Sean “Diddy” Combs was arrested yesterday and charged today with racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.
Hours- and days-long sex acts known as “freak offs” — allegedly produced, directed and recorded by Combs — are at the center of the case.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said Combs planned, controlled, and recorded the sex performances for his personal pleasure. “The ‘freak offs’ sometimes lasted days at a time, involved multiple commercial sex workers, and often involved a variety of narcotics such as ketamine, ecstasy and GHB, which Combs distributed to the victims to keep them obedient and compliant.”
Participants were typically forced to get “IV fluids to recover from the physical exertion.”
Combs also used physical violence to keep women in control.
Combs used his businesses and several of his employees “to carry out, facilitate, and cover up his abuse and commercial sex,” according to the indictment. Those employees included security staff, household staff, personal assistants, and high-ranking supervisors — and other close associates.
Combs created “a criminal enterprise whose members and associates engaged in” various crimes, such as “sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice,” court documents said.
Federal prosecutors seized 1,000 of bottles of baby oil and lubricants from Combs’ homes used for these performances, as well as a number of weapons.
Two of three AR-15s were found in his Miami bedroom closet, broken down to parts, loaded with magazines of ammunition. Serial numbers on the Ar-15s were defaced.
The indictment includes alleged criminal acts going back 16 years.
The racketeering count covers acts allegedly committed by the defendant starting in 2008, while sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution started in 2009.
Combs’ attorney says he plans to plead not guilty to all charges, and has offered a $50 million bond to be released from custody, but prosecutors are asking the judge to deny bail, insisting Combs is a flight risk and a danger to the community.
