The US government has launched a high-profile sex trafficking and racketeering case against music mogul Sean Combs aka Diddy, accusing him of planning coercive and abusive sexual encounters at luxury hotels. According to a New York Times report, the indictment, which includes charges of arson, bribery, kidnapping and obstruction of justice, focuses on “elaborate and manufactured sex performances” referred to by prosecutors as “freak-offs” that involved drugs, prostitutes and recordings. However, Combs’ legal team insists that these encounters were consensual.
According to a 14-page federal criminal indictment, these “odd acts” were conducted by Combs and his associates in hotel suites stocked with baby oil, drugs and video equipment. Prosecutors allege that participants were coerced, and some required intravenous fluids to recover from ordeals that lasted several days. The government claims Combs filmed the sessions and used the footage to blackmail participants into silence.
“The crux of this case is freak activity, and freak activities are inherently dangerous,” said Emily A. Johnson, one of the prosecutors. That portrayal is echoed in a civil lawsuit filed last year against Combs by singer Cassie, whose real name is Cassandra Ventura. Cassie claimed Combs often directed freak activities where she was forced to perform sex acts, which she filmed.
Combs, who has pleaded innocent, is facing a very different narrative presented by his defense team. His attorney, Marc Agnifilo, argued that the incidents were consensual, part of an unconventional but voluntary relationship between Combs and Ventura. Agnifilo pointed out that several of the men involved denied that they were pressured or that they viewed themselves as sex workers.
The racketeering charges stem from allegations that Combs coordinated these events through a network of people who managed logistics such as securing prostitutes, booking hotel rooms and cleaning up after the sessions. Prosecutors argue these encounters often resulted in violence, a claim the defense denies.
In addition to Ventura’s suit, Combs is facing several other civil lawsuits from women who accuse him of drugging and sexually abusing them. One complainant, Adria English, alleged that Combs demanded she have sex with guests at his famous “white parties.”
Combs’ lawyers have dismissed the suits as opportunistic.
Combs, who is in federal custody after being denied bail, is accused of attempting to hide evidence of the abuse. Prosecutors claim he offered bribes to hotel staff and attempted to destroy surveillance footage after the alleged attack on Ventura in 2016. The investigation is ongoing, and Combs’ legal battle is far from over.
According to Forbes, the allegations against Combs date back to the 1990s, when he started his own label called Bad Boy Records. In 2022, he was ranked 14th on Forbes’ list of highest-paid entertainers after earning an estimated $90 million that year.
