LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs’ lawyer mentioned Tuesday that the searches of the rapper’s Los Angeles and Miami properties by federal authorities in a intercourse trafficking investigation had been ”a gross use of military-level power” and that Combs is “harmless and can proceed to struggle” to clear his identify.
It’s the primary public assertion from the music mogul’s crew since Monday’s raids of his properties by Homeland Safety Investigations brokers.
“Yesterday, there was a gross overuse of military-level power as search warrants had been executed at Mr. Combs’ residences,” mentioned the assertion from lawyer Aaron Dyer. “There isn’t a excuse for the extreme present of power and hostility exhibited by authorities or the way in which his kids and staff had been handled.”
The searches had been a part of an ongoing intercourse trafficking investigation by federal authorities in New York, two legislation enforcement officers informed The Related Press. The officers weren’t licensed to publicly talk about particulars of the investigation and spoke to the AP on situation of anonymity.
Combs was not detained and spoke to authorities, and neither he nor any members of the family had been arrested, nor has their journey been restricted, based on Dyer’s assertion.
EXPLAINER: What we all know concerning the federal raids at Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ properties
Dyer mentioned the “unprecedented ambush” has led to a “untimely rush to judgment of Mr. Combs and is nothing greater than a witch hunt primarily based on meritless accusations made in civil lawsuits.”
“There was no discovering of prison or civil legal responsibility with any of those allegations,” Dyer mentioned. “Mr. Combs is harmless and can proceed to struggle each single day to clear his identify.”
Combs’ sons, Justin and Christian “King” Combs, had been handcuffed through the raid at their father’s residence in Los Angeles. King, 25, is a music artist whose track “Can’t Cease Gained’t Cease” with Kodak Black topped Billboard’s Mainstream R&B Hip-Hop charts in 2022.
Regulation enforcement carried out the raid Monday at Combs’ multimillion-dollar mansion within the prosperous Holmby Hills neighborhood in Los Angeles and his Miami waterfront house. Together with a heavy presence of officers, command vehicles had been parked exterior each properties.
The prison investigation is a significant escalation within the scrutiny of Combs, who has been the defendant in a number of sexual abuse lawsuits in latest months.
In a lawsuit Combs settled the day after it was filed in November, his former protege and girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie, sued him alleging years of sexual abuse, together with rape. The lawsuit mentioned he pressured her to have intercourse with male prostitutes whereas he filmed them.
In February, a music producer filed a lawsuit alleging Combs coerced him to solicit prostitutes and pressured him to have intercourse with them.
One other of Combs’ accusers was a lady who mentioned the rap producer raped her 20 years in the past when she was 17.
Combs and his attorneys have denied all the lawsuits’ allegations.
The AP doesn’t sometimes identify individuals who say they’ve been sexually abused except they arrive ahead publicly as Cassie did.
Combs is among the many most influential hip-hop producers and executives of the previous three many years. Previously referred to as Puff Daddy, he constructed certainly one of hip-hop’s greatest empires, blazing a path with a number of entities hooked up to his well-known identify. He’s the founding father of Dangerous Boy Data and a three-time Grammy winner who has labored with a slew of top-tier artists together with Infamous B.I.G., Mary J. Blige, Usher, Lil Kim, Religion Evans and 112.
AP Leisure Author Andrew Dalton contributed.