Police raids on two properties owned by rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs were an “unprecedented ambush” and a “gross use of military-level force”, his lawyer has said.
The searches were connected to a sex trafficking investigation by federal authorities in New York, US news outlets reported yesterday.
In the first statement released on behalf of the rapper and music mogul since Monday’s raids, his lawyer Aaron Dyer said: “Yesterday, there was a gross overuse of military-level force as search warrants were executed at Mr Combs’ residences.
“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.
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“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.”
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Diddy’s homes raided
Image: Sean Combs’ home in Los Angeles is raided by federal law enforcement.
Sky’s US partner network NBC News understands that several phones were seized from Combs in Miami on Monday before he was scheduled to depart on a trip to the Bahamas.
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According to NBC News, three women and a man have been interviewed by federal officials in Manhattan in relation to the sex-trafficking investigation and further allegations of sexual assault, solicitation and distribution of illegal narcotics and firearms.
Representatives for Combs did not immediately respond to NBC News’ request for comment.
The American music mogul, 54, has been the subject of several lawsuits, including for sexual assault, in recent months.
Image: Sean Combs’ Los Angeles home is raided by federal law enforcement.
In February, a music producer filed a lawsuit alleging Combs coerced him to solicit sex workers and pressured him to have sex with them.
Combs’ lawyer said that for those allegations, “we have overwhelming, indisputable proof that his claims are complete lies”.
The rapper’s former protege and girlfriend, R&B singer Cassie, sued him in November alleging she was trafficked, raped, plied with drugs and beaten by Combs over a 10-year period.
The lawsuit said he forced her to have sex with male sex workers while he filmed them. The suit was settled the day after it was filed.
Also in November, Combs was sued by Joie Dickerson-Neal who claimed he drugged and sexually assaulted her when she was a psychology student at Syracuse University in January 1991 and filmed the attack.
But rejecting the claims as “made up and not credible”, a spokesperson for the star branded them “purely a money grab and nothing more”.
Another of Combs’ accusers is a woman who claims he “gang raped” her two decades agoafter she was plied with drugs and alcoholwhen she was 17 years old.
Combs has denied all the allegations.
In a statement in December, he described the claims as “sickening” and said his accusers were “looking for a quick payday”.
“Let me be absolutely clear: I did not do any of the awful things being alleged. I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth,” he said.
Combs is among the most influential hip-hop producers and executives of the past three decades.
Also known as Puff Daddy and P Diddy, he built one of hip-hop’s biggest empires, blazing a trail with several entities attached to his name.
He is the founder of Bad Boy Records and a three-time Grammy winner who has worked with several top-tier artists including Notorious BIG, Mary J Blige, Usher, Lil Kim, Faith Evans and 112.
His latest album, The Love Album – Off the Grid, was released last year days after Combs was honoured at the MTV VMAs. It was nominated for best progressive R&B album at February’s Grammy Awards, which he did not attend.
Acclaimed Italian actress Claudia Cardinale, who starred in The Pink Panther and Once Upon A Time In The West, has died aged 87, according to French media reports.
The actress, who starred in more than 100 films and made-for-TV productions, died in Nemours, France, surrounded by her children, her agent told the AFP news agency.
At the age of 17 she won a beauty contest in Tunisia, where she was born to Sicilian parents, and was rewarded with a trip to the Venice Film Festival, kick-starting her acting career.
She had expected to become a schoolteacher before she entered the beauty contest.
Image: Claudia Cardinale at the Prix Lumieres awards ceremony in Paris in January 2013. Pic: AP
Cardinale gained international fame in 1963 when she starred in both Federico Fellini’s 8-1/2 and The Leopard.
She went on to star in the comedy The Pink Panther and Sergio Leone’s Once Upon A Time In The West in 1968.
She considered 1966’s The Professionals as the best of her Hollywood films.
When she was awarded a lifetime achievement at the Berlin Film Festival in 2002, she said acting had been a great career.
“I’ve lived more than 150 lives, prostitute, saint, romantic, every kind of woman, and that is marvellous to have this opportunity to change yourself,” she said.
“I’ve worked with the most important directors. They gave me everything.”
Cardinale was named a goodwill ambassador for the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation for the defence of women’s rights in 2000.
Bannister was initially jailed for four months in September last year – and handed a three-year restraining order.
But he breached it by turning up at Tweedy’s home in December.
In March, he was jailed for 16 weeks at Wycombe Magistrates’ Court for repeatedly going to Tweedy’s Buckinghamshire home while under the restraining order.
During that appearance, the court heard that Tweedy “immediately panicked” and was “terrified” when she saw him outside her home, fearing for the safety of her eight-year-old son Bear.
Bannister killed Rajendra Patel, 48, at a south London YMCA shelter in 2012 and pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
Mr Patel died from an injury to his leg, a court heard.
Tweedy’s former partner Liam Payne died last year in Buenos Aires, Argentina, after falling from his third-floor hotel balcony.
Noel Clarke has been ordered to pay at least £3m of The Guardian publisher’s legal costs after losing his “far-fetched” libel case over allegations of sexual misconduct reported by the newspaper.
The first article, published in April 2021, said some 20 women who knew the actor and filmmakerin a professional capacity had come forward with allegations including harassment and sexually inappropriate behaviour.
Clarke, best known for his 2006 film Kidulthood and for starring in Doctor Who, sued Guardian News and Media (GNM) over seven articles in total, as well as a podcast, and vehemently denied “any sexual misconduct or wrongdoing”.
At a hearing to determine costs on Tuesday, Clarke represented himself – saying in written submissions to the court that his legal team had resigned as he was unable to provide funding for the hearing.
Mrs Justice Steyn ruled that he must pay £3m ahead of a detailed assessment into the total costs to be recovered, which lawyers for the publisher estimated to be more than £6m.
“The claimant maintained a far-fetched and indeed a false case that the articles were not substantially true, by pursuing allegations of dishonesty and bad faith against almost all of the defendant’s truth witnesses,” the judge said.
The sum of £3m sought by GNM was “appropriate and no more than what ought to be reasonably ordered in this case”, she added, and “substantially lower than the defendant’s likely level of recovery”.
Clarke, 49, told the court he used ChatGPT to prepare his response to GNM’s barrister Gavin Millar KC, who asked the judge to order £3m as an interim payment – which he said was “significantly less” than the “norm” of asking for 75%-80%.
The actor described the proposed costs order as “excessive”, “inflated” and “caused by their own choices”, and asked the court to “consider both the law and the human reality of these proceedings”.
He also requested for the order on costs be held, pending an appeal.
“I have not been vexatious and I have not tried to play games with the court,” Clarke said. “I have lost my work, my savings, my legal team, my ability to support my family and much of my health.
“My wife and children live every day under the shadow of uncertainty. We remortgaged our home just to survive.
“Any costs or interim payments must be proportionate to my means as a single household, not the unlimited resources of a major media conglomerate.
“A crushing order would not just punish me, it would punish my children and wife, and they do not deserve that.”
Detailing GNM’s spend, Mr Millar said about 40,000 documents, including audio recordings and transcripts, had to be reviewed as a result of Clarke bringing the case against then. He highlighted a number of “misconceived applications” made by the actor which “required much work from the defendant’s lawyers in response”.
During the trial, the actor accused GNM – as well as a number of women who made accusations against him – of being part of a conspiracy aiming to destroy his career.
This conspiracy allegation “massively increased the scale and costs of the litigation by giving rise to a whole new unpleaded line of attack against witnesses and third parties,” Mr Millar said in written submissions to the court.
Clarke originally asked for damages of £10m, increasing to £40m and then £70m as the case progressed, the barrister said.
He must now pay GNM the £3m within 28 days, Mrs Justice Steyn ruled.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.