Sean Combs indicted, charged with racketeering, sex trafficking

Sean “Diddy” Combs has been charged with racketeering and sex trafficking after his arrest Monday night. The entertainer’s attorney said his client has been cooperating with the investigation and “voluntarily relocated to New York last week in anticipation of these charges,” CNN reported.

The charges had been sealed but on Tuesday morning the case was made public. Combs is charged with racketeering, sex trafficking by force and interstate transportation for the purposes of prostitution, The Associated Press reported.

The indictment accuses Combs of being “the head of a criminal enterprise engaged in or attempting to engage in activities including sex trafficking, forced labor, interstate transportation for purposes of prostitution, drug offenses, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice,” the AP reported.

Prosecutors said he hit, kicked, dragged or threw things at women several times and had his staff hide what allegedly happened.

He is expected to plead not guilty.

His attorney Marc Agnifilo said, “He’s not guilty. He’s innocent of these charges.”

Combs was arrested at the Park Hyatt New York hotel at 8:30 p.m. Monday by Homeland Security Investigations, an arm of the DHS that looks into transnational crime and threats, including human trafficking, terrorism, drug smuggling and other organized crimes, CNN reported.

The producer/singer’s homes in Los Angeles and Miami had been searched earlier this year as part of Homeland Security Investigations’ probe into sex trafficking.

The investigation began after Combs had become the subject of several civil lawsuits, officials said. He has had 10 suits filed against him since November, nine of them accusing him of sexual assault. Several of the women who filed the lawsuits have spoken with federal investigators, CNN reported.

Several of the accusers were to be called to give testimony against Combs in front of the grand jury.

Combs has denied all wrongdoing but has apologized after CNN released surveillance video that showed him assaulting his former girlfriend Casandra Ventura in a Los Angeles hotel in March 2016. She claimed he had beaten and raped her for several years.

Combs said, “I was disgusted when I did it” in reference to what was seen on the video, the AP reported.

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Through the years Rap music recording artist Sean "Puffy" Combs is interviewed by the media at the 2001 MTV Movie Awards June 2, 2001 at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, CA. (Photo by Chris Weeks/Getty Images) (Chris Weeks/Getty Images)

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