This article references sexual abuse, gang rape, and domestic abuse.
Why was Diddy arrested on 16 September? The indictment, which was unsealed yesterday, revealed that Combs was charged with sex trafficking and racketeering.
This comes after sexual assault and abuse allegations against Sean Combs, better known to music fans as Diddy, first came to light when his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura filed a lawsuit against him in November of 2023. The allegations became front-page news in March of 2024, when two of his homes were raided as part of an ongoing human trafficking investigation, according to CNN.
Since then, other alleged victims have filed additional lawsuits as more details – including graphic surveillance video footage – have continued to emerge.
It’s a fast-moving story, but here is a timeline of everything we know so far about the Diddy assault allegations.
16 November 2023: Singer Cassie files a lawsuit accusing Combs of physical and sexual abuse that lasted for years, according to the Associated Press (AP). Through his lawyer, Combs denies the accusations. After Cassie’s lawsuit went public, others came forward with similar lawsuits that also accused the music mogul of sexual assault.
6 December 2023: A woman anonymised as Jane Doe in legal documents becomes the fourth person to accuse Diddy of sexual assault – specifically gang rape – as well as sex trafficking, per the AP. She alleges that in 2003, Harve Pierre, then president of Combs’s Bad Boy Records, flew her on a private jet from Detroit to New York, where Combs, Pierre, and a third man raped her when she was 17, a minor. Pierre denies the allegations.
In a statement published on Instagram on 6 December, Combs denies all accusations of sexual assault, writing, “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.”