NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs was scheduled to appear before a federal judge in New York on Tuesday after being charged with unspecified crimes.
The music mogul was arrested late Monday in Manhattan, about six months after federal authorities launched a sex trafficking investigation raided his luxurious houses in Los Angeles and Miami.
According to US Attorney Damian Williams, the indictment containing the exact allegations should be unsealed on Tuesday morning.
Last year, Combs was sued by people who say he physically or sexually abused them. He has denied many of those allegations and his lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, called the new charges an “unjustified prosecution.”
“He is an imperfect human being, but he is not a criminal,” Agnifilo said in a statement late Monday.
Combs, 58, was considered one of the most influential figures in hip-hop before a flood of allegations over the past year turned him into an outsider in the industry.
In November, his former girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassiewhose real name is Casandra Ventura, filed a lawsuit He said he beat and raped her for yearsShe accused Combs of forcing her and others to have unwanted sex in a drug-induced environment.
The suit was done in one day But months later, CNN aired footage of security checks at the hotel showing Combs Hitting and kicking Cassie and threw her on the ground. After the video was broadcast, Combs apologizedand said, “I was disgusted when I did it.”
However, Combs and his lawyers have denied similar allegations made by others in a series of lawsuits.
Douglas Wigdor, an attorney for Cassie, said in a statement Tuesday: “Neither Ms. Ventura nor I have any comment.”
“We thank you for your understanding and will be sure to let you know if this changes,” he added.
A woman said Combs raped her two decades ago, when she was 17. A music producer sued, claiming that Combs forced him to have sex with prostitutes. Another woman, April Lampros, said Combs subjected her to “terrifying sexual encounters” beginning during her college years in 1994.
The AP typically does not name people who report sexual abuse unless they speak out publicly, as Cassie and Lampros have done.
Combs, the founder of Bad Boy Records, has gotten out of legal trouble before.
In 2001, he was acquitted of charges related to a shooting at a Manhattan nightclub two years earlier that left three people injured. His then-protégé, Shyne, was convicted of assault and other charges and served about eight years in prison.
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Associated Press writer Andrew Dalton in Los Angeles contributed to this report.
