatened his victims, including by threatening to release the embarrassing and sensitive recordings he made of Freak Offs if the women did not comply with his demands.

COMBS’s attempts to control women included repeated physical abuse. COMBS attacked women by hitting, punching, dragging, throwing objects at them, and kicking them. COMBS similarly attacked witnesses to his abuse. These attacks often resulted in injuries to the victims that took days or weeks to heal.

To commit these crimes, COMBS relied on his power as the leader of a multifaceted business empire. Employees of COMBS’s companies, including high-ranking supervisors, security personnel, personal assistants, and housekeepers, served as COMBS’s intermediaries to, among other things, arrange travel and hotel rooms; stock hotel rooms for COMBS’s commercial sex activities; contact or locate women and other individuals he targeted for abuse; and conceal and cover up the abuse. This criminal concealment included efforts to prevent law enforcement from learning of his abuse.

If you believe you are a victim of a crime committed by Sean Combs, please contact HSI at (email address) or via their mobile tip line at 1-877-4-HSITIP, and refer to this case.

COMBS, 54, of Miami, Florida, is charged with conspiracy to commit racketeering, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison; sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison; and transportation for the purpose of prostitution, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

The statutory maximum and mandatory sentences are prescribed by Congress and are provided here for informational purposes only, as the judge will determine the sentence for the defendant.

Source: Press release