Sean “Diddy” Combs is facing criminal charges as the Department of Justice expands its investigation into sex trafficking allegations and prepares a “bulletproof” indictment.
A new report published by CNN on Wednesday, May 29, said federal investigators have interviewed “the majority of the plaintiffs who have filed civil suits against Combs.” The report said the accusers have been told they could be asked to testify in front of a federal grand jury in New York City.
CNN described this latest development as an “escalation” of the investigation into Combs. Sources told the outlet the federal probe is widening to include “money laundering and illegal drugs.”
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The outlet said the wide-ranging investigation “stems from” some of the allegations detailed in the lawsuits against Combs.
The Bad Boy Records founder has so far been named in eight legal complaints since November, with seven of them accusing him of sexual assault and or rape.
One suit accused Combs of aiding and abetting his son Christian Combs, who is alleged to have sexually assaulted a yacht stewardess on a boat his father chartered for a New Year’s Eve celebration in December 2022.
Diddy’s former girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura filed the first lawsuit in November 2023. The 35-page complaint alleged rape, sexual battery, and human trafficking.
The mogul settled the lawsuit after one day. Although one of his legal reps said the settlement was in “no way an admission of wrongdoing.”
Then on May 17, CNN aired leaked surveillance footage recorded at a hotel in Los Angeles in 2016, that showed Combs chasing Ventura down a hallway, then violently pushing her to the ground, kicking her and dragging her back to his room.
She detailed the attack in her lawsuit and alleged “Mr. Combs paid the InterContinental Century City $50,000 for the hallway security footage from that evening.”
Diddy issued an apology amid public outcry on May 19, saying “he was truly sorry” for attacking Ventura.
Ventura’s lawsuit was filed under New York’s Adult Survivors Act (ASA). The landmark law created a one-year lookback window allowing adult victims of sexual abuse to pursue claims in court.
Three other women filed lawsuits against Combs days after her complaint, including one who alleged he and two other men raped and trafficked her when she was 17 years old in 2003.
The mogul called the allegations “sickening” and insisted he was innocent.
“Enough is enough. For the last couple of weeks, I have sat silently and watched people try to assassinate my character, destroy my reputation and my legacy,” he said in a statement in December.
In February, music producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones filed a lawsuit accusing Combs of sexual assault and harassment. The mogul maintained his innocence.
The bombshell complaint has a trigger warning on the front page noting that it contains “graphic images of the aftermath of a shooting, redacted images of sexual intercourse, redacted images of minors, sex workers and prostitutes, details of sex trafficking, and the illegal distribution of guns, and drugs.”
Shawn Holley, an attorney representing Combs, called the claims in Jones’ lawsuit “complete lies.”
Agents with the Department of Homeland security raided the mogul’s homes in Los Angeles and Miami on March 25. Combs was not arrested and has maintained his innocence.
The yacht stewardess named Grace O’Marcaigh filed her complaint on April 4. She alleged Diddy paid the boat’s captain as part of a “cover-up” and the alleged assault involving Christian Combs was never fully investigated.
On May 21, former fashion model Crystal McKinney filed a lawsuit against Combs in federal court in Manhattan. The complaint said she was allegedly sexually assaulted by the mogul during Men’s Fashion Week in 2003. McKinney said because of the “traumatic” encounter with Combs, she “saved the unwashed clothing from that night in her closet where they remain in a plastic wrap.”
Then on May 23, former college student April Lampros filed a lawsuit in New York Supreme Court alleging Combs sexually assaulted her multiple times in the 1990s, including once with his then-girlfriend, late model and actress Kim Porter.
Today’s CNN report said the mogul’s legal troubles could get much worse.
“Investigators are being thorough and taking their time to ensure that an indictment, should there be one, is ‘bulletproof,'” CNN said it was told by a source.
