Sean “Diddy” Combs has been charged with sex trafficking and racketeering and accused of presiding over an empire of sexual crimes.
The music mogul, expected to appear in court on Wednesday at 2:30 ET, “engaged in a persistent and pervasive pattern of abuse toward women and other individuals”, according to an indictment unsealed on Tuesday.
Damian Williams, the US attorney for New York’s southern district, said the investigation into Combs was “ongoing” and that “nothing is off the table” in terms of charges being brought against his associates.
He said the authorities would seek to keep Combs behind bars before his trial, downplaying suggestions that his safety was at risk after comparisons were drawn with the suicide of paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein in 2019.
“We are concerned with anyone’s safety whenever they are detained prior to trial… but I do not drawn any sort of connection between Jeffrey Epstein’s suicide and what may or may not happen to any other defendant,” Mr Williams said.
Combs, 54, “engaged in a persistent and pervasive pattern of abuse toward women and other individuals”, according to an indictment unsealed on Tuesday.
Detailing allegations dating back to 2009, the indictment accuses him of abusing, threatening and coercing women for years “to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct”.
Combs had been arrested late on Monday in Manhattan, roughly six months after federal authorities conducting a sex trafficking investigation raided his luxury homes in Los Angeles and Miami.
