Sean Combs arrested in Manhattan after grand jury indictment

Sean Combs, the music mogul whose career has been upended by sexual assault lawsuits and a federal investigation, was arrested Monday evening at a Manhattan hotel after a grand jury indicted him.

The indictment is sealed and charges have not been announced, but Mark Agnifilo, a lawyer for Mr. Combs, said he believed he was being charged with racketeering and sex trafficking.

A statement from Mr. Combs' legal team said they were disappointed by the decision to prosecute him and noted that he had cooperated with the investigation and “voluntarily relocated to New York last week in anticipation of these charges.”

“Sean 'Diddy' Combs is a music icon, self-made entrepreneur, loving family man and proven philanthropist who has worked for the past 30 years to build an empire, cherish his children and improve the black community,” the statement read. “He's an imperfect person but he's not a criminal.”

U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams said in a statement posted on social media late Monday that “we expect to move to unseal the indictment in the morning and will have more to say at that time.”

Mr. Agnifilo said that Mr. Combs was arrested by Homeland Security Investigations officers at the Park Hyatt New York hotel on 57th Street around 8:30 p.m. He is expected to be held overnight and then arraigned on Tuesday.

The arrest of Mr. Combs, 54, makes him the highest-profile music figure to face criminal charges of sexual misconduct since the R&B singer, R. Kelly, who was sentenced after trials in New York and Chicago. 30 years in prison for child sex crimes, sex trafficking and racketeering.

Mr. Combs, 54, also known as Diddy and Puff Daddy, was a key figure in hip-hop's global rise as a commercial force in the 1990s and 2000s, helping to make stars of rappers and R&B singers such as Notorious BIG and Mary J. blitz But he has been under intense public scrutiny since an ex-girlfriend, Cassandra Ventura, filed a lawsuit last November accusing him of sexual and physical abuse.

Mr. Combs settled the case with Ms. Ventura — an R&B singer known as Cassie, who was signed to Mr. Combs' record label — within a day, and denied any wrongdoing. But legal pressure mounted over the next nine months, with five lawsuits filed by women alleging sexual assault and three other sexual misconduct lawsuits, all of which Mr. Combs' lawyers are fighting in court.

In March, federal agents raided Mr. Combs' homes in Los Angeles and Miami Beach, Fla., stopped him at a Miami-area airport and seized his electronic devices. Authorities made no announcement at the time, but a federal official said the investigation was at least a human-trafficking investigation. Federal prosecutors in New York have since interviewed several witnesses about allegations of sexual misconduct against Mr. Combs, according to a person familiar with the interviews.

Mr. Combs vehemently denied the allegations in the civil suit, calling them “sickening complaints” from people looking for a “quick payday.” His lawyers sharply criticized how the raids — which included Homeland Security Investigations agents producing guns — were an “excessive use of military-level force.”

That protest changed tone in May after CNN released hotel surveillance footage showing Mr. Combs physically assaulting and kicking Ms. Ventura in 2016. Mr Combs posted an apology video on social media in which he called his behavior “inexcusable” and said he had sought professional help.

A prolific producer and gifted impresario, Mr. Combs helped push hip-hop into the mainstream with his record label, Bad Boy Entertainment. In the mid-2000s he developed a raffish, larger-than-life media persona, throwing celebrity-studded parties and hosting a popular MTV reality competition show, “Making the Band.” And he established a lucrative brand portfolio, including fashion, liquor and a cable TV network, Rebellion.

For decades, Mr. Coombs has been dogged by allegations of violence, although this is the first time he has reportedly faced such extensive scrutiny for his behavior in years. In 2001, he was the subject of a highly publicized trial for a nightclub shooting, in which he was acquitted of gun and bribery charges.

In recent years, she has adopted a new persona, asking people to call her Love, naming her new daughter Love, and titled her first solo studio album in 17 years, “The Love Album: Off the Grid,” which she released independently. New label, Love Records.

Last year, Mr. Combs was coming off a whirlwind of positive publicity tied to that album and his long career in music when Ms. Ventura filed a lawsuit with sweeping and disturbing allegations spanning more than a decade. Her complaint included allegations of sex trafficking and said Mr. Combs forced Ms. Ventura to have sex with male prostitutes in front of her and directed her to use websites and escort services to find prostitutes to participate in drug-fueled encounters. “Freak Offs.”

Mr. Combs decided to settle only Ms. Ventura's case; His legal team fought the rest in court, making the allegations seem like bogus stories to settle.

In court filings, his lawyers said a case accusing him of taking part in a gang rape in 2003 had “singularly irreparably damaged” Mr Combs' reputation based on “rank, unsubstantiated allegations”. And after a male music producer accused Mr. Combs in a lawsuit of making unwanted sexual contact with him, a lawyer for Mr. Combs called the plaintiff a “liar” whose allegations were “pure fiction” to garner headlines.

Since these lawsuits were filed, much of Mr. Combs' brand portfolio has collapsed.

He sold his stake in Rebellion and his stake in DeLeon Tequila, a partnership with spirits group Diageo. A New York charter school network ended its partnership with him.

This month, Mr. Combs' mansion in the ritzy Holmby Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, where federal agents conducted a raid in March, was listed on the real estate market for $61.5 million.

In the wake of the #MeToo movement and its aftermath, prosecutors are increasingly turning to sex trafficking laws to prosecute sexual assault allegations in the federal court system. Mr. Kelly was first convicted of racketeering and violating an anti-sex-trafficking law known as the Mann Act.

Homeland Security Investigations, which often investigates sex-trafficking cases, led the investigation into Mr. Combs. The March operation was announced to the world on television news footage of agents converging on Mr. Combs's sprawling Los Angeles mansion and carrying electronics; The mother of one of his sons later shared footage of agents pointing guns at Justin and Christian Combs as they detained them at their father's home.

Since then, federal prosecutors have remained silent, quietly issuing subpoenas to potential witnesses as they build their case against Mr. Combs.