Diddy’s Lawyer Responds To Multi-Home Raid Amid Sex Trafficking Allegations
Sean “Diddy” Combs’ lawyer responded after federal agents with the Department of Homeland Security raided the rap mogul’s properties in Miami and Los Angeles on Monday following multiple allegations of violence and sexual abuse against the Bad Boy Records founder.
“[T]here was a gross overuse of military-level force as search warrants were executed at Mr. Combs’ residences,” his attorney Aaron Dyer told E! News in a statement Tuesday. “There is no excuse for the excessive show of force and hostility exhibited by authorities.”
“This unprecedented ambush — paired with an advanced, coordinated media presence — leads to a premature rush to judgment of Mr. Combs and is nothing more than a witch hunt based on meritless accusations made in civil lawsuits,” added Dyer.
The simultaneous raids in Star Island on Miami Beach and in the Holmby Hills area of Los Angeles were captured in progress by news helicopters and showed no signs of Combs, who “spoke to and cooperated with authorities,” according to Dyer.
A rep for the Department of Homeland Security’s investigation division told HuffPost in a statement Monday that the raids were “part of an ongoing investigation.” Combs has been accused of violence and sexual abuse by at least four people since late 2023.
His attorney stated Tuesday that there has been “no finding of criminal or civil liability with any of these allegations.”
The first lawsuit was filed in November by Combs’ former girlfriend, singer-songwriter Cassie Ventura.
She accused Combs of forcing her to partake in sex acts with male sex workers as he watched, plying her with drugs, physical abuse and sex trafficking. Combs, who signed Ventura to his label in 2005 and started dating her when she was 19, settled the suit in a day.
Two other women later came forward with allegations of rape as the Adult Survivors Act in New York was set to expire. Producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones most recently linked Combs to a shooting at a recording studio and accused him of running a racketeering enterprise.
Combs denied the initial claims in December, but has since stepped down as the chairman of media company Revolt.
Combs has yet to be criminally charged.
“We will always support law enforcement when it seeks to prosecute those that have violated the law,” Ventura’s attorney Douglas Wigdor told HuffPost in a statement Monday after the raids. “Hopefully, this is the beginning of a process that will hold Mr. Combs responsible for his depraved conduct.”
Rolling Stone and NBC News reported Monday that several Jane and John Does had already been interviewed by investigators in the Southern District of New York and that Combs recently had his phones seized by authorities in Miami.
Need help? Visit RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Online Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s website.
