2024 is shaping up to be a memorable year for US hip hop star Sean 'P.Diddy' Combs, for all the wrong reasons. Here's why - including what 'freak off' parties have to do with his fall from grace. Photo: ROBYN BECK
Warning: This story contains details that may upset some readers.
Explainer: Once upon a time in the 90s, P Diddy (real name: Sean Combs) was the crowned king of US hip hop, with a stellar music career and friends in high places. Now he's in big trouble - and in custody - after being charged with sex trafficking and racketeering. How did we get here?
Who is P Diddy, anyway?
Sean 'Diddy' Combs, 54, is a US music mogul and influential hip hop producer who first gained fame in the 90s.
Combs, also known as Puff Daddy, P. Diddy and Diddy, made his name by being the manager and producer of rapper Notorious B.I.G (Biggie Smalls). He's a three-time Grammy Award-winner who has worked with a long list of big names, including Mariah Carey, Mary J Blige, Usher and Faith Evans.
His debut album, No Way Out, sold seven million copies worldwide and featured 'I'll Be Missing You', a tribute he wrote after Biggie's death in 1997.
He's also dabbled in fashion, launched a TV channel and partnered with a major drinks company.
What charges is he facing?
Last week Combs was arrested in a Manhattan hotel and taken into custody. He was charged with three counts of sex trafficking, transportation to engage in prostitution and racketeering. Reuters reported that prosecutors accused Combs of running a criminal enterprise to facilitate his exploitation of women, dating back at least 16 years. According to the 14-page federal criminal indictment of Combs, the rapper was responsible for coordinating days-long sexual parties - know to the people involved in them as "freak offs".
While Combs' defence lawyers tried to have him released on a US$50 million bond, prosecutors told the judge that Combs was "extremely dangerous to the community". He remains in custody pending trial.
What do we know about the "freak offs"?
The New York Times reports that Combs was responsible for setting up these "freak offs," covering up any damage to hotel rooms, or people, when they were over.
"Elaborate and produced sexual performances" is what they were called in the official court documents - that involved drug use and coerced sex that would allegedly leave them so exhausted they had to be given fluids intravenously to recover.
The New York Times reported that Combs weaponised any videos he filmed at the freak-offs to keep everyone quiet.
"Freak-off activity is the core of this case, and freak-offs are inherently dangerous," Emily A Johnson, one of the prosecutors, said at a hearing last week.
Lawyers for Combs say they were consensual encounters. "Does everybody have experience with being intimate this way? No," Marc Agnifilo, a lawyer for Combs, said at a court hearing on Tuesday. "Is it sex trafficking? No, not if everybody wants to be there."
The government alleges that Combs ran a criminal racketeering enterprise, and that these freak offs were organised by people who worked for him. "Combs did not do this all on his own," said Damian Williams, the US attorney for the Southern District of New York, at a news conference last week.
"He used his business and employees of that business and other close associates to get his way. Those individuals allegedly included high-ranking supervisors in the business, personal assistants, security staff and household staff."
When did P Diddy's troubles begin?
Things started to unravel in a big way for Combs in late 2023. Combs faced three lawsuits from women alleging abuse and assault in a week, including one from former partner Cassie Ventura. That particular case was settled a day after it was filed, though Combs' lawyer said it was "in no way an admission of wrongdoing".
Soon after the Ventura case was settled, Combs was sued by another woman who accused him of sex trafficking and gang rape.
He took to Instagram to plead his innocence, claiming that this claim was "sickening" and "made against me by individuals looking for a quick payday".
In February 2024, Combs was accused of 'grooming' by music producer Rodney Jones Jr, who has filed a NZ$50 million lawsuit against him.
A couple of months later, the US Department of Homeland Security raided Diddy's mansions in Los Angeles and Florida. Associated Press reported that the properties were searched "as part of an ongoing sex-trafficking investigation".
It wasn't clear then whether Combs himself was the target of the investigation, but the raid sparked a lot of speculation about his whereabouts. Court documents now show that authorities found drugs and 1000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant, along with AR-15 rifles with defaced serial numbers.
Things got worse for him a few weeks later. In May 2024, CNN published a hotel surveillance video from 2016 that showed Combs appearing to grab, shove and kick Cassie Ventura in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in 2016.
After the footage became public, Combs took to Instagram to say that his behaviour was "inexcusable" and that he was "committed to be a better man".
"I was disgusted then when I did it. I'm disgusted now.
"I had to ask God for his mercy and grace. I'm so sorry," he said.
What next for Diddy?
In several months, a jury in Manhattan will have to decide which side of what happened at the "freak off" parties is more credible.
Until then, it's likely Combs will remain at the federal jail in Brooklyn as he's been denied bail. The judge said the rapper posed a risk of witness tampering and was a danger to the community while awaiting his sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy trial.
Prosecutors told court last week they have a "massive amount" of evidence including witnesses, photos, videos and text messages. Including that video which was released of Diddy with his ex-girlfriend, Ventura, in which he is seen striking her and dragging her by her hair while he wears only towel in the hallway of the InterContinental Hotel in LA. It's alleged she was attempting to leave the site of a freak off. Combs' lawyer explained the video at the time: that Ventura had found proof the rapper had "more than one girlfriend" and she had hit him in the head with his phone and taken off with all his clothes.