Nature of investigation not revealed, however raids comply with allegations of intercourse offences, together with trafficking, made by ex-girlfriend.
United States federal brokers have raided two houses belonging to hip-hop star Sean “Diddy” Combs.
Division of Homeland Safety officers confirmed on Monday that they’d performed searches of the music mogul’s houses in Los Angeles and Miami.
The investigation is being led by Homeland Safety Investigations (HSI) brokers in New York, the place a lawsuit was filed in opposition to Combs by a former girlfriend final yr, accusing him of intercourse trafficking.
In an announcement issued to the Reuters information company, HSI didn’t elaborate on the character of its investigation. Nonetheless, it has jurisdiction to analyze the unlawful motion of individuals, items, cash, expertise and contraband, together with intercourse trafficking.
R&B vocalist Cassandra Ventura sued Combs in federal courtroom in Manhattan in November, accusing him of subjecting her to bodily abuse, sexual slavery and rape throughout a 10-year skilled and romantic relationship.
The swimsuit cited violations of intercourse trafficking and human trafficking statutes beneath federal, New York state and California legal guidelines.
Ventura and Combs – who has used such monikers as P Diddy, Puff Daddy and Diddy – introduced the subsequent day they’d settled the case beneath confidential phrases.
Combs, 54, has stated that he’s harmless and his accusers had been looking for “a fast payday”.
Ventura’s courtroom motion opened the door to different lawsuits, elevating allegations of sexual assault and rape in opposition to Combs from different plaintiffs.
In December, Combs denied the newest civil criticism, which accused him of participating within the gang rape of an adolescent whom he organized to fly from Detroit to New York 20 years in the past,
Tv stations in Los Angeles carried aerial video footage exhibiting HSI brokers and different regulation enforcement authorities raiding Combs’s property within the metropolis’s upscale Holmby Hills neighbourhood.
Los Angeles Metropolis Information Service reported a number of individuals had been detained exterior the house, however it was unclear whether or not any arrests had been made.
Native information retailers reported that federal authorities additionally executed a search warrant on the rap mogul’s Miami-area house.
Footage confirmed officers going out and in of his property on Miami Seaside’s Star Island with brokers carrying a field of fabric from the house.
Combs’s whereabouts throughout the raids weren’t identified.