Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs faces criminal charges as a grand jury has been selected to hear evidence against him in a federal investigation.
The Justice Department is preparing to file a possible criminal charge against Diddy, as the mogul’s accusers have been notified that they could be brought to testify before a grand jury in New York City, CNN reported Wednesday.
The rapper and producer has been named in eight lawsuits accusing him of sexual assault and human trafficking.
Potential witnesses have not yet been prepared to testify for prosecutors, as Homeland Security investigators are reportedly still gathering evidence in the case.
A source told CNN that detectives want to make their accusation against Diddy “bulletproof.”
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs faces criminal charges as a grand jury was selected to hear evidence against him in a federal investigation.
The accusation would not be related to Diddy’s filmed assault on his ex-girlfriend Cassie in the hallway of a Los Angeles hotel in 2016.
Cassie, whose legal name is Cassandra Ventura, sued Combs in November for what she claims were years of sexual, physical and emotional abuse, including beatings and rape.
The lawsuit says he abused her with drugs, forced her to have sex with other men and raped her in his home while trying to end the relationship in 2018. Diddy, through his attorney, “vehemently denies” the allegations.
The lawsuit was settled the next day, but sparked intense scrutiny of Combs, with several more lawsuits filed in the following months, along with a federal criminal investigation into sex trafficking that led authorities to raid Combs’ mansions in Los Angeles and Miami.
Combs’ sons, Justin and Christian ‘King’ Combs, were handcuffed during the raid on their father’s Los Angeles residence.
The accusation would not be related to Diddy’s filmed assault on his ex-girlfriend Cassie in the hallway of a Los Angeles hotel in 2016.
Sean Combs and Cassie Ventura attend the premiere of ‘The Perfect Match’ in Hollywood, California. Two days earlier, Combs attacked Ventura in a hotel hallway.
Two more women accused Diddy of sexual abuse in lawsuits filed on the eve of the expiration last November of the Adult Survivors Act, a New York law that allows victims of sexual abuse a one-year window to file a civil action. regardless of the statute of limitations.
The lawsuits, filed by Joi Dickerson and another woman who was not named, allege acts of sexual assault, beatings and forced drug use in the early 1990s by Combs, then a talent manager, party promoter and rising figure. in the New York City hip-hop community. .
In December, another woman alleged in a lawsuit that in 2003, when she was 17, Diddy and two other men raped her. The lawsuit filed in Manhattan federal court says she lived in a Detroit suburb and was flown to a New York studio, where she was administered drugs and alcohol that rendered her unable to consent to sex, and the men took turns raping her.
The same day, Diddy posted a statement on Instagram broadly denying all allegations in the growing series of lawsuits.
The mother of two of Diddy’s children, Misa Hylton, shared footage of the raid on the rapper’s Los Angeles mansion, calling it an “overtly militarized force.”
Armed agents entered luxury properties on the east and west coasts of the United States
Authorities were removing boxes of evidence and a laptop from Diddy’s mansion on Star Island in Miami Beach.
“I did not do any of the horrible things alleged,” the post says. ‘I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth.’
In February, a music producer filed a lawsuit alleging that Diddy forced him to hire prostitutes and pressured him to have sex with them.
The lawsuit offers a long list of potentially illegal drug and sex-related activities that the producer says he witnessed. A lawyer for the rapper called the allegations “pure fiction.”
The rapper is among the most influential hip-hop producers and executives of the last three decades.
Formerly known as Puff Daddy, he built one of the largest empires in hip-hop, breaking ground with several entities linked to his famous name.
He is the founder of Bad Boy Records and a three-time Grammy winner who has worked with a host of top artists, including Notorious BIG, Mary J. Blige, Usher, Lil Kim, Faith Evans and 112.