The Sunday News
Sean Combs – also known as P Diddy and Puff Daddy – has been embroiled in a string of serious allegations in recent months.
The 54-year-old’s homes in Los Angeles and Miami were raided by Homeland Security Investigations agents on 25 March.
But what exactly is he accused of – and what has he had to say about it?
What are the allegations?
The raids on the rapper’s properties were part of an ongoing sex-trafficking investigation by federal authorities in New York.
According to Sky’s US partner network NBC News, three women and a man were interviewed by federal officials in Manhattan in relation to the probe.
The investigation includes further allegations of sexual assault, solicitation, and distribution of illegal drugs and firearms.
Combs has also recently faced several lawsuits accusing him of sexual misconduct and other wrongdoing.
In February, a music producer alleged Combs coerced him to solicit prostitutes and pressured him to have sex with them.
Combs’s lawyer responded by saying: “We have overwhelming, indisputable proof that his claims are complete lies”.
The rapper’s former protégé and girlfriend, R&B singer Cassie, also sued him in November alleging she was trafficked, raped, plied with drugs and beaten by Combs over a 10-year period.
The lawsuit claimed he forced her to have sex with male prostitutes while he filmed them. The case was settled the day after it was filed. Also in November, Combs was sued by Joie Dickerson-Neal who alleged he drugged and sexually assaulted her when she was a psychology student at Syracuse University in January 1991. She also accused him of filming the attack.
Combs rejected the claims as “made up and not credible”, with a spokesperson branding them “purely a money grab and nothing more”.
Another of the rapper’s accusers is a woman who claims he “gang raped” her two decades ago after she was plied with drugs and alcohol at the age of 17.
What has Sean Combs said?
He has denied all the allegations.
In a statement in December, Combs described the claims he was facing then as “sickening” and alleged his accusers were “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,” he said.
Following the raids on his house in late March, Combs’s lawyer Aaron Dyer said there had been a “gross overuse of military-level force as search warrants were executed”.
“There is no excuse for the excessive show of force and hostility exhibited by authorities or the way his children and employees were treated,” he added. — SkyNews
