S ean “Diddy” Combs, a rapper and music mogul credited with helping launch the careers of some of the biggest stars in recent years, is now facing multiple civil lawsuits accusing him of sex trafficking, sexual abuse and rape. Combs, formerly known as Puff Daddy, P. Diddy and a host of other names, has undergone a myriad of reinventions since the start of his career – but has since entered a new and unwelcome “era.
” Federal agents with US Homeland Security raided two of the rapper’s houses in Los Angeles and Miami on 25 March as he faces a string of varying accusations. Combs, 54, has strongly denied all of the allegations against him. His attorneys have branded the lawsuits and their accusations as money grabs, “baseless” or “sickening.
” The entertainer has not been formally charged or accused by federal prosecutors of any crime. On 17 May, surveillence footage captured at a hotel in Los Angeles in March 2016 showed Diddy chasing his then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura down the hallway before attacking her by the elevators. He then attempts to drag her back to his hotel room.
The following day, he shared an apology video to Instagram saying his behaviour was “inexcusable” and that he took “full responsibility for his actions in the video”. The slew of allegations in lawsuits against Combs date as far back as the 1990s, when he founded his own record label, Bad Boy Records. Lawsuits against the rapper began on 16 November 2023 when he was sued by singer.