We’re just learning that two homes owned by Sean Combs, better known to music fans as Diddy, were raided as part of an ongoing human trafficking investigation, according to CNN. The raids were carried out simultaneously in Los Angeles and Miami on March 25.
Per CNN, it is unclear whether Combs himself was specifically targeted; a source told the outlet that they were unable to reveal more information given the sensitive nature of the investigation.
It’s a fast-moving story, but here is a timeline of everything we know so far.
November 16, 2023: Singer Cassie files a lawsuit accusing Combs of physical and sexual abuse that lasted for years, according to the Associated Press (AP). Through his lawyer, Combs denies the accusations. After Cassie’s lawsuit went public, others came forward with similar lawsuits that also accused the music mogul of sexual assault.
December 6, 2023: A woman identified as Jane Doe in legal documents becomes the fourth person to accuse Diddy of sexual assault—specifically gang rape—as well as sex trafficking, per the AP. She alleges that in 2003, Harve Pierre, then president of Combs’s Bad Boy Records, flew her on a private jet from Detroit to New York, where Combs, Pierre, and a third man raped her when she was 17, a minor.
In a statement published on Instagram on December 6, Combs denies all accusations of sexual assault, writing, “Sickening allegations have been made against me by individuals looking for a quick payday. Let me be absolutely clear: I did not do any of the awful things being alleged. I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth.”
Police and Homeland Security officers are seen at the waterfront mansion of Sean Combs, a.k.a. Diddy, in Miami during a bi-coastal raid on March 25, 2024 in Miami Beach, Florida.
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March 25, 2024: Federal agents for the department of Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New York raid Combs’s homes in Miami and LA, according to ABC News, as part of an “ongoing investigation” led by the Southern District of New York. Sources in law enforcement told the outlet that the investigation is related to alleged human trafficking. Rolling Stone reports that four Jane Does and one John Doe have already sat with investigators for interviews related to alleged sex trafficking, domestic violence, and racketeering.
According to NBC News, Combs was in Florida at the time of the raids, and his phones were seized by the authorities ahead of his scheduled trip to the Bahamas. Later that same day TMZ publishes video of Combs apparently at the Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport, reportedly just a few hours after the searches were executed at his homes.
Rolling Stone reports that Brendan Paul, who was accused in a recent lawsuit of being Combs’s drug “mule,” was arrested at 4:30 p.m. at Miami-Opa Locka airport on cocaine and marijuana possession charges. According to the arrest affidavit, police were working alongside Homeland Security agents when the arrest was made. At this time it is unclear if the arrest is related to the investigation into Combs.
March 26, 2024: TMZ publishes photos of Combs’s private jet landing in Antigua, though Combs himself did not appear to be on board the plane.
In the wake of the raids, a lawyer for Cassie and another unnamed alleged victim release a statement to Good Morning America, per ABC: “We will always support law enforcement when it seeks to prosecute those that have violated the law…. Hopefully, this is the beginning of a process that will hold Mr. Combs responsible for his depraved conduct.”
March 27, 2024: Fans find and resurface a 2016 Howard Stern interview with singer Usher, who lived with Combs when he was a teenager starting out in the music business. In the clip he is vague about what he saw there, saying, “There were very curious things taking place.”
That same day Combs’s lawyer issues a statement, calling the raid an “excessive show” and an “ambush” that was executed as a media spectacle. He notes that Combs was never detained and says the rapper is cooperating with authorities. The lawyer describes allegations against Diddy as a “witch hunt based on meritless accusations made in civil lawsuits” and reiterates that his client is “innocent.”
This story will be updated.
