0:02

Just. A Heads up: This episode

0:04

includes discussions of sexual assault, so

0:07

please take care while listening. Sean.

0:11

Combs has been one of the most

0:13

powerful people and hip. Hop for

0:15

decades. John. Diddy Combs. He's

0:17

also been known as Puff Daddy

0:19

or a Puffy or P. Diddy.

0:21

He's a superstar record producer, an

0:23

artist, and a hip hop mogul.

0:26

That. Is an Brannigan to the staff writer at

0:28

the Post. And. He's. Most

0:31

well known from his work in the nineties

0:33

when he founded the record label Bad Boy

0:35

which sign some of the biggest acts and

0:37

hip hop you know. Most notably and Notorious

0:39

Be I G. Comes. Has

0:41

been added a why my for some

0:43

time, but recently he has been back

0:45

in the headlines first for several lawsuits

0:48

that were filed against him over the

0:50

last few months alleging sexual assaults and

0:52

then just a few weeks ago there

0:54

was another development. To

0:57

raise to homes have one iconic

0:59

music producer tonight! Sean P. Diddy

1:01

Combs is back in the headlines

1:03

as his mansions in Los Angeles

1:05

and Miami are rated by Homeland

1:07

Security. Heavily armored federal agents making

1:09

their way into the home on a

1:11

pigeon drive associated with rap mogul Sean

1:14

Diddy Combs it's production company Bad Boy

1:16

Films. Dozens of agents search the property

1:18

for. A couple weeks

1:21

ago, his homeserve aided by the

1:23

Department of Homeland Security and this

1:25

happened after a slew of lawsuits

1:28

against them have been fouled, and

1:30

these lawsuits include accusations that involve

1:33

physical abuse, sexual assault, and sex

1:35

trafficking. Any mention of sort of

1:37

sexual assault and sex trafficking and

1:40

physical abuse comes from. Me:

1:42

No a set of lawsuits that have all been

1:44

filed within the last. Five. Months

1:46

And these are allegations that

1:48

are explicitly written out in

1:50

those lawsuits. Did. He

1:52

is a really monumental figure in

1:54

here, Pop, and so these allegations

1:56

even before the federal investigation, they

1:58

really did A. To be cast

2:01

as like a C and this

2:03

will especially be true if. Charges

2:05

to come forward. Combs.

2:08

Has denied all accusations made against

2:10

him, but since he's such a

2:12

prominent person in the music industry

2:14

and says these allegations could lead

2:16

to a larger reckoning about. Massage

2:19

any violence and the exploitation

2:21

of women. Were. Almost seven

2:23

years after the Me Too movement

2:25

and the music industry is still

2:27

undergoing this reckoning, that's it's is

2:30

bigger than Diddy. I'm. So.

2:32

The sort of consequences that we saw

2:35

happen and hollywood we haven't really seen

2:37

in the music industry for with these

2:39

accusations against did he and other top

2:41

music execs. The. Entire industry is

2:43

on notice. From.

2:50

The newsroom of the Washington Post

2:52

offices post reports I'm or team

2:54

Powers. It's Wednesday, April tenth,

2:57

Today and explains what we

2:59

know about the allegations against

3:01

Sean Diddy combs and what

3:04

federal agents may have been

3:06

searching. So

3:15

pay me a little bit. Of a picture

3:17

of like Sean Combs and his

3:19

career and why he was one

3:21

of the biggest stars of the

3:24

late nineties Early two thousand. Sir.

3:26

Well, his career really starts out

3:29

with a lot of momentum when.

3:31

He joins the music industry so.

3:33

He quickly becomes known for his ability

3:36

to spot talent and develop it. He

3:38

worked with Marriage, a blog and show

3:40

to see and those were some of

3:42

the biggest or a be acts of

3:44

the nineties and within a few short

3:47

years he sounds the record label bad

3:49

Boy and that very quickly becomes one

3:51

of the premier so hop record labels

3:53

Mostly on the back of Than a

3:55

toy is Baiji also known as Big

3:58

He and he still the guy. It

4:00

as one of the greatest and sees of all time.

4:02

And. We see that not just the

4:05

biggie, but he has a great year

4:07

and a great I for trends, he

4:09

homes a lot of nine keys air

4:11

a classic so. See it. As

4:15

much see. One

4:19

more. Chance hypnotize. these are Assad is

4:21

that if he grew up in the

4:23

nineties, You know you can

4:25

probably recite some fun to back

4:27

to get more attention after the

4:29

east coast west coast rivalry of

4:31

the mid nineties which unfortunately ended

4:33

with Biggies death. but even after

4:36

that did he really breaks out

4:38

as an artist in his own

4:40

right and only becomes more popular,

4:42

especially a sub hop takes more

4:44

of a center stage. With.

4:46

All in pop culture. And

4:48

then he goes beyond just music, gray like

4:51

he was big and fashion. He was big

4:53

in Hollywood and like explained to me

4:55

how he kind of created this like

4:57

empire. Yeah well, he was known

4:59

as a very savvy businessman. From the

5:01

start and you really. See that

5:03

and his ability to leverage his

5:05

popularity and his riches to expand

5:08

as empires. So he moved into

5:10

fashion with the label son John

5:12

I'm and really capitalizes on do

5:14

you know the way fashion was

5:16

saying that and censor so rappers

5:18

right? I. Have to say I think

5:21

back the middle school on I have like

5:23

remember every like ten informal scoring schengen teasers

5:25

and like it was very popular. I mean

5:27

you had white boys wearing do rag. And

5:32

you know. We can partially blamed

5:34

Etti for that. I'm and

5:36

he. Makes these brand partnerships with.

5:38

His Surat so you know he

5:41

adds sort of alcohol and says

5:43

empire and. T. V she's

5:45

on reality shows. He is

5:47

a judge on. Are

5:49

singing competitions so. All

5:52

this combined together by twenty twenty two

5:54

Forbes estimates that is worth as about

5:56

one billion. Dollars. Which.

6:02

is remarkable but also I think

6:04

the reason that number of kind

6:07

of. Surprises. A lot

6:09

of people I would say is that it doesn't

6:11

seem like did he was really. Fun!

6:14

And. An hour out in the world

6:16

and of a relevant. Way in

6:18

the last decade mean what has he

6:20

been up to since that? he. Day

6:22

when he was more of a kind of.

6:25

Public figure constantly interface. Yeah, well, you're

6:27

right that he hadn't been in the

6:29

limelight in the same way you know

6:31

in the nineties we're seeing him. In

6:33

the music videos rate is. So see

6:36

him at industry events like Beyond, say

6:38

Jaycees Grammys branch. but he's not fund

6:40

and producing as much as he used

6:42

to and is not appearing on Tv

6:44

in the same way he's to. He

6:46

did release an album and twenty twenty

6:49

three, but it didn't get as much

6:51

attention as his previous work. He was

6:53

nominated for a Grammy for it, but

6:55

he also, I think quite notably. Own.

6:58

The publishing rights for a lot

7:00

of his artists' work. and so

7:02

there's a lot that he did

7:04

in the nineties that even. If you

7:06

don't see him doing work. Today he was

7:08

so making money from those

7:10

things so that was where

7:12

things were with did/ Sun

7:14

comes up until relatively recently.

7:17

Then you have this series of

7:19

headlines and I think got a

7:22

lot of people's attention. And let's

7:24

start with the news about this

7:26

raid on his. Homes by

7:28

federal agents. Tell me what

7:31

happened there and why is

7:33

the Federal government investigating symptoms.

7:37

So. What we saw was

7:39

investigators found the Department of Homeland

7:42

Security. we saw them conducting raids

7:44

in on did his homes so

7:46

we saw footage of the raid

7:48

coming out of Los Angeles. But

7:51

they're all surveys conducted in Miami

7:53

and this is done in concert

7:55

with local. law enforcement officials the

7:58

point to note that dhs didn't

8:00

formally announce what the investigation was

8:02

about since it's ongoing. But

8:05

DHS is responsible for investigating

8:07

allegations of human trafficking. And

8:10

that seems to be the most relevant

8:12

connection here because there are lawsuits that

8:14

have come out against Combs in recent

8:16

months that allege that sex

8:19

trafficking occurred. Can you explain a

8:21

little bit more about that, what those lawsuits are and

8:24

how they alleged that Sean

8:27

Combs was involved in sex trafficking?

8:30

So there have been six

8:32

lawsuits as of today that

8:34

have been filed against Diddy

8:36

alleging a range of

8:38

abuses, including physical

8:40

and sexual assault and sex

8:42

trafficking in the last five months.

8:46

And in at least three of them, there

8:48

are accusations of sex trafficking.

8:51

The earliest comes in 2003 and

8:53

it was filed by an anonymous

8:55

woman. She was 17 at the

8:57

time. So in her court document, she's

8:59

referred to as Jane Doe. And

9:02

she alleges that Diddy essentially flew

9:04

her out from Detroit to New York,

9:08

where he and two other men and

9:10

there really is no more polite way to

9:12

say this, but she accuses him of

9:15

essentially gang raping her. And

9:18

then she gets put on the flight back

9:21

to Detroit after that. The

9:23

accusations or the allegations that we know

9:25

the most about probably are

9:27

from Cassie who is

9:30

Diddy's former partner, R&B

9:33

singer who was on his record label. And

9:36

she alleged that not only

9:38

had physical abuse and sexual abuse been

9:40

happening for years in their relationship, but

9:43

that he would also traffic

9:46

her sort of around the country that he would

9:49

force her to solicit

9:51

male sex workers and

9:54

sort of coerce her through drugs

9:57

and alcohol to engage in these.

10:02

And finally, we have the most

10:04

recent lawsuit, which actually covers

10:06

a time from 2022 to 2023,

10:09

so really quite recent. And this

10:11

lawsuit was brought forward

10:13

by a former producer who worked

10:16

on Diddy's most recent album. And

10:19

he alleges really similar things to

10:21

what Cassie alleges, that he and

10:23

other staffers were made

10:25

to solicit sex workers for parties

10:27

that happened all across the United

10:30

States. And so even

10:32

though DHS hasn't

10:35

formally announced what the investigation is

10:37

about, you know, we

10:40

have other sources and we have these allegations

10:42

that kind of point us

10:44

toward what some of the concerns there

10:46

might be. I want

10:48

to explain why we're using the names

10:51

of several people here who have alleged

10:53

sexual assault. So the

10:56

Washington Post has a policy of

10:58

not identifying alleged victims of sexual

11:00

abuse without their consent. In

11:03

the case of Cassie, whose full

11:05

name is Cassandra Ventura, and

11:07

Rodney Jones, who is a producer

11:10

who goes by the name Little Rod, they

11:12

were the ones who filed these lawsuits. And

11:16

when it comes to these lawsuits, how

11:19

has Sean Combs and attorneys

11:21

responded to those lawsuits? And

11:24

have they denied the allegations that were made in

11:26

these lawsuits? Sure. They have vehemently denied

11:29

all the allegations. So Combs says that

11:32

pretty much, you know, all of this is fiction. None

11:34

of this is true. Even though

11:36

he denied the allegations with Cassie, he did

11:38

settle that lawsuit the next day. And

11:42

we don't know the terms of the settlement? We don't know

11:44

the terms of the settlement. No.

11:47

You know, he said he wished to sort of

11:49

handle it in an amicable situation.

11:53

The resulting allegations he has flat out

11:55

denied and he's referred to them as

11:57

a cash grab. After

12:04

the break, I ask Ann about what

12:07

federal agents may have been searching for

12:09

in these raids of Combs' properties. We'll

12:12

be right back. So

12:31

if there is the sense that this federal

12:34

investigation is related to some of the circumstances

12:37

described in these lawsuits, like what

12:39

were these federal agents looking for?

12:41

What did they take with them that

12:45

are, I imagine, they

12:48

intend to help aid their investigation? So

12:51

we know the investigation has to

12:53

be pretty far along to get

12:56

to the point of federal agents

12:58

raiding your home. Now

13:00

the affidavit has not been made

13:02

publicly available, but we

13:04

know some things that may be

13:07

relevant because they were mentioned in

13:09

these lawsuits. So for example, Little

13:12

Rod, his former producer, accused Combs

13:14

of having hidden cameras in all of his

13:16

homes. And the footage

13:18

on these cameras were used as leverage over

13:21

people who participated

13:23

in some of

13:25

these alleged sex parties. And so something

13:27

like video footage, if it exists, would

13:30

be really, really important to building

13:32

a case against him. And

13:35

the theme of video

13:37

footage also comes up in some of the

13:39

other lawsuits. So the claims are

13:41

that not only did he allegedly commit these

13:43

acts, but that he filmed them as well.

13:46

Wow. To

13:48

be clear at this point, Diddy has not

13:50

been arrested and he's

13:52

not been charged. What

13:55

do we know about the timeline of this

13:57

investigation or when we might learn more about

13:59

what? federal agents either

14:01

have found or what they believe

14:03

might have happened at some of

14:05

Combs' houses? Well, there's a lot

14:08

here that we don't know, and I think it's important

14:10

to keep that in mind.

14:12

So we do have sources who have told

14:14

us that this investigation is related to sex

14:16

trafficking, but what we

14:18

don't know is how big of a pool they're

14:20

looking at. We don't

14:22

know how big this investigation is and who

14:24

else it might extend to. Now

14:27

the understanding is that if it is a

14:29

sex trafficking investigation, that charges

14:31

could come relatively quickly, and that's

14:34

according to some legal experts that

14:36

we spoke through. And

14:38

the reason why charges might be

14:41

accelerated is because when you have

14:43

a sex trafficking investigation, you really want

14:45

to be able to protect any potential

14:47

victims. But

14:50

we also don't know if there are other charges

14:52

that are being investigated. What

14:56

we've seen in those lawsuits is there

14:59

are kind of nods to other illegal

15:01

behavior. So we don't know

15:03

what the scope of their investigation is. We

15:05

don't know how many people they're

15:07

looking at. And we also don't know what's

15:09

happening behind the scenes. Combs

15:12

is a very rich man. He has the

15:15

ability to retain the best

15:17

legal representation in the country, and

15:19

we're not sure whether they're trying

15:22

to reach a resolution behind the

15:24

scenes that could bypass

15:26

charges altogether. So there's

15:28

truly just a lot of things

15:30

at play. And specifically

15:33

when it comes to this raid

15:35

and the investigation that appears to

15:38

be happening from federal law enforcement,

15:40

has Sean Combs responded to that

15:42

or spoken out at all about

15:44

the raid and about his

15:47

reaction to any potential allegations

15:49

that might be coming? Sure. Well, we

15:51

know through his lawyers, they found

15:54

the raids excessive. They

15:57

thought that it was over the top. deny

16:01

any sort of wrongdoing on Combs'

16:03

part. Now, the message

16:07

Combs has been sending hasn't necessarily been

16:09

a verbal one, but

16:13

we've seen in the days and

16:15

weeks after the raid, we've

16:18

seen him biking across Miami,

16:22

looking very relaxed, he's on the golf

16:24

course. And probably the

16:26

biggest example of that is a

16:29

post that he shared on social

16:31

media on his Instagram page.

16:34

It's a clip of his

16:37

music video for Victory. And

16:40

the clip shows him

16:42

basically outrunning armed police, just

16:45

kind of gloating about emerging

16:48

victorious, right? And

16:50

so he shares that clip with the caption, and

16:52

he's a bad boy for life. And

16:55

so the post

16:58

that he's striking, at least publicly, is

17:01

one of being unbothered

17:03

and defiant. So

17:06

Anne, you alluded to this

17:08

a little bit earlier, but

17:10

these lawsuits and this investigation,

17:12

it's not just about Diddy. I

17:14

mean, obviously he has famous

17:17

friends who spend time around him, and

17:19

it seems like his orbit,

17:23

there are stakes in this for those

17:25

individuals too. Can you describe a little bit about how

17:28

these cases could have an impact

17:30

on other people that we are

17:32

familiar with? Well, it gets

17:34

a bit complicated, so we're gonna wade through

17:36

this, I think, very carefully. So

17:39

there are a number of people named

17:41

in the lawsuits, but not all of

17:44

them have any connection to any illegal

17:46

activity, right? So one example

17:48

of this is Prince Harry is mentioned in

17:51

Little Rod's lawsuit. But

17:54

Prince Harry has nothing to do with

17:56

any of these allegations. He's named merely

17:58

as an example of... Combs

18:00

his release of his influence. You. Know

18:03

member of the royal family has

18:05

been to his house and the

18:07

thing that we have to focus

18:09

on are the people who are

18:11

named as having participated in a

18:13

legit elite illegal activity either. A

18:15

slew. Aiding and abetting or

18:17

being present, So. There's

18:19

a few really big accusations, no one

18:22

that comes to mind. First

18:24

his oeuvre, Pierre who is

18:26

the President of Bad Boy

18:28

Records. She's named as a

18:30

code defendant in a couple

18:32

lawsuits actually and it is

18:34

response has been very similar.

18:36

It so combs his response

18:38

in that he denies all

18:40

of the allegations and has

18:42

called these planes a desperate

18:44

attempt for financial gain. You

18:47

also have staffers who are named

18:49

as code defendants in these lawsuits.

18:52

To these allegations also extend to

18:54

did his family to of his

18:56

sons have been named as co

18:59

defendants in these lawsuits that alleged

19:01

sex trafficking and physical abuse and

19:03

sue a family attorney. They have.

19:06

Denied these allegations me

19:09

know they called them

19:11

manufactured and. Cells.

19:14

With regard to these other parties, They've.

19:16

Either denied their involvement

19:18

or have not responded

19:20

or you know or

19:23

acknowledged allegations. I'm we

19:25

haven't had. Anybody

19:27

who has acknowledged any

19:30

wrongdoing. And

19:32

the thing we have to remember to. Added

19:35

the night as hey day did he

19:37

was. Really well known. Part of is

19:40

one of his personas was as this

19:42

sort of flamboyant party boy figure. Everybody

19:45

in Hollywood wanted to go

19:47

sir the white parties in

19:49

the Hamptons and so insidious

19:52

who's extremely well connected And

19:54

so the question that arises

19:56

is. And how

19:59

many of the. The parties could

20:01

there have been illegal activity and

20:03

who else could have participated in.

20:11

I think a lot of people

20:13

who are either listening to this

20:15

now or who have been seeing

20:17

the headlines about this federated had

20:19

trying com says house that it

20:21

brings to mind are Kelly of

20:23

for See Now we saw that

20:25

unfolds over years or Kelly who

20:27

is now serving a thirty one

20:29

year prison sentence for a conviction

20:31

of Federal racketeering and sex trafficking

20:33

and I want to be clear

20:36

that like that is a completely

20:38

separate case and a completely different

20:40

situation. But I do wonder. Whether

20:42

I'm. Our. Kelly

20:44

and how long it took

20:46

for ah, that conviction to

20:48

happen. Whether that's informing how

20:50

the public is seeing what's

20:52

happening Now with Diddy. I

20:55

think that's certainly possible because

20:57

there seems to be these

21:00

broader similarities. So. As

21:02

you mentioned, it's important to note that

21:04

they're actually know the is no case

21:06

against did he just yet, but we

21:08

have as an ongoing investigation but there.

21:11

Are certainly sort of similarities

21:13

in the circumstances, so. Cities.

21:16

Facing allegations of.

21:19

Abuse and traffic. In that really?

21:22

Runs throughout almost the entirety of

21:24

his career. And that's

21:26

similar to what. We.

21:28

Saw was R. Kelly.

21:31

And. Another

21:34

thing that's relevant here

21:36

is that these. Were

21:38

Federal authorities investigating these

21:40

cases and which speaks

21:43

to their school? For

21:47

and what are the questions? That you're going to

21:50

be asking going for it as all of

21:52

this continues to unfold. So if charges or

21:54

bought forward, what's the scope. Who.

21:57

else is named litter sex trafficking that

21:59

is like a one-person job,

22:02

you know, clearly. R. Kelly

22:06

received federal racketeering

22:08

charges that isn't outside of

22:10

the realm of possibility here

22:12

and there was other illegal

22:15

behavior that was nodded to in some of

22:17

these lawsuits, potentially

22:19

alleged drug or gun trafficking as

22:22

well. And so we

22:24

really have to see what comes forward, if

22:26

anything, and I think from

22:28

there the question becomes, well,

22:30

who else knew or participated

22:33

or looked the other way. Anne,

22:40

thank you so much for explaining your reporting

22:42

on this. Thank you. Anne Branigan

22:46

is a style reporter at The Post. Before

22:54

we go, some news out of Arizona where the

22:56

state Supreme Court has cleared the way for

22:58

a near total ban on abortion. The

23:02

court ruled yesterday that Arizona

23:04

can enforce a law from

23:06

1864 that forbids abortions except

23:08

to save a mother's life. The law

23:11

also punishes abortion providers with prison

23:13

time. It could be weeks before the

23:15

ban takes effect and a state official said that

23:17

she won't enforce it. For now, abortions

23:19

will continue to be available through 15

23:21

weeks of pregnancy. But

23:23

groups in Arizona fighting for abortion access

23:25

are trying to get this issue on the ballot

23:28

in November. They want a

23:30

ballot question that if passed would amend

23:32

the state's constitution to protect abortion rights.

23:35

And today, they said that they've gotten enough signatures

23:37

to put it on the ballot. This

23:40

ruling has also forced some Arizona

23:42

Republicans to walk back their previous

23:44

statements supporting an abortion ban. That

23:47

includes Carrie Lake, the staunch Trump ally

23:49

who's running in one of the most

23:51

closely watched Senate races this cycle. In

23:54

a statement on Tuesday, she said she believes the

23:56

issue of abortion should be decided on

23:58

a state level and not for the state. and

24:01

she called Tuesday's ruling, quote, out of

24:03

step with Arizonans. That's

24:11

it for Post Reports. Thanks for listening. Today's show

24:13

was produced by Saby Robinson with help from

24:15

Emma Talcoss. It was

24:18

mixed by Sean Carter and edited by Lucy

24:20

Perkins. Thank you also to

24:22

Carla Spartos. If you

24:24

are looking for the latest updates on the big news of the day,

24:27

check out our morning news briefing, The Seven. We

24:30

bring you through the seven stories that you need to know about every

24:32

weekday morning by 7 a.m. You

24:35

can listen to it wherever you listen to podcasts. I'm

24:38

Martine Powers. We'll be back tomorrow with more

24:40

stories from The Washington Post.