Sean “Diddy” Combs was arrested Monday, the United States Attorney’s Office in New York City said.
Combs was arrested at the Park Hyatt hotel on West 57th Street, a representative said. He was caught off guard by the apprehension, according to a person familiar with the situation, who added that he had been living in the hotel for several weeks.
US Attorney Damian Williams confirmed in a statement that on Monday evening, federal agents arrested Combs based on a sealed indictment filed by the Southern District of New York.
“We expect to move to unseal the indictment in the morning and will have more to say at that time,” Williams said.
Combs’ attorney, Marc Agnifilo, expressed disappointment in a statement. He said Combs, 54, had been cooperative with the investigation and “voluntarily moved to New York last week in anticipation of these charges.”
“Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is a music icon, a self-made entrepreneur, a loving family man, and a proven philanthropist who has spent the past 30 years building an empire, doting on his children, and working to raise the black community,” the statement said. . “He is an imperfect person but he is not a criminal.”
“These are the acts of an innocent man with nothing to hide, and he is waiting to clear his name in court,” he added.
It was not immediately clear on what charges Combs, the rapper-turned-music mogul, was arrested.
Combs has faced a flurry of lawsuits — including one last week — accusing him of sexual assault and misconduct since November, when ex-girlfriend Casandra Ventura sued him in federal court, accusing him of years of physical and sexual abuse.
Ventura, who is better known by her stage name, Cassie, was once signed to Combs’ Bad Boy record label. The two settled their lawsuit a day after it was filed, without disclosing the terms of the settlement. An attorney for Combs said the settlement was not an admission of wrongdoing. He previously denied the allegations.
Since then, a number of others have come forward, including Dawn Richard, who alleged he groped and threatened her when he employed her from 2005 to 2012 and that she saw him brutally beat Ventura . Combs vehemently denied the allegations in the lawsuits, saying they were “disgusting allegations” by people looking for “a quick payday.”
But in May, after CNN released hotel video of Combs kicking, punching and throwing Ventura to the ground in a hallway in Los Angeles in 2016, he apologized in an Instagram video in which he said his behavior was “inexcusable” and that he. he had sought therapy. The video was later removed from his page.
Richard, who was a member of the girl group Danity Kane, which Combs formed on the MTV reality competition “Making the Band”, and later the group Diddy – Dirty Money, sued Combs last week.
An attorney said Combs was “shocked and disappointed” by Richard’s lawsuit, which, like Ventura’s complaint, describes him as controlling and violent.
Ventura’s lawsuit included allegations of sex trafficking. She claimed he frequently beat her, forced her to engage in sexual acts with male prostitutes — drug-fueled encounters Combs called “freak offs” and sometimes recorded — and that in 2018, while trying to end their relationship. , he forced his way into her house and raped her.
Richard said in his suit that he attended “drug-fueled parties,” where guests were required to surrender their phones. She also said she witnessed what she believed to be intoxicated underage girls being sexually assaulted by Combs and his guests.
In March, federal investigators searched Combs’ homes in Miami and Los Angeles.
Investigators have interviewed several people related to allegations of sex trafficking, sexual assault and solicitation and distribution of illegal narcotics and firearms, a source familiar with the investigation told NBC News in March.
The warrant to search Combs’ properties came from the Southern District of New York, NBC News reported.
Combs, who also goes by names like Puffy, Puff Daddy and Love, founded Bad Boy in the early 1990s. He is considered a pioneer of hip-hop, fashion and media, having created the Sean John clothing line and launched the Revolt TV channel, which sold its stake in the summer.
Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, a producer on Combs’ most recent album, alleged in a February lawsuit that Combs made unwanted sexual contact, forced him to hire prostitutes and pressured him to participate in acts sex with them. Jones said he lived and traveled with Combs from September 2022 to November 2023, during which he recorded hours of video and audio of Combs, his staff and others “engaging in serious illegal activity.”
His attorneys, Rodney S. Diggs and Tyrone Blackburn, who also represent Combs’ other accusers, said Combs’ “long-awaited arrest” was “an important step toward justice for all of Mr. Combs’ victims.”
“We leave the criminal aspect of this case in the hands of the people and the justice system,” they said Monday night. “As for the civil cases, we are waiting for our time for the facts to be revealed and to seek the justice that our clients deserve. We also anticipate more victims coming forward. We know this is coming. The evidence is very clear and it was only a matter of time.”
After the hotel video of Combs assaulting Ventura was released, Howard University cut ties with him. In June, the school canceled an honorary degree it had awarded him and dissolved a scholarship program in his name. That same month, Combs honored a request from New York City Mayor Eric Adams and returned his key to the city.
This month, Combs listed her Los Angeles home that was foreclosed on in March for $61.5 million.