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Homes belonging to Sean “Diddy” Combs in Los Angeles and Miami have reportedly been raided by Homeland Security today (25 March).
According to reports from Fox 11, the raids are “in connection with a federal sex trafficking investigation”.
In a statement, Homeland Security said: “Earlier today, Homeland Security Investigations 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 proe further information as it becomes available.”
Combs’s Los Angeles mansion is in the upmarket Holmby Hills area, near Bel Air and Beverly Hills, while his Miami Beach home is located on the exclusive Star Island.
The rapper and music mogul, 54, has faced a string of sexual assault allegations in recent months.
In February, a male music producer has accused Combs of sexually assaulting him and forcing him to sleep with sex workers.
Footage from the raid in Miami Beach, and Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs
(Reuters, )
The lawsuit, filed in federal court New York, accused the music mogul of repeated instances of unsolicited groping and sexual touching. It also said that the man had to work in a bathroom while Combs showered and walked around naked.
Combs’s lawyer, Shawn Holley, branded the events described in the lawsuit “pure fiction”.
“We have overwhelming, indisputable proof that his claims are complete lies,” he said. “We will address these outlandish allegations in court and take all appropriate action against those who make them.”
In November, he and R&B singer Cassie, full name Cassandra Ventura, settled a lawsuit after she claimed that she was trafficked, raped and beaten by the rapper on many occasions over the course of 10 years.
Her lawsuit alleged that Combs brought the singer into his “ostentatious, fast-paced, and drug-fueled lifestyle” not long after she met him, and signed her to his label when she was 19 and he was 37 in 2005.
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Cassie said that the pattern of abuse began as soon as their relationship started and that, as she was trying to end it in 2018, he forced her into her Los Angeles home and raped her.
Diddy vehemently denied the allegations through his lawyer. Both he and Cassie said the settlement was reached “amicably”.
Ben Brafman, an attorney for Combs, told The Independent: “Just so we’re clear, a decision to settle a lawsuit, especially in 2023, is in no way an admission of wrongdoing. Mr. Combs’s decision to settle the lawsuit does not in any way undermine his flat-out denial of the claims.
“He is happy they got to a mutual settlement and wishes Ms Ventura the best.”
Another of Diddy’s accusers is a woman who alleges that he raped her two decades ago, when she was 17 years old.
Combs vehemently denied the allegations. In a statement in December, he called the claims “sickening” and said his accusers were “looking for a quick payday”.
“Let me be absolutely clear: I did not do any of the awful things being alleged,” he said in a statement. “I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth.”
