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Since federal brokers raided two of Sean Combs’s properties in Los Angeles and the Miami space this week, the investigation into the hip-hop mogul has turn into the topic of intense public curiosity and hypothesis.
The raids have been carried out by Homeland Security Investigations, which has stated little or no concerning the focus of its inquiry. No legal expenses have been filed in opposition to Mr. Combs in relation to the case.
But the footage of federal officers brandishing weapons whereas coming into Mr. Combs’s sprawling Los Angeles mansion, the place they confiscated computer systems and different gadgets, has raised questions concerning the nature of the investigation and the way it may relate to a sequence of civil sexual assault lawsuits filed in opposition to Mr. Combs in latest months.
Mr. Combs — a high-profile music producer and artist for many years who has been lauded as one of many architects of hip-hop’s business rise — has vehemently denied all of the accusations, and his lawyer known as the raids a “witch hunt primarily based on meritless accusations made in civil lawsuits.”
As particulars concerning the federal investigation steadily emerge, here’s what we find out about Mr. Combs’s authorized troubles.
What occurred in the course of the raids?
On Monday, federal brokers raided residences related to Mr. Combs, 54, in Florida and California. Footage of the Los Angeles raid taken by a neighborhood tv station, Fox 11, captured brokers submitting previous manicured hedges and into Mr. Combs’s house.
Video of Mr. Combs’s house displaying the aftermath of the raid that was printed by TMZ confirmed belongings spilling out of cupboards and a set of empty cabinets with Mr. Combs’s three Grammys sitting on prime.
Mr. Combs was stopped that day at an airport within the Miami space as he was making ready to depart for the Bahamas, based on an individual with information of the matter, who famous that federal brokers took a lot of digital gadgets from him. Mr. Combs cooperated with authorities and was not detained, his lawyer stated.
What has Mr. Combs been accused of within the lawsuits?
The dramatic raids on Mr. Combs’s properties comply with a sequence of lawsuits, during which 4 ladies have accused him of rape and sexual assault and a person accused him of undesirable sexual contact.
Several of the lawsuits accused Mr. Combs of human trafficking, with two of the plaintiffs accusing him of forcing them to take part in sexual encounters with prostitutes.
The first lawsuit was filed by his former girlfriend Casandra Ventura, who makes music because the singer Cassie. She accused Mr. Combs of rape, bodily abuse and compelled intercourse with male prostitutes. The swimsuit was settled simply in the future later, with each Mr. Combs and Ms. Ventura saying their dispute had been resolved “amicably.”
Three extra lawsuits accusing him of rape have been filed over the subsequent three weeks.
In one, the plaintiff, Joi Dickerson-Neal, accused Mr. Combs of drugging and sexually assaulting her when she was a university pupil in 1991.
Another lawsuit, filed by a lady named Liza Gardner, additionally described allegations from the early Nineteen Nineties. She accused Mr. Combs of coercing her into intercourse after which, a few days later, choking her so laborious that she handed out.
A fourth lady, who filed her lawsuit anonymously, accused Mr. Combs and two different males of gang raping her in a recording studio in 2003, when she was 17. The judge in that case has dominated that — pending a movement to dismiss that was filed by Mr. Combs’s attorneys — the girl should use her actual title if she needs to proceed with the case.
The most up-to-date lawsuit filed in opposition to Mr. Combs, in February, was introduced by a music producer, Rodney Jones Jr., who labored on his most up-to-date solo album. Mr. Jones, often known as Lil Rod, accused Mr. Combs of creating undesirable sexual contact and forcing him to rent prostitutes and take part in intercourse acts with them.
It is just not clear how precisely the civil fits issue into the federal investigation, however federal investigators in New York have been conducting interviews asking potential witnesses about sexual misconduct allegations in opposition to Mr. Combs for a number of months, based on an individual accustomed to the interviews.
The legal inquiry is being carried out by federal prosecutors within the Southern District of New York and federal brokers with Homeland Security, a law-enforcement official stated.
How has Mr. Combs responded?
Mr. Combs has denied the entire allegations in opposition to him. In an announcement launched on the day the fourth lawsuit was filed, Mr. Combs stated, “Let me be completely clear: I didn’t do any of the terrible issues being alleged. I’ll combat for my title, my household and for the reality.”
A lawyer for Mr. Combs, Jonathan D. Davis, stated in a courtroom submitting in response to the gang rape lawsuit that the defendants’ reputations had been “irreparably broken” and that the accusations “resulted in them turning into victims of the ‘cancel tradition’ frenzy within the courts — effectively earlier than any proof has been introduced, and on the premise of rank, uncorroborated allegations.”
A day after the raids, one other one in every of Mr. Combs’s attorneys, Aaron Dyer, criticized the strategy by Homeland Security, calling it a “gross overuse of military-level pressure” and an “unprecedented ambush.”
“There has been no discovering of legal or civil legal responsibility with any of those allegations,” Mr. Dyer stated in an announcement.
Has anybody been arrested?
The solely recognized arrest was of a 25-year-old affiliate of Mr. Combs who was charged with cocaine possession.
The affiliate, Brendan Paul, was arrested on Monday at Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport, the place federal brokers stopped Mr. Combs. A former Division I faculty basketball participant, Mr. Paul, who was launched on bond, has posted on social media prior to now about working with Mr. Combs.
The lawsuit filed by Mr. Jones, the music producer, accused Mr. Paul of working as Mr. Combs’s “mule,” claiming that he acquired and distributed medication and weapons for him. It additionally stated that he generally negotiated charges for prostitutes for Mr. Combs. The lawsuit doesn’t embrace Mr. Paul as a defendant.
A lawyer representing Mr. Paul, Brian H. Bieber, stated in an announcement, “We don’t plan on making an attempt this case within the media — all points might be handled in Court.” He didn’t reply to questions concerning the allegations in Mr. Jones’s lawsuit.
Why are folks speaking about Cuba Gooding Jr.?
The actor’s title has been circulating in reference to Mr. Combs as a result of he was added this week as a defendant in Mr. Jones’s lawsuit. In the criticism, Mr. Jones accuses Mr. Gooding of groping his “higher interior thighs close to his groin” on Mr. Combs’s yacht, after Mr. Combs launched the 2 males.
A lawyer who had represented Mr. Gooding in a legal intercourse abuse case — during which he pleaded responsible to a single depend of harassment — didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon Mr. Jones’s declare.
