A federal indictment in opposition to American rapper, track manufacturer and model fashion designer Sean “Diddy” Combs has been unsealed, appearing the hip-hop artist is dealing with fees of intercourse trafficking and racketeering.
A Brandnew York pass judgement on refused to handover bail to the rapper on Tuesday and ordered him to be despatched to prison presen he awaits trial.
The costs had been perceivable a occasion nearest Combs was once arrested in Long island following a six-month investigation by way of federal government.
Combs, dressed in a unlit T-shirt and gray sweatpants, pleaded now not in charge to the fees right through an preliminary court docket look in Long island on Tuesday afternoon.
The indictment stated the hip-hop tycoon “engaged in a persistent and pervasive pattern of abuse toward women and other individuals”.
That incorporated years of enticing in threatening and coercive acts against girls “to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct”, the indictment stated.
Essentially the most ultimate allegation was once that the track megastar triggered women and men to participate in drug-fuelled, days-long sexual performances referred to as “freak offs”. The indictment additionally main points an assault on Combs’s former female friend, the R&B singer Cassie.
The legal indictment was once passed ailing nearest a number of court cases had been filed accusing Combs of a trend of bodily and sexual abuse that endured for years. His legal professional Marc Agnifilo has widely denied the ones claims.
Talking out of doors a Brandnew York court docket previous on Tuesday, Agnifilo promised to “fight like hell” to get Combs discharged.
‘Power and prestige’
The indictment described the 54-year-old Combs because the chief of a much broader legal endeavor.
That endeavor was once purported to be fascinated about an array of crimes, together with intercourse trafficking, compelled labour, drug offences, kidnapping, arson, bribery, obstruction of justice and interstate transportation for functions of prostitution.
Racketeering is outlined as an struggle by way of a bunch of nation to scheme to again and again produce a benefit via malfeasance.
Combs and his pals, the indictment stated, old their “power and prestige” to “intimidate, threaten, and lure” girls, “often under the pretense of a romantic relationship”.
Combs is accused of the use of warnings, coercion and drive to get girls to take part in sexual performances, which he continuously recorded.
In some cases, he allegedly flew girls in to participate in them and old medicine, affect over their careers and fiscal leverage to safeguard their participation within the acts, that have been extremely organised and overseen by way of his staff, consistent with the indictment.
In different cases, Combs struck, punched and dragged girls on various events as a part of the coercion, the indictment stated.
Making sure hush
The indictment additional alleged that Combs would hold recordings of the intercourse performances as “collateral” to safeguard obedience and hush.
He and his pals are accused of pressuring sufferers now not to take part within the federal investigation, together with via bribery.
The Brandnew York-born Combs was once some of the influential hip-hop artists in the USA during the Nineteen Nineties and early 2000s.
He have been credited with launching the careers of the Infamous BIG, Mary J Blige and Usher. He has received 3 Grammy Awards and gained 13 nominations.
However rumours of Combs’s abuses – allegedly dedicated in the back of the veil of his track, way of life and clothes empire – got here to a head in November when Cassie, whose felony identify is Casandra Ventura, filed a lawsuit alleging he had for years abused, raped and coerced her into participating in unacceptable sexual conditions.
Month the swimsuit was once briefly settled, a video of Combs punching and kicking Ventura quickly emerged. On the age, Combs apologised for the habits.
He has additionally been accused of raping a lady 20 years in the past when she was once 17, amongst a sequence of alternative allegations.
Federal investigators in March searched Combs’s houses in Miami and Los Angeles, discovering greater than 1,000 bottles of child oil and lubricant, computerized firearms and ammunition.