P Diddy: the most disturbing claims against the US rapper

ARE the walls closing in on P Diddy? Properties belonging to the rapper, including a $40 million Los Angeles mansion, were raided by US federal agents on Monday as part of a sex trafficking investigation. Diddy, who was on his way to a Caribbean holiday, was also detained and questioned at a Florida airport. He has called it a “witch hunt”.

It comes months after the music mogul, 54, whose real name is Sean Combs, was accused of multiple incidents of sexual assault including physical, sexual, and mental abuse towards his ex-girlfriend, the singersongwriter Cassie. Another accuser alleges that he, along with two other men, raped her two decades ago, when she was 17. Music producer Rodney Jones has also accused Diddy of sexually assaulting him and forcing him to sleep with sex workers. The rapper denies all the allegations.

Diddy, whose 1997 debut album No Way Out catapulted him onto the rap scene, is one of the biggest names in hip-hop. The star, inset, got his start at Uptown Records, where he helped develop R&B legends including Mary J Blige and Jodeci, before pivoting into creating music himself, then later becoming a record label executive and producer. He also served as a mentor to some of today’s biggest stars including Usher and Justin Bieber. Usher lived with Diddy in New York when he was 13 and in a 2014 Rolling Stone interview described what it was like: “There was always girls around. You’d open a door and see somebody doing it, or several people in a room having an orgy.”

In 1993, Diddy set up his own record label, Bad Boy Entertainment. Twelve years, three Grammys, and two name changes later, Diddy was introduced to up-and-coming singer Cassie. She was 19 and he was 37. They dated between 2005 and 2018. The bulk of the allegations against Diddy have come from Cassie and were settled in a lawsuit last year. In her claim, she accused him of regular abusive behaviour, including coercing her into taking drugs, forcing her to have sex with male prostitutes, and hitting her on numerous occasions. She also claimed that on one occasion in 2019, he forced his way into her home and raped her. Diddy has said he “will

fight for my name”.