The Department of Homeland Security’s investigation division hit Sean “Diddy” Combs with multiple raids at several Los Angeles and Miami properties connected to the media mogul.
A Homeland Security Investigations spokesperson confirmed to HuffPost that HSI was working with its Los Angeles and Miami operations, along with local law enforcement, as part of an investigation.
Footage from news helicopters showed officers surrounding a property linked to Diddy in the Holmby Hills area of Los Angeles. Footage also showed two men detained in cuffs at the Los Angeles property. Authorities also raided two other properties in Star Island, a neighborhood in Miami Beach, Florida, according to the Miami Herald.
The raids come after numerous allegations of violence and sexual abuse against Diddy became public late last year, starting with singer-songwriter Cassie Ventura’s damning lawsuit in November 2023, which was settled less than 24 hours after it was filed.
“Earlier today, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New York executed law enforcement actions as part of an ongoing investigation, with assistance from HSI Los Angeles, HSI Miami, and our local law enforcement partners. We will provide further information as it becomes available,” a spokesperson for HSI told HuffPost in a statement.
Though the exact case related to the raids remains unclear, the raids are reportedly linked to a sex trafficking investigation, CBS homeland security reporter Nicole Sganga said on X, formerly Twitter, citing unnamed U.S. officials.
Rolling Stone and NBC News reported Monday that several Jane and John Does had been interviewed by Southern District of New York investigators, with more to come. NBC News also reported that authorities seized Diddy’s phones in Miami prior to a trip to the Bahamas.
The attorney for Cassie and a Jane Doe released a statement Monday about the raids.
“We will always support law enforcement when it seeks to prosecute those that have violated the law. Hopefully, this is the beginning of a process that will hold Mr. Combs responsible for his depraved conduct,” attorney Douglas Wigdor told HuffPost in an emailed statement.
An attorney for Diddy did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
At least two of several lawsuits against Diddy accuse him of sex trafficking, including the suit from Cassie and a Jane Doe. Cassie, who was formerly in a relationship with Diddy, said that he forced her to partake in being sexual with male sex workers as he watched, fueled her dependency on substances, raped her and regularly hit her. The suit was quietly settled the following day. In December, Jane Doe accused Diddy of gang-raping her alongside record executive Harve Pierre when she was a teenager in 2003.
Following Cassie’s suit, two other women stepped forward with allegations against him: a woman who said Diddy and singer Aaron Hall raped her in the early ’90s, and Joi Dickerson-Neal, who said Diddy raped her and showed the footage to multiple people. Their suits came as the Adult Survivors Act in New York was set to expire. The law temporarily allowed accusers to bring their allegations to court beyond the statute of limitations.
Recently, producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones accused Diddy of operating a racketeering enterprise, lacing alcoholic beverages for people in his home and “constant unsolicited and unauthorized groping.” According to his complaint filed in February, Jones obtained “hundreds of hours of footage and audio records of Mr. Combs, his staff, and his guests engaging in serious illegal activity.” Jones also linked Diddy to a shooting at a popular recording studio in Los Angeles and claimed that Diddy also said he was “responsible” for the 1999 killing of rapper Shyne.
“It’s about damn time. Sometimes justice delayed is not justice denied, so long as justice ultimately arrives,” Tyrone Blackburn, the attorney for Lil Rod and the woman who claimed Diddy and Hall raped her in the 1990s, told Rolling Stone.
Diddy, nicknamed “Brother Love,” has denied the allegations against him.
“Sickening allegations have been made against me by individuals looking for a quick payday. Let me be absolutely clear: I did not do any of the awful things being alleged. I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth,” Diddy said in a December statement.
Since the allegations came out, he has stepped down as the chairman of media company Revolt and faced the nixing of a reality show that would document his life.