A day after federal agents descended upon his Los Angeles and Miami homes as part of an ongoing investigation, Sean “Diddy” Combs and his team are dismissing it as nothing more than a witch hunt.
“Yesterday, there was a gross overuse of military-level force as search warrants were executed at Mr. Combs’ residences,” Aaron Dyer, the rapper’s lawyer, told The Daily Beast on Tuesday. “There is no excuse for the excessive show of force and hostility exhibited by authorities or the way his children and employees were treated.”
Dyer said that neither Combs nor any of his family had been arrested or prevented from traveling. The mogul “spoke to and cooperated with authorities,” according to Dyer, who did not address a report that Combs’ alleged “drug mule” had been arrested at the Miami Airport in the middle of the raids.
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“This unprecedented ambush—paired with an advanced, coordinated media presence—leads to a premature rush to judgment of Mr. Combs and is nothing more than a witch hunt based on meritless accusations made in civil lawsuits,” he continued. “There has been no finding of criminal or civil liability with any of these allegations. Mr. Combs is innocent and will continue to fight every single day to clear his name.”
The Department of Homeland Security previously confirmed that Homeland Security Investigations, assisted by local law enforcement, had carried out the raids, but did not immediately provide further details. Multiple outlets reported on Monday that the searches were part of a federal human trafficking investigation, connected to a probe led by New York prosecutors.
Combs is reportedly the target of the inquiry, which sprang from “many” of the allegations contained within a series of civil lawsuits filed against him in recent months, a source familiar with the raids told CNN. Since last November, four women and one man have accused Combs of abusive behavior ranging from sexual harassment to gang rape.
Combs, 54, has repeatedly denied all wrongdoing.
His first accuser, the R&B singer Cassie Ventura, alleged that he sexually and physically assaulted her throughout the course of their yearslong relationship. She and Combs reached a private settlement a day after her lawsuit was filed.
“We will always support law enforcement when it seeks to prosecute those that have violated the law,” her attorney, Douglas Wigdor, told The Daily Beast on Monday. “Hopefully, this is the beginning of a process that will hold Mr. Combs responsible for his depraved conduct.”
