Was Raid On Sean Puffy Combs's Homes Excessive Use Of Police Force

I don't disagree. But the difference rich and poor is - in my reckoning - is broader than it is between white and black. So I'm expecting Combs wealth to carry more weight than his skin color. Of course that doesn't justify discrimination against him. But it does push him way down my list of concerns.

 

Rocket Rivert

 

This guy misspelled his own name. Not his fault -- he lacks privilege. LMAOOOOO

 

Looked like it was done for attention, yes.

 

@Jontro
@Os Trigonum
@JumpMan

 

I think you and I are the only people on the D&D who cares about hip hop
and even knows what it means

 

Tom Cruise?

 

Like father like son ?
@IBTL

 

@Jontro
@Commodore
@LosPollosHermanos

 

DAYUM!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

@Jontro

 

Jordan > Bron

 

You really think he's held without bail because he's black? Come on bro

 

https://www.wsj.com/style/sean-diddy-combs-arrested-89c0582e?mod=hp_lead_pos9

The Violent ‘Freak Offs’ Behind the Diddy Sex-Crimes Charges
Prosecutors say Sean Combs flew women and sex workers around the world for dayslong sex gatherings, fueled by drugs and violent intimidation

Sept. 18, 2024 at 12:06 am

In public, he was a hip-hop kingmaker. In secret, according to a new federal indictment, he was the violent host of marathon sex parties.

Combs called these gatherings “freak offs,” according to the indictment that charged the mogul with racketeering, sex trafficking and transporting for prostitution. He flew sex workers around the world for these often dayslong sex performances. He arranged, directed and masturbated during them, and gave women drugs like ecstasy and ketamine to fight off their exhaustion, federal prosecutors said.

His employees booked hotel rooms for the “freak offs,” stocking them with baby oil, lubricant and extra linens. Around 2012, participants trashed a Manhattan penthouse hotel so badly that Combs paid more than $46,000 to cover the damages, prosecutors said. Authorities searching his homes earlier this year said they found more than 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant.

Combs gave male sex workers cash but didn’t pay women for their performances. Instead he beat them and threatened them with financial ruin if they didn’t participate, according to prosecutors. He lured them into his orbit with the promise of a romantic relationship and then made them reliant by covering their rent or buying them cars, according to the indictment.

The 54-year-old rapper and entrepreneur was arrested Monday in New York in connection with allegations that he helped run a prostitution and sex-trafficking enterprise. Combs pleaded not guilty to all charges. A federal magistrate judge ordered Combs detained after prosecutors argued in court that the rapper was a flight risk, posed a danger to the community and could threaten the integrity of the case.


Sean Combs was arrested Monday in New York in connection with allegations that he helped run a prostitution and sex-trafficking enterprise. Photo: Bennett Raglin/Getty Images
Marc Agnifilo, a lawyer for Combs, said in court that the sexual acts alleged in the indictment involved consenting adults.

“Is it sex trafficking? No, not if everybody wants to be there,” Agnifilo said. “We are not better off if the federal government comes into our bedroom and that’s what is happening here.”

Combs’s arrest and charges marked what has been a stunning downfall for the 1990s superstar. A rapper who found more success as a producer, he shepherded the careers of artists including the Notorious B.I.G. and Faith Evans. He spun his fame into a business empire selling alcohol, clothes and cologne. Until this week, his most famous gatherings were known as “White Parties.”

These “White Parties” in the Hamptons included notables like writer Salman Rushdie and future President Trump. For many rap fans, the gatherings, which required attendees to dress in white, came to symbolize the ascent of hip-hop from underground subculture to the highest realms of the American elite.


Until this week, Combs’s most famous gatherings were known as ‘White Parties.’ Photo: Mat Szwajkos/CP/Getty Images for CP
The dark underbelly of his empire was the “freak offs.” He took violent measures to keep them a secret, according to the indictment.

Combs hit, kicked and dragged women by their hair during “freak offs,” sometimes injuring them so terribly that he kept them in hiding for days while they recovered, prosecutors said. He often recorded the “freak offs” and used the tapes to silence the women. He was also known to choke, shove and throw people to the ground, prosecutors said.

The federal indictment didn’t name any of Combs’s alleged victims or accusers. But the “freak offs” played a significant role in a lawsuit brought back in November by the R&B singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, who accused Combs of years of physical and mental abuse. Ventura alleged that he coerced her into sex acts with multiple male prostitutes. She also said she herself was tasked with finding the prostitutes online. Combs would watch the encounters, film them and masturbate, according to the suit. These drug-fueled events, which Combs named “freak offs,” happened for years in hotels around the country.

Ventura’s suit also details her efforts to avoid Combs’s activities and his threatening responses. After a “freak off” in a Los Angeles hotel around March 2016, the suit said, Combs punched Ventura and threw glass vases at her. The suit said Combs paid the hotel $50,000 to obtain security footage of the event. Tuesday’s indictment detailed a 2016 incident that appeared similar to the incident Ventura described.


Combs’s ‘freak offs’ played a significant role in a lawsuit brought back in November by Casandra ‘Cassie’ Ventura, who accused Combs of years of physical and mental abuse. Photo: Jackson Lee/FilmMagic
Combs settled the suit in just a day. “We have decided to resolve this matter amicably,” Combs said at the time. “I wish Cassie and her family all the best.” About six months later, CNN released a 2016 video of Combs kicking Ventura in a hotel hallway. Combs apologized, saying “my behavior on that video is inexcusable.”

Agnifilo said Tuesday that Ventura wasn’t fleeing a “freak off” in the video. Rather it stemmed from a toxic time in Combs and Ventura’s relationship, the lawyer said. Immediately before the assault, Ventura had thrown Combs’s phone at him while he slept in their hotel room after she discovered he had another girlfriend, the lawyer said. She then left the hotel room with a bag containing Combs’s clothes. Combs had to chase after her with nothing but a towel wrapped around him, Agnifilo said. “It’s evidence of Mr. Combs having more than one girlfriend and getting caught,” Agnifilo said of the video.

Combs tried to keep his violent streak hidden to all but his employees and the women he abused, prosecutors said. He was involved in the gunpoint kidnapping of someone in 2011, and his associates once tossed a Molotov cocktail inside a car, prosecutors wrote in a court filing. During searches of Combs’s homes, investigators found at least six guns and three AR-15 rifles, including two in his Miami bedroom closet, prosecutors said. The serial numbers on the rifles were defaced.

Write to Alyssa Lukpat at alyssa.lukpat@wsj.com, Neil Shah at Neil.Shah@wsj.com and James Fanelli at james.fanelli@wsj.com

 

Despicable, sure. But, it looks like the argument about denying bail is that he has a history of trying to obstruct justice by bribing or intimidating witnesses and that he's a flight risk.