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Music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs had his phones seized and two of his homes raided Monday as part of a federal criminal investigation.
Investigators with the Department of Homeland Security executed search warrants at properties in Miami and Los Angeles and seized phones from Combs in Miami ahead of his scheduled trip to the Bahamas, law enforcement sources told NBC News.
The warrant is out of the Southern District of New York, the sources said. Representatives for Combs did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment.
Citing a source familiar with the matter, NBC News reported:
Three women and a man have been interviewed by federal officials in Manhattan in relation to allegations of sex trafficking, sexual assault, and the solicitation and distribution of illegal narcotics and firearms, the said. Interviews with three other subjects are also scheduled, the source said.
The federal investigation could bring more legal trouble for the 54-year-old rapper, who was already facing a string of sexual assault lawsuits.
R&B singer Cassie, a former girlfriend of Combs’ and his onetime protégé, filed a lawsuit in November, accusing the rapper of inflicting sexual violence and physical abuse on her during and after their relationship. Combs denied the allegations, and his lawyer called them “offensive and outrageous.” The suit was settled just one day later.
The federal investigation could bring more legal trouble for the 54-year-old rapper, who was already facing a string of sexual assault lawsuits.
Within weeks, three more women filed lawsuits against Combs in the Southern District of New York: One of the women alleges that Combs drugged and sexually assaulted her when she was a college student in 1991; another woman accused Combs of sexually assaulting her in 1990 or 1991 when she was 16; and a third woman alleges that she was gang raped and sex trafficked by Combs and others in 2003, when she was 17.
Combs has denied all the allegations, calling them “sickening” and characterizing them as a “money grab” and attempts at character assassination. The lawsuits were filed as a result of two state laws in New York that temporarily allowed people to bring a sexual violence case even if the statute of limitations had passed.
Then last month, music producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones filed a lawsuit against Combs, alleging that the media mogul had forced him to procure sex workers and engage in sex acts with them; Jones also accused Combs of drugging him and threatening him with physical harm. An attorney for Combs dismissed the allegations as “complete lies.”