Sean Combs' white parties were edgy, A-list affairs. What more were they?

In the 2000s, few events had the cultural cachet of a white party thrown by Sean Combs — in Beverly Hills, the Hamptons and other playgrounds of the rich, festooned with famous names and lavish tables.

At the 2009 party, Demi Moore set the scene with Lil' Kim, dancers teetering on giant plastic balloons with stilt walkers, and Ashton Kutcher strutting across a swimming pool like Tarzan, flanked by models in white bikinis.

And at the center of it all was Mr. Combs, the billionaire hip-hop mogul also known as Puff Daddy and Diddy, toasting the scene with a glass of Ciroc vodka and welcoming his gleeful comparisons.

“Have I read 'The Great Gatsby'?” Mr Combs once told The Independent. “I'm the Great Gatsby!”

Today, Mr. Coombs' fortunes again invite comparisons with Gatsby, though now through scandal. Prosecutors said Mr. Combs enlisted employees, enablers and prostitutes in much darker than white parties at soirees called “freak-offs” — drug-heavy, sometimes day-long hotel parties, during which investigators say he sexually assaulted participants and Forced, which he sometimes filmed and masturbated.

The unsealed criminal indictment filed this month in federal court in Manhattan has invited some to reevaluate the white parties who worked with them or worked with them. Were they merely innocuous, press-conscious branding events where see and be seen? Or was there a darker element beyond the all-white facade?

In fact, a recent lawsuit alleges wrongdoing occurred at those events as well: In July, Adria English, whom Mr. Combs hired to work on a series of White parties in the mid-to-late 2000s, sued him, claiming she was supported. Drinks drugs and ecstasy at the event, and orders sex with certain guests, making him a “sexual pawn”. Jonathan Davies, a lawyer for Mr Combs, denied in July that his client ever did “Anyone who is sexually assaulted or trafficked.”

In a statement from Mr Combs' representatives on Saturday, his camp denied any wrongdoing by the White Party.

“It is disappointing that the media and social commentators twist these cultural moments into something they are not,” the statement said. “Taking video clips and photos out of context of celebrities who participated, and trying to link these incidents to false allegations is simply untrue.”

White parties were not named in the three-count indictment, which charged Mr. Combs, 54, with conspiracy to commit conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation for engaging in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty, and his legal team has cast his trial as an example of the “mistrial” of consensual behavior.

“He's a flawed person, but he's not a criminal,” said Mark Agnifilo, a lawyer for Mr. Combs, adding, “These are the actions of an innocent man with nothing to hide, and he looks forward to clearing his name in court.”

Nevertheless, the allegations have thrust Mr. Combs' entourage back into the spotlight, as hundreds of photos have resurfaced of celebrities rubbing shoulders with the musician, including Leonardo DiCaprio, the writer Salman Rushdie and Donald J. There are Hollywood A-listers like Trump. An indication of Mr. Combs' wide reach in the worlds of music, film, fashion and more.

Few in attendance have spoken in recent days about what it was like inside a Combs party, though celebrities of all stripes have described what it was like hanging out with him over the years, sometimes declining — with a laugh — to elaborate.

No invitation, perhaps, was more enticing than a white party, which Mr. Combs began staging in the late 1990s. These were miraculous, orchestrated events that seemed as much about mass communication as carousing. Veteran celebrities mingled with stars of the moment and set high-society gatherings that were often civic-minded causes. The dress code and decorations – all white – suggest a certain primitive simplicity.

“There were nice people, but it was a lot of Hamptons people, and younger people, nightclub kids,” said Patrick McMullen, a nightlife photographer who attended some of the parties. “They all wanted to be part of that scene.”

In her 114-page suit – which included a “trigger warning” because of its graphic nature – Ms English, who said she worked at several white parties in the mid-to-late 2000s, suggested the glamor was a mask. At one party, she said Mr Combs asked her to wear a black dress to convince other guests she was available for sex. According to court papers, he said he was later paid $1,000 for an encounter with a guest.

Ms. English, who previously worked as an erotic dancer and adult film actress, also accused Mr. Combs in her lawsuit of allowing other unidentified men to sexually assault her — and film the acts — while she was unconscious at a White party in New York. , and his home in Star Island, Fla.

“The true nature of his employment with the White Party was malicious, inexcusable, exploitative and criminal,” the lawsuit states.

Responding to the suit in July, Mr Combs' lawyer, Mr Davies, said: “We live in a world where anyone can be sued for any reason and without any evidence. Fortunately, a fair and impartial judicial process exists to find the truth and Mr. Coombs is confident that he will prevail in court against these and other baseless claims.”

A veteran of the Hamptons social scene said the allegations against Mr. Combs had led some to reconsider their own experience of joining the White Party.

“All who could go, went,” said R. Cory Hay, a New York City publicist who has long written about the Hamptons' society scene, though said he now wonders “what's going on behind closed doors.”

Mr. Hay agreed that the “people-oriented” White parties were meant to promote and promote Mr. Combs' image. “It was Puffy's Met Gala, it was Puffy's Oscars, it was Puffy's Grammy Awards,” he said.

White parties usually run from daytime to dusk. Some guests brought their children — as did Mr. Combs — who drank free ice cream alongside the stars. Brand-name sponsors plastered their names on white-carpeted backdrops and waved. Invitees are sometimes recruited from high-profile celebrities and friends, some lesser-known models, from catwalk shows in New York City.

Once the guests arrived, sometimes bussed in from Manhattan, waiters in white tuxedos served champagne. Pains were taken to make sure the white parties were well-received in the Hamptons, said Nicholas Krause, whom Mr. Combs hired to conduct diplomacy with his Long Island neighbors, including offers of limo rides and dinners at fancy restaurants at Mr. Combs' dollar, to quell noise complaints.

No expense was spared, no detail was overlooked: In 2004, Mr. Combs brought an original copy of the Declaration of Independence to a July 4 White Party in Bridgehampton, a borrowed relic — from the television producer Norman Lear — that a group was obsessed with. Security officers.

“I won't spill the champagne on it I promise,” Mr Coombs joked.

The festival — which was promoted by Sony and also hosted by Jay-Z and Paris Hilton — offered a buffet of upper-crust entertainment options, including badminton, horseback riding and croquet. It doubled as a kickoff event for Mr. Combs' Citizen Change, a get-out-the-vote organization, part of an effort he described to make “this election the hottest, sexiest thing ever.”

At the 2009 party in Beverly Hills, the settings and stagecraft were equally grand, with scores of white ottomans and a custom-made trellis above the pool, wrapped in white gauze, from which Mr. Kutcher would later swing. The party promoted Malaria No More, a non-profit that provides mosquito control and other services in malaria areas. The dress code was strict, and enforced.

“White means white,” said T. Scott Case, former CEO of Malaria No More “Don't appear on eggshells.”

Some white groups also had sensuality. Models wore angel wings and sometimes went topless. Photos from the 1998 bash show Mr Combs pouring champagne over two half-naked women.

As the celebrations transitioned from day to night, guests and hired models sometimes ended up completely or partially naked in the pool, some attendees said.

Jay Blaze, a recording artist whose music was featured on Mr. Combs' reality competition show “Making the Band,” attended the 2009 party, after showing up uninvited. Mr. Combs lets him in, but on the condition that he go “to do something good for people.”

As the sun went down, Mr. Blaze said his discomfort grew. Drunken men lunged at models in the pool, she said, getting into dry clothes or obstructing them. No one intervened.

“The reaction was: 'It's a hip-hop party, it's a DD party, it's a white party,'” Mr. Blaze recalled.

At another white party held in 2006 at Nikki Beach, St Tropez's famous beach club, guests were confronted with sexually charged images, including two tongues entwined and Mr Combs' hands under a woman's bikini. Another photo shows the star shirtless, with his signature sunglasses and a pair of jewel-encrusted crosses hanging across his glistening chest. A yacht bobbed ashore.

Mr. Combs stopped his white parties after the Beverly Hills event in 2009; Her reps said part of the reason was the mogul was spending less time in the Hamptons. They added that the parties were “a true amalgamation of iconic, hip-hop, Hollywood and black excellence” with “endless people waiting to attend.”

Now, however, Mr. Combs is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn after being denied bail. He faces life imprisonment if convicted of conspiracy; Two other charges carry the potential for lengthy prison terms.