By MF (with AFP)
Published on October 2, 2024 at 2:51 p.m., updated on October 2, 2024 at 4:06 p.m.
Sean Combs, alias P. Diddy, à New York le 7 mai 2018. ANGELA WEISS/AFP
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Recap Suspected of trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation and targeted by dozens of complaints, American rapper Sean Combs, alias Diddy or P. Diddy, was arrested in mid-September. He is notably accused of having organized evenings during which participants were drugged and raped.
The revelations never stop flooding into the United States, and with them the consternation. Already indicted and incarcerated for trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation, rapper P. Diddy, an artist with many names and hats, and a very influential figure in hip-hop and American music, is now accused of sexual assault by 120 new victims, including several minors.
• Around ten complaints in a few months
It all starts in November 2023 when the public discovers the complaint from singer Cassie, the rapper’s ex-partner, who accuses him of rape and physical violence for more than ten years. Sean Combs, his real name, fiercely denied it, and the matter was settled amicably a few weeks later.
The public then has no idea of the surge that will follow. From now on, around ten complaints for sexual assault, mistreatment and touching, rape of a minor, under drugs, with chemical submission, are pouring in, for acts which allegedly took place in the 1990s and early 2000s.
A former porn actress, Adria English, accuses him of having used her “as a sexual pawn for the pleasure and financial benefit of other people”between 2004 and 2009. Another woman claims to have been gang raped by the rapper and two other men when she was 17.
Among these accusations, that of a former producer of Sean Combs in 2022-2023 who accuses him of having sexually assaulted, drugged and raped him. He then describes an organized system, and incriminates two label executives, Lucian Grainge (Universal Music) and Ethiopia Habtemariam (Motown). He also claims to be in possession of hundreds of hours of recordings of parties involving drugs, sex workers, minors and chemical submission.
The rapper disputes all of these accusations… until CNN revealed, in May, a video, dating from 2016 and taken from hotel surveillance cameras, in which Sean Combs unleashes a rampage of violence against Cassie Ventura, kicking her and dragging her to the ground. In a video posted to his Instagram account, he described his behavior as ” disgusting “ et « inexcusable »and stated “take full responsibility for your actions”.
• Accused of sex trafficking and incarcerated
The case took a further turn when the rapper was arrested on September 16. “For decades”Sean Combs “abused, threatened and coerced women and others around him to satisfy his sexual desires, protect his reputation and cover up his actions”detailed the indictment from the Manhattan federal prosecutor’s office.
Faced with investigators the next day, Sean Combs pleaded “not guilty” counts of trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation and extortion. In the process, he was placed in pre-trial detention pending trial, with a judge emphasizing his fears of the repetition of such “crimes that take place behind closed doors”. “He is innocent”insists his lawyer who maintains that his client wants to cooperate with the investigators.
• “Freak-off” evenings at the heart of the accusations
At the heart of the investigation, there are parties organized by the rapper, fine parties in luxury hotels and nicknamed « freak-offs ».
Federal prosecutor Damian Williams described a system based on « violence » to force women to have “long sexual relationships with sex workers”, scenes that he “recorded” and during which the victims took substances such as ecstasy, GHB or ketamine.
“When Combs didn’t get what he wanted, he was violent […] kicking and dragging his victims, sometimes by the hair”he said again. According to the indictment, the rapper relied on his employees, “the resources and influence of the multifaceted business empire he directed and controlled to create a criminal enterprise whose members engaged […] trafficking for sexual exploitation, forced labor, kidnapping, obstruction of justice.”
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The indictment describes scenes of horror, “elaborate sexual performances” involving lots of drugs and forced sex, “leaving participants so exhausted that they were given intravenous fluids to regain their strength”, summarizes the “New York Times”. The video by Sean Combs where he brutalizes Cassie would have been filmed while the singer tried to flee one of these events.
These evenings are “the heart of this matter and they are inherently dangerous”said a prosecutor, Emily A. Johnson, during a court hearing.
The defense provides a completely different version of these meetings, described as meetings agreed between all the participants, including Cassie: “Has everyone had such sexual experiences?” No. Is this sex trafficking? Not if everyone wanted to be there”argued Marc Agnifilo, one of Sean Combs’ lawyers, during a hearing.
• 120 new victims identified
Tuesday, October 1, a new twist when American lawyers revealed that 120 new victims, including 25 minors at the time of the events, had been identified. “The wall of silence has been broken and the victims are coming forward”explained lawyer Tony Buzbee, who says he represents them, affirming that they intend to pursue the rapper in civil court.
His office set up a telephone crisis line after the rapper’s arrest, which delivered astonishing results: “More than 3,285 people” called saying they were victims or witnesses of an attack by Sean Combs. If 120 victims have been identified, the teams involved continue to work “in more than 100 other cases” which could stand up in court, explained lawyer Andrew Van Arsdale.
“I would say that in 90% of cases, these individuals were drugged” before being attacked, Tony Buzbee said. Some victims, minors at the time of the events, were sometimes very young, according to the lawyer, who took as an example the case of a boy aged 9 when he auditioned for P. Diddy’s label, Bad Boy Records. “This person was sexually abused, apparently by Sean Combs and several others at the studio, promising him and his parents a recording contract in return.”he detailed. Another woman, aged 15 at the time of the events, claims to have “was raped” by the artist during an evening where she was drugged, before “other people take turns raping her”. Lawyers have called on other potential victims to come forward.
• Rumors that abound on the internet around many celebrities
Faced with the scale of the accusations and the notoriety of P. Diddy, it did not take long for rumors to flood the internet. These were notably fueled by the relationships that the rapper maintains or has maintained with numerous international stars.
At the peak of his career and from the end of the 1990s, Sean Combs was known for his very select evenings, « white parties » where the cream of show business found themselves. The rapper then dreamed of himself as a modern Great Gatsby. The actor Leonardo DiCaprio, the presenter Oprah Winfrey, or the one who was still a real estate mogul Donald Trump… Hundreds of stars have dressed in white over the years to go to one of these parties, described as “iconic” by heiress Paris Hilton. As is often the case in these cases, all the people who participated directly or indirectly in these events fall under suspicion for web investigators and followers of conspiracy theories. For the moment, however, it is impossible to know who, among these stars, was aware of the actions attributed to the singer.
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Another name cited in the case: that of the Canadian singer Justin Bieber, whose career launched when he was only 15 years old and who was notably taken under his wing by P. Diddy. In the documentary “Justin Bieber’s 48 Hours with Diddy” released in 2009, the rapper promised the teenager to direct “the dream of his 15th birthday”to do “crazy things”that he “cannot reveal”. Since the beginning of the accusations against the rapper, many Internet users believe that Justin Bieber was a victim of Sean Combs, providing as evidence extracts of videos often without context, supposed coded messages in his clips, and even a song supposedly performed by the singer… who would in fact only be a product of artificial intelligence, as specialists have noted interviewed by CBS News. The Canadian singer did not comment on the matter, just like many of the personalities cited by Internet users.
