Feds Raided Diddy’s Homes Over Concerns Video Evidence of Sex Crimes Could Be Destroyed | Exclusive

Federal agents raided Sean “Diddy” Combs’ homes in Los Angeles and Miami on March 25 because he had “hundreds of cameras” at the properties which may have captured some of his alleged sex crimes, TheWrap has learned.

Agents from U.S. Homeland Security Investigations carried out the surprise searches of the hip-hop mogul’s homes in relation to an ongoing sex trafficking and racketeering investigation in New York, a law enforcement source confirmed to TheWrap.

Combs has strongly denied all the allegations against him. “Mr. Combs is innocent and will continue to fight every single day to clear his name,” his attorney Aaron Dyer said.

Federal agents secured search warrants for the raids to seize any guns Combs may have had in the residences and to obtain all video footage on phones, computers, drives and CCTV before any of it could be destroyed, the law enforcement source said.

TV footage showed federal agents in full combat gear with rifles raised raiding his homes on Star Island in Miami and in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles. Combs’ adult sons, Justin and Christian (King), were seen being marched out of the L.A. property at gunpoint. They were also seen outside the property in handcuffs talking to agents. (They were detained then released without charges during the raid.)

Other clips showed armored tanks surrounding the house and drones deployed to sweep the area. Meanwhile, at Combs’ Miami home, staff were also marched outside at gunpoint, while a gunboat with armed agents flagged the property from the water.

Pictures from inside of the superstar’s L.A. home, later posted on TMZ, show how the agents completely ransacked the property, taking all computer equipment and drives.

“This level of force is likely because the feds likely already have the case and corroborating witnesses,” the same source said. “This is an extra search for evidence and is done with the element of surprise and force so that evidence — particularly video evidence — cannot be destroyed.”

Prosecutors are likely looking for evidence of “sex or drug trafficking, production of child pornography, or firearms,” Neama Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor and the president of West Coast Trial Lawyers, who is not involved in the case, told TheWrap. “According to the civil lawsuits, Diddy recorded sex acts and he had hidden cameras in his homes.”

The significant law enforcement presence related to the size of Combs’ properties, Rahmani said. “The last thing you want when conducting a raid is to have too few agents and to put them at a risk of violence. There is also the possibility that individuals flee or they destroy evidence.”

Combs owns two adjacent waterfront properties on Miami’s exclusive Star Island, a 19,545-square-foot mansion and one that is nearly 8,000-square-feet, which he bought in 2021 for $35 million from music producers Gloria and Emilio Estefan. His nine-bedroom home in Los Angeles, which he bought for $40 million in 2014, features a lagoon-style swimming pool with a grotto.

In 2019, Forbes pegged Combs’ fortune — the result of investments in fashion, the vodka brand Cîroc and his Bad Boy record label, among other ventures — at $740 million.

Rahmani predicted the entertainment mogul will be charged within days or weeks. “Prosecutors in the Southern District of New York don’t go to a federal judge to get search warrants at multiple properties unless they are close to a grand jury indictment,” she said.

It is not clear if a grand jury has yet been convened by the Southern District of New York in Diddy’s case. Grand jury proceedings are secret.

Homeland Security Investigations declined to comment.

Four women have come forward accusing Diddy of rape, while record producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones sued Combs in February over allegations of sexual misconduct, forced drug use and sexual grooming. Combs’ lawyer Shawn Holley responded, “Lil Rod is nothing more than a liar who … [is] shamelessly looking for an undeserved payday.”

Jones, who is seeking $30 million in damages, said in his filing that the hip-hop star had set up hidden cameras throughout his mansion in L.A. and his Star Island compound. Plus, Jones claims in his lawsuit he has hundreds of hours of video and audio of Combs and his associates engaging in illegal activities.

Jones worked with Combs between September 2022 and September 2023 to produce the rapper’s most recent record, “The Love Album: Off the Grid.”

Meanwhile, Combs was accused of raping R&B singer Cassie in a civil lawsuit she filed last November in Manhattan federal court. The singer, whose real name is Casandra Ventura, claimed Combs trafficked, raped and viciously beat her from 2005 until 2018, including forcing her to have sex with male prostitutes. Cassie alleged she was “trapped by Mr. Combs in a cycle of abuse, violence and sex trafficking,” the filing stated.

“Mr. Combs would use his phone, laptop and tablet to film Ms. Ventura having sex with the hired sex worker,” she said in the suit.

The lawsuit added, “While Ms. Ventura quickly deleted any photographs or video of sex acts if they were taken on her phone, Mr. Combs repeatedly made clear that he retained many videos of Ms. Ventura during FOs [freak outs, as he called them].” Diddy settled the suit the following day, without admitting any wrongdoing.

More complaints flood in

But days after settling his case with Cassie, Combs was then accused of drugging and sexually assaulting a woman on a date in 1991 and filming the attack.

The complaint, filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, alleged he supplied the woman with drugs to the point where she could not stand up, before taking her “to a place he was staying to sexually assault her.”

The complaint further alleges Combs video recorded the sexual assault without the victim’s knowledge and showed the video to others in an act described as “revenge porn.” A Combs spokesperson said at the time the allegations were “made up and not credible,” adding the move was “purely a money grab.”

Rolling Stone reported that four Jane Does and one John Doe have already sat for interviews in the last few months with SDNY investigators as part of the probe and more interviews are scheduled.

The law enforcement insider said the matter was being handled by Homeland Security Investigations — which is more commonly associated with immigration and national safety — because the department also deals with human and sex trafficking investigations.

“There are many forms of human and sex trafficking,” the insider said. “It doesn’t have to just be bringing women or men across state lines for coerced sex.” Combs’ accusers have alleged he flew in male prostitutes and female sex workers from other locations.

One of the four women accusing Combs of rape claims she was flown from Michigan to New York on his private jet and gang raped in his studio when she was 17 years old in 2003. Combs responded that he had “never participated in, witnessed or was or is presently aware of any misconduct, sexual or otherwise” in relation to the accuser.

Dyer, Combs’ lawyer, called the searches a “gross overuse of military-level force.” He said in a statement: “There is no excuse for the excessive show of force and hostility exhibited by authorities or the way his children and employees were treated.

“Mr. Combs was never detained but spoke to and cooperated with authorities. Despite media speculation, neither Mr. Combs nor any of his family members have been arrested nor has their ability to travel been restricted in any way.

“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.

“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.”

Misa Hylton, the mother of Justin, shared a video of the raid online on Tuesday and wrote and called the raid in L.A. “deplorable.”

“If these were the sons of a non-Black celebrity, they would not have been handled with the same aggression,” she said.

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