How Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs wielded power and prestige to fuel decades of alleged abuse

Sean Diddy Combs was arrested Monday and charged with sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution. It came after months of lawsuits and several allegations of sexual assault, gender violence, misconduct and other “serious illegal activity” that took place over several years. He pleaded not guilty on Tuesday, and a judge denied him bail after U.S. Attorney Damian Williams argued Combs is a flight risk and a danger to the community. Combs is currently being held in the Metropolitan Detention Center in New York, and is on “procedural” suicide watch, as is typical with with high profile clients.

“We’ve seen this pattern before — someone in a position of power and influence chooses to exploit others for their own gain, using fear, manipulation and violence to maintain control over his victims,” Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center, said in a statement.

The charges stem from Combs’ hours- and dayslong sexual performances called “freak offs,” which allegedly included coerced sex acts that Combs is accused of orchestrating and recording. The indictment said Combs sought “to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct.”

“Combs relied on the employees, resources, and influence of the multi-faceted business empire that he led and controlled — creating a criminal enterprise whose members and associates engaged in, and attempted to engage in, among other crimes, sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice,” it reads.

“These allegations reveal not only a gross abuse of personal power but underscore a systemic use of networks and his employees to perpetuate sexual violence,” said Goss Graves, who is also the co-founder of the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund, which provides legal aid to people who have experienced workplace sexual harassment.

The indictment listed Combs’ security staff, household staff, personal assistants, “high-ranking supervisors” and others among the “associates” who made up a criminal organization, which the indictment calls the “Combs Enterprise.” Combs and these associates allegedly engaged in forced labor, sexual coercion and trafficking, drug offenses, kidnapping, arson, bribery and other crimes under Combs’ leadership.

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