How Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs wielded energy and status to gas many years of alleged abuse

For many years, Sean “Diddy” Combs offered the picture of a rich, Black music mogul, one who broke enterprise boundaries, threw lavish events and even created iconic TV moments. However behind the scenes, prosecutors say, was a extra sinister image, with allegations of violence, intercourse trafficking and extreme abuses of energy. 

All through his profession, Combs’ dominated music, tv and vogue, amassing a fortune price a whole lot of hundreds of thousands of {dollars}. In public, he was a shrewd music producer, producing hip-hop hits beneath his Dangerous Boy Data label, which he based in 1993 and helped set up him as a cultural magnate. Combs was on the middle of one among rap’s most infamous — and lethal — beefs between the east and west coasts culminating within the deaths of Tupac and Infamous B.I.G. He capitalized on hip-hop’s shift into mainstream tradition on the daybreak of a brand new millennium. His “All In regards to the Benjamins” was parodied by “Bizarre” Al Yankovich. He famously dated Jennifer Lopez when she made a splash on the crimson carpet on the 2000 Grammy awards in an iconic Versace robe. On the floor, Combs offered himself because the fun-loving producer who danced in music movies and the robust enterprise mogul creating contemporary expertise. 

However in non-public, prosecutors allege in an indictment unsealed Tuesday, Combs, now 54, and his associates “wielded” his “energy and status” to orchestrate sexual, emotional and bodily abuse in opposition to the folks round him. Whereas Combs’ explosive mood was an open secret and rumors lengthy swirled about his intercourse life, his energy and affect, specialists say, has shielded him from accountability for years of alleged criminal activity.

Combs was arrested Monday and charged with intercourse trafficking, racketeering and transportation to interact in prostitution. It got here after months of lawsuits and several other allegations of sexual assault, gender violence, misconduct and different “severe criminal activity” that passed off over a number of years. He pleaded not responsible on Tuesday, and a choose denied him bail after U.S. Legal professional Damian Williams argued Combs is a flight threat and a hazard to the group. Combs is presently being held within the Metropolitan Detention Heart in New York, and is on “procedural” suicide watch, as is typical with with excessive profile purchasers.

“We have seen this sample earlier than — somebody able of energy and affect chooses to take advantage of others for their very own achieve, utilizing concern, manipulation and violence to take care of management over his victims,” Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the Nationwide Girls’s Legislation Heart, mentioned in an announcement.

The fees stem from Combs’ hours- and dayslong sexual performances referred to as “freak offs,” which allegedly included coerced intercourse acts that Combs is accused of orchestrating and recording. The indictment mentioned Combs sought “to satisfy his sexual needs, shield his fame, and conceal his conduct.”

“Combs relied on the workers, assets, and affect of the multi-faceted enterprise empire that he led and managed — making a prison enterprise whose members and associates engaged in, and tried to interact in, amongst different crimes, intercourse trafficking, pressured labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice,” it reads.

“These allegations reveal not solely a gross abuse of non-public energy however underscore a systemic use of networks and his staff to perpetuate sexual violence,” mentioned Goss Graves, who can also be the co-founder of the Time’s Up Authorized Protection Fund, which gives authorized help to individuals who have skilled office sexual harassment.

The indictment listed Combs’ safety employees, family employees, private assistants, “high-ranking supervisors” and others among the many “associates” who made up a prison group, which the indictment calls the “Combs Enterprise.” Combs and these associates allegedly engaged in pressured labor, sexual coercion and trafficking, drug offenses, kidnapping, arson, bribery and different crimes beneath Combs’ management.

Since late 2023 and as just lately as final week, a number of ladies and a few males have filed lawsuits in opposition to Combs alleging every thing from abuse to intercourse trafficking. A flood of lawsuits got here after Combs’ former girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura sued him in federal courtroom in November, accusing him of years of bodily abuse all through their 11-year relationship, throughout which, she mentioned, he exerted full management over her. Combs and Ventura have been first romantically linked in 2007 and break up in 2018.

She and Combs settled the go well with a day later however didn’t disclose the phrases of the settlement. On the time, Combs denied the allegations. Singer Daybreak Richard, Combs’ producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, a number of unnamed ladies and a Michigan man have filed lawsuits in opposition to Combs accusing him of varied types of abuse and misconduct. Combs has denied the allegations, and a choose halted a $100 judgment in favor of the Michigan man, Derrick Lee Cardello-Smith, as a way to maintain extra hearings.

Earlier than Ventura’s allegations final yr, Combs’ fame had remained intact regardless of all the accusations, authorized troubles and rumors that trailed him during the last three many years. Combs’ habits had lengthy fueled social media chatter amongst followers and artists, together with rivals and people who had labored with him. However the accumulation of assault prices, filmed outbursts and erratic habits, capped by Vetura’s allegations in November, lastly tipped the scales. That it took so lengthy for Combs to face authorized repercussions and public rebuke speaks to the facility of his celeb and the picture he had maintained since his ascent, mentioned Oronike Odeleye, activist and co-founder of the #MuteRKelly social media marketing campaign.

“The music business is constructed on exploitation,” she mentioned. “Behind all the sensationalism, the drama and the rumors are precise survivors, individuals who lived by way of these experiences. We must always hold them within the forefront of our minds.”

The indictment alleges that Combs threatened folks with firearms, supplied bribes and leveraged his cash and affect to each management victims and guarantee their silence.

The tradition of silence fostered by Combs’ energy and celeb is much like the protecting community that saved singer R. Kelly from being held accountable for his abuse of ladies and younger ladies, Odeleye mentioned. Kelly was convicted of sexual exploitation and enticement of a minor in 2022.

“Among the silence is, ‘I must be in proximity to this particular person as a result of they’re highly effective and so they could make or break my profession,'” Odeleye mentioned, including that she believes unhealthy concepts of masculinity have performed a job in Combs’ alleged habits. For some males, she mentioned, “violence in opposition to ladies, sadly, props up your masculinity.”

Combs skilled a fast rise from unpaid Uptown Data intern to music mogul in only a few years. Within the early ’90s, Combs tapped now-legendary artists Infamous B.I.G., Craig Mack, Religion Evans, 112 and Mase to fill the roster of his then-fledgling Dangerous Boy Leisure label. He launched his personal profitable albums initially as Puff Daddy, a nickname he mentioned stemmed from his personal risky mood. By the Nineties and early 2000s, his artists topped the charts.

Combs’ lineup of rappers and singers offered a distinct sound from the gangsta rap, pop and grunge rock that have been widespread on the time. The music represented a model of hip-hop that combined totally different sounds that appealed to totally different demographics however by no means felt inauthentic.

“They have been trendsetters,” Richard, one of many singers who later sued Combs, mentioned of his signature artists again in 2015. “It was as a consequence of Puff’s ear and his capacity to select voices that have been like no different.”

Because the years went on, Combs expanded his empire to incorporate clothes, fragrances, hit MTV reveals, alcohol manufacturers and extra. As of June, Combs’ estimated internet price was $400 million, in keeping with Forbes, even after dropping a whole lot of hundreds of thousands as allegations in opposition to him have piled on.

He grew to become related to wealth and energy together with music and tradition. His ever-growing empire earned him a fame as a rich, business-minded man and the image of “Black excellence,” with a bootstrapping, rags-to-riches story that served as inspiration particularly for younger, Black males.

Over time, the general public has gotten glimpses into Combs’ behind-closed-doors demeanor, most notably in interviews, brief clips and when he led the MTV actuality sequence “Making the Band.” From 2002 to 2009, Combs developed musical acts on the present with a troublesome, no-nonsense perspective. From making contestants stroll a number of miles to get him a slice of cheesecake to his verbal altercation with choreographer Laurieann Gibson, Combs bolstered his fame as a prolific however intimidating determine within the business.

Combs spoke about his go-getter perspective in a clip he shared to advertise the 2017 documentary about his life, “Cannot Cease, Will not Cease: A Dangerous Boy Story.” Within the clip, Combs finishes establishing a enterprise deal on the telephone earlier than excitedly throwing tools in his workplace and yelling, “I am a savage! No matter I would like I’ve to get!”

“We see this and we’re like, ‘Diddy must be demanding.’ You see him being abusive and horrible. There are such a lot of situations of Diddy telling us some model of this darkish s— publicly and everyone simply ignored it as a result of rappers are anticipated to make use of hyperbole to a sure diploma,” mentioned A.D. Carson, a professor of hip-hop and the World South on the College of Virginia.

“So, when rappers are speaking about their propensity for violence, or their propensity for assault … within the title of moguldom, we’re like, ‘Oh, that is simply what it takes. He most likely would not do this for actual.'”

Combs has leaned into this concept of aspirational wealth, most notably along with his lavish Labor Day White Events.

From 1998 to 2009, Combs’ annual get together was one of many hottest tickets, with visitors like Paris Hilton, Leonardo DiCaprio, Mariah Carey, Jay-Z and Beyoncé attending. Combs mentioned he launched the White Celebration to affiliate hip-hop with wealth and the higher echelon. “I wished to strip away everybody’s picture and put us all in the identical shade, and on the identical degree,” he mentioned in a 2006 interview with Oprah.

“Rappers type of function with this symbolic worth to folks. That is the Diddy phenomenon,”  Carson mentioned.

Carson added that Combs’ wealth and affect in Black tradition had made him somebody whom Black celebrities wished to affiliate with, typically at the price of ignoring his alleged misconduct and abuse.

“That type of energy produces all types of outcomes, together with folks organizing themselves in such a method that this appears to be the value of participation,” Carson mentioned. “Within the tradition, persons are involved with what they stand to achieve by” remaining silent.

Whereas Combs frequently smiled for photographs with A-listers and fortunately hosted bashes, behind closed doorways, in keeping with the indictment, he was punching, dragging, putting, kicking and throwing objects at folks, together with ladies and his staff, and bribing witnesses to make sure their silence.

The latest wave of lawsuits is not the primary time Combs’ conduct has been referred to as into query. For years, Combs has been criticized for allegedly protecting his artists’ publishing rights, and he is been linked to shootings, accused of assault, and related to abusive sexual habits.

A few of Combs’ previous artists have been vital of him in latest many years and accused him of owing them hundreds of thousands of {dollars}. Mase, one among Combs’ main collaborators within the late ’90s, has usually referred to as Combs out over his enterprise practices, together with protecting Mase’s publishing rights.

In 2023, Combs introduced that he would give Dangerous Boy artists and songwriters together with Mase, the Lox, 112, Religion Evans and different creators their publishing rights. This was welcome information to many besides Aubrey O’Day, a member of the now-disbanded all-girl Dangerous Boy group Danity Kane. O’Day mentioned in an interview that as a part of receiving her publishing rights, she must comply with signal a nondisclosure settlement that barred her from making any destructive feedback about Combs publicly.

O’Day has lengthy been vital of Combs and mentioned she was fired from the group in 2008 after refusing to adjust to Combs’ instructions “not talentwise however in different areas.”

“I by no means thought I’d see today,” she informed TMZ this week. “All of us buried this within us so as to have the ability to hold going. And never simply me, however victims you do not even know but. We’re all processing what that kind of vindication can truly really feel like now. Each dialog I’ve had with victims final evening has been past transferring on all ranges.”