Sean Combs – also known as Diddy – has been arrested and charged with sex trafficking and racketeering after a number of allegations were brought against him.
The rapper, 54, has been under the microscope in recent years as a number of women have made allegations of sexual assault and sex trafficking against him, all of which he denies.
Combs was first accused of sexual harassment years ago, and in recent months many historic alleged incidents have been brought to light.
Marc Agnifilo, who is acting as his attorney, told TMZ of the recent escalation they were ‘disappointed’ by the arrest of an ‘innocent man’ on Monday evening, calling it ‘unjust’.
He said that Combs ‘is an imperfect person but is not criminal’ and added that the musician is cooperating with the investigation.
‘Please reserve your judgment until you have all the facts. These are the acts of an innocent man with nothing to hide, and he looks forward to clearing his name in court,’ they concluded.
Combs issued a blanket denial of all allegations against him in December, saying in a statement: ‘Enough is enough. For the last couple of weeks, I have sat silently and watched people try to assassinate my character, destroy my reputation and my legacy.
‘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.’
Here is a timeline of allegations of sexual assault made against Combs, which date back to the 1990s.
1990 – Diddy and Aaron Hall allegedly ‘took turns raping’ 16-year-old Liza Gardner and friend
In November 2023, Liza Gardner filed a lawsuit against Combs and R&B singer Aaron Hall accusing them of taking turns raping her and a friend in 1990, and four months later amended it to reveal she was a minor at the time at the age of 16.
Gardner alleged the music pair took turns raping her and a friend after meeting them at an event at MCA Records’ New York office.
‘She recalls Combs mounting her, and forcing up her skirt, pulling her underwear to the side and forcefully penetrating her, the complaint says as per People, adding that as a minor she wasn’t able to consent to alcohol allegedly given to her by the men.
The suit goes on to allege that when Gardner – who also claims she was in ‘immense’ physical pain after the alleged rape – was getting dressed Hall ‘barged’ into the room, ‘pinned her down and forced’ himself on her.
She added that she has suffered with depression, PTSD, and strained relationships with men since.
Combs previously denied the initial claims calling them ‘fabricated’ for ‘financial benefit’, while Hall does not appear to have spoken publicly over the suit.
1991 – Diddy allegedly drugs and rapes Joi Dickerson-Neal and films it for ‘revenge porn’
In a November 2023 lawsuit, a woman named Joi Dickerson-Neal accused Combs of drugging and raping her when she was a student at Syracuse University in 1991.
Her attorneys claimed she was a victims of ‘revenge porn’ after he allegedly recorded the rape and showing it to people in the music industry.
Although this event allegedly happened in 1991, it was brought over twenty years later in a wave of separate accusations against Combs because of the New York Survivors Act.
Coming into effect in November 2022, the landmark law allows adult survivors of sexual assault to pursue previously time-barred cases, which can be investigated until it closes again in November this year.
Combs has denied Dickerson-Neal’s allegations, claiming the incident was made up and a ‘money grab’.
1995 to 1996 – Diddy allegedly rapes April Lampros, forces ecstasy down her throat, and demands she have sex with his girlfriend
In May this year April Lampros sued Combs for sexual assault, battery and intentional infliction of emotional distress, alleging that he plied her with alcohol at a bar in 1995 before raping her in a hotel room.
The former Fashion Institute of Technology student claimed the ‘walls were closing in’ on her and she was unable to defend herself as he raped her.
Lampros woke the following day ‘nude, sore and confused’ and was later forced into performing oral sex on him in a car park.
When she began turning down his invitations, Lampros claims Combs grew angry and threatened her career.
She also claimed that in 1996 he forced ecstasy down her throat after meeting his then girlfriend, the late Kim Porter, and demanded that the two women have sex while he masturbated before he allegedly raped her again.
Elsewhere in the lawsuit, Lampros says she became aware by her then-boyfriend of a video of her having sex with Combs – which she says was recorded without her knowledge, and shown to multiple people.
In a previous statement, Diddy called the allegations ‘sickening’ by ‘individuals looking for a quick payday’.
2000 – Diddy allegedly attempts to rape April Lampros
In 2000, Combs and Lampros ran into each other at the Rockefeller Centre, when the rapper was dating Jennifer Lopez.
They went back to Lampros’ apartment, where she claims he ‘violently grabbed her and forced himself onto her’ but left when she fought him off, according to the lawsuit.
2003 – Diddy allegedly rapes 17-year-old with two other men
In December 2023 an unnamed woman alleged that Combs and two other men raped her in 2003 when she was 17.
The lawsuit, filed in Manhattan, says she was living in Detroit when she was flown to a New York studio, and given drugs and alcohol which made her unable to consent to sex.
She then claims the men took turns raping her.
Combs posted a statement broadly denying all allegations and said he will ‘fight for my name, my family and for the truth’.
2003 – Combs allegedly forces model Crystal McKinney to perform sex act in exchange for career boost
Earlier this year Combs was accused by former model Crystal McKinney of forcing her to perform a sex act on him after allegedly promising her a career boost.
She says she met Combs at a 2003 Men’s Fashion Week event in New York City, and claims they smoked weed which she ‘later came to understand’ was laced with another drug.
Combs then allegedly ordered her to follow him into the bathroom, where Crystal says he forcibly kissed her and shoved her head to his crotch before ordering her to perform a sex act.
McKinney claims in the suit that she later lost consciousness and woke up in a taxi, where she realised she had been sexually assaulted. Combs has denied all accusations against him.
2006 – Diddy starts working with Danity Kane member Dawn Richard and she alleges he assaults her
On September 12, 2024, former Danity Kane member Dawn Richard alleged in a lawsuit that Combs assaulted her, deprived her of food and sleep and refused to pay her properly after they became associated in 2004.
She also claimed that he ‘manipulated’ her into thinking that ‘abuse and exploitation were required for female artists to succeed in the music industry.’
As well as this, Richard alleged that she witnessed the rapper abuse Ventura on multiple occasions, alongside Diddy-Dirty Money bandmate Kalenna Harper, and that he threatened them following this – something Harper denied to TMZ.
She told TMZ she wasn’t aware of ‘any behavior that could be considered abusive or unlawful’ while working with Combs, while the businessman has fiercely denied all allegations against him.
2007 to 2018 – Diddy allegedly rapes and abuses ex Cassie Ventura over 10-year period
In November 2023, Cassie Ventura filed a lawsuit against Combs, accusing him of raping and physically abusing her during their relationship.
The lawsuit came with a rare trigger warning on the front due to the extreme nature of the allegations, which accused him of ‘beating her, plying her with drugs and forcing her to have sex with male prostitutes as Combs filmed’.
It was alleged that Ventura was raped ‘in her own home’ in 2018 after ‘she tried to leave him’ and ‘endured over a decade of his violent behaviour and disturbed demands’.
Venture was 19 when she met Combs and his record label Bad Boy – founded in 1993 – released her debut album in 2006. However, she claimed Combs controlled her career and personal life, including her medical records.
The lawsuit stated Ventura has required ‘intensive medical and psychological care to recover from the trauma she lived through’ in a decade of enduring ‘threats of violence, excessive use of drugs, physical and psychological abuse, and sexual slavery’.
Combs’ lawyer told : ‘Mr. Combs vehemently denies these offensive and outrageous allegations.’
The case was settled just a day after it was filed, with the terms of the agreement kept confidential. Ventura later said: ‘I have decided to resolve this matter amicably on terms that I have some level of control. I want to thank my family, fans and lawyers for their unwavering support.’
In the wake of the case settling, brutal surveillance footage was obtained and published by CNN, which appeared to show Combs beating up Ventura and dragging her across the floor of the InterContinental Hotel in LA.
As she left a hotel room and walked towards the elevators, he was filmed following her, before grabbing her and throwing her to the floor and kicking her multiple times as she lay on the ground.
After the footage emerged, Combs offered an apology in which he said: ‘I was f**ked up. I mean, I hit rock bottom. But I make no excuses. My behavior in that video is inexcusable. I take full responsibility for my actions in that video.
‘I’m disgusted. I was disgusted then when I did it, I’m disgusted now.
‘I went and I sought professional help, started going to therapy, I’ve been going to rehab. I had to ask God for His mercy and grace.
‘I’m so sorry. But, I’ve committed to being a better man, each and every day.
‘I’m not asking for forgiveness, I’m truly sorry.’
Ventura’s legal team at Wigdor LLP released a statement to Page Six over the apology, calling it ‘pathetic’.
2022 – 2023 – Diddy allegedly pressures Rodney ‘Lil Rod’ Jones into sexual acts with sex workers
In February of this year, Rodney ‘Lil Rod’ Jones filed another lawsuit, accusing Combs of coercing him into sex acts with sex workers, as well as allegations of incidents of drugging – after they worked together on his latest record, The Love Album: Off The Grid .
According to the paperwork, via CNN, the producer is seeking $30million and alleged that the musician did not compensate him for work.
He is also said to have forced Jones to procure and interact with sex workers, threatened him and served alcoholic beverages laced with drugs to guests at parties at his homes.
Combs’ legal representatives later dismissed the claims and branded them ‘fabricated’, according to the outlet.
Jones’ complaint is ‘replete with legally meaningless allegations and blatant falsehoods’, his team claimed. They also stated that his lawsuit ‘fails to state a single viable claim’ against Combs and his business entities, which are named as additional defendants.
In response, the producer’s lawyers described Combs’ motion as a ‘delay tactic’.
2024 – Diddy’s house searched for ‘sex trafficking investigation’, he files motion to dismiss cases, and he is arrested
In February, court documents filed in the US alleged that he held sex-trafficking parties, before his Miami and LA residences were the scenes of a Homeland Security raid, connected to his Bad Boy Films production company.
Although he was not at either home when the raids took place, pictures emerged of his trashed Miami mansion after agents reportedly rifled through drawers and turned rooms upside down.
It was also reported that a gate was seen broken off its hinges, while inside multiple doorframes were damaged and the contents of rooms left on floors and beds.
A representative for Homeland Security told ABC7 in a statement at the time: ‘Earlier today, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New York executed law enforcement actions as part of an ongoing investigation, with assistance from HSI Los Angeles, HSI Miami, and our local law enforcement partners.
‘We will provide further information as it becomes available.’
In April, his lawyers filed a motion to dismiss Dickerson-Neal’s lawsuit accusing him of sexual assault – claiming he cannot be sued because certain laws didn’t exist when she made the allegations against him in 1991.
CNN reports that they have requested for certain statutes from Dickerson-Neal’s suit – including revenge porn and human trafficking – to be dismissed with prejudice.
They have also ‘vehemently denied’ the ‘numerous false, offensive, and salacious accusations’.
Last night, Combs was detained at New York’s five-star Park Hyatt hotel, with Damian Williams, the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, confirming the move.
‘Earlier this evening, federal agents arrested Sean Combs, based on a sealed indictment filed by the SDNY,’ he said in a statement. The prosecutor added they have plans to unseal the indictment today, and they’ll ‘have more to say at that time.’
His attorney told TMZ they were ‘disappointed’ by the arrest of an ‘innocent man’.
He declared: ‘We are disappointed with the decision to pursue what we believe is an unjust prosecution of Mr Combs by the US Attorney’s Office.’