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Sean “Diddy” Combs aggressively marketed himself to the ultra-rich as he turned his edgy rap glamor into a billion-dollar fortune.

Billionaires told The Post he would cold email with business proposals, while other Wall Streeters acclaimed him as a “genius” and one CEO of the New York Stock Exchange called him an “inspiration” on a par with the Founding Fathers

But after federal investigators raided his Los Angeles and Miami homes as part of what law enforcement sources have told The Post is a sex-trafficking investigation led by the Southern District of New York, his career as an entrepreneur and investor is in jeopardy. Diddy has denied wrongdoing and called the probe “a witch hunt.”

Diddy was first declared a billionaire by hip-hop wealth expert Zack O’Malley Greenburg in 2022, but had coveted the status for years, telling Forbes in 1999, “I wanted to be very, very rich.”

Along the way he acquired a Rolodex littered with bold-faced names: he partnered with billionaire investor Ron Burkle; was “mentored” by hedge fund guru Ray Dalio; had his fashion line sold in Macy’s and Dillards; went into business with alcohol giant Diageo; opened the New York Stock Exchange with Este Lauder heir William Lauder; struck deals with Zac Posen and Liz Claiborne; 50% owned his own TV channel Revolt; launched a water range with Mark Wahlberg; and teamed up with Salesforce’s Marc Benioff to launch a black business marketplace.

In 2003, he sent the then owner of the Dallas Maverick Mark Cuban an email asking to design the uniforms for the NBA team, Cuban told The Post. They had never met so the cold email was a bold move.

For Diddy, it was a slam dunk to associate his new clothing brand, Sean John, with a pro sports team.

While Diddy took credit for the design, it was actually Diddy’s top designer who created it and Diddy signed off, Cuban said.

“We were an up and coming team at a time when pro sports teams didnt do anything with entertainment industry people,” Cuban said.

“We never even met… we never did any follow up or anything beyond that,” Cuban said.

For Diddy who had gone to Howard University to study business a single deal with an NBA team gave him credibility that he leveraged for even more dealmaking.

But it was a two-way street: Diddy also used his own cache the promise of entry into a world of celebrity to attract investment for his projects.

The same year as his Mavericks deal, Diddy got Burkle, a serial investor worth an estimated $2.9 billion according to Forbes, to inject $100 million into his fashion range Sean John.

It was to become Diddy’s longest-standing Wall Street relationship. After it was done, they partied with Michael Jackson while Sean John became a fixture in Macy’s and Dillards stores.

The next year the rapper teamed up with Este Lauder to create multiple fragrances, including one that was named “Unforgivable.”

The move gave him instant social cache. It let him rub shoulders, lucratively, with a New York social dynasty and in turn gave their decades-old brand a fresh, contemporary glamor associated not just with rap music, but his celebrity-packed White Parties in the Hamptons.

The company was thrilled with the partnership and chief operating officer William Lauder said Diddy was a “man who has built a phenomenal reputation as a tastemaker in music, in fashion and in business.”

The Lauder and Macy’s deals were celebrated with Diddy ringing the New York Stock Exchange’s opening bell in 2003, a sign of his power and influence.

Analysts said Diddy was one of the first celebrities to essentially license his name to brands and companies were able to draw on that to reach a more diverse group of customers.

In 2007, he was approached by the alcohol giant Diageo to become a brand spokesperson for its Croc vodka.

But he countered by proposing he become brand manager and chief marketing officer in return for a 50% profit share — and even had the business cards made up for his new role before the deal was done.

The vodka brand agreed. He missed no opportunity to promote it with the deal paying him nearly $1 billion over the next 15 years and turning Croc into a hugely successful brand.

The savvy negotiations led many in Hollywood to respect Diddy’s acumen. He was a master entrepreneur, one music business insider who said the rapper was widely respected in Hollywood as a businessman told The Post.

He was a super intelligent hardworking guy and a genius at brands… he turned Croc into a billion dollar business.

When he rang the NYSE bell in 2016 as a representative for Croc, then NYSE president Tom Farley said Diddy was “an inspiration” to him and similar to the Founding Fathers since they were both hustlers.

The comments were written up by Diddy’s own news website Revolt, which often reported favorably on its co-founder.

But the Diageo relationship ended in rancor in 2023 with Diddy accusing the multinational of racism; the case was settled in January with Diageo now sole owner of Croc and DeLen tequila.

In 2015, Diddy again teamed up with Burkle and also with boyband heartthrob turned movie star Mark Wahlberg, to buy now defunct water company AquaHydrate.

Once again, Diddy promoted it energetically, appearing on both coasts with Wahlberg.

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At least on paper, Burkle had the longest relationship with Diddy of any of his business partners. He has not commented on the allegations against Diddy.

Earlier this year Burkle, a one time close friend of former president Bill Clinton, was linked to another alleged sex trafficker when he was listed in an unsealed court filing naming people associated with Epstein. There is no suggestion Burkle engaged in wrongdoing.

Diddy also forged a relationship with Dalio, who as well as founding Bridgewater, the world’s largest hedge fund, has a personal net worth of $15.4 billion, according to Forbes, and has become a sought-after guru for his principle of radical transparency.

In 2017, at a Forbes gathering for the “100 Greatest Living Business Minds,” Diddy approached Bridgewater founder Ray Dalio and started peppering him with business questions.

Diddy was a frequent attender at business events. His celebrity rider included his own drink brands and “a young Thai coconut.”

Dalio tweeted in 2019 that Diddy “asked me to mentor him” and posted a slickly-produced video of a “recent mentor session of ours.”

?[H]es a real hero, Dalio said. And he wants to be a role model and help others.

“The greatest joy Im having now is helping other people to be successful, particularly helping people who can help a lot of people. Sean Combs, also known as @Diddy, is one such person,” Dalio posted, boosting Diddy to 1.3m followers looking for financial wisdom.

In 2021 Diddy teamed up with tech mogul Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, who Forbes estimates to be worth $10.5 billion, to launch “SHOP CIRCULATE,” a marketplace for black-owned businesses.

That same year he launched a similar online marketplace, Empower Global.

“Building Black wealth starts with investing in Black-owned businesses and giving entrepreneurs access to the consumers needed to build sustainable companies that can thrive,” Combs said.

He told Billboard magazine last year that he wants to collaborate with Byron Allen, the TV mogul, and billionaire Hollywod director Tyler Perry to create a “black-owned media conglomerate,” although neither struck any deals with him.

After Diddy was accused by his ex Cassie of rape, sex trafficking, and domestic violence last November, and settled the suit without admitting her claims, brands began distancing themselves.

Macy’s, which still carried his fashion line, said they would stop selling his products. And 18 companies selling products on Empower are reported to have left the platform in recent months.

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France prisoner escape: Day of blockades in French prisons as inmate called ‘The Fly’ on the run

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France prisoner escape: Day of blockades in French prisons as inmate called 'The Fly' on the run

A suspected drug boss nicknamed “The Fly” is at the centre of police manhunt after escaping from a prison van in France.

Two prison officers were killed and three others seriously wounded when a convoy transporting prisoner Mohamed Amra from court to jail was ambushed at a motorway tollbooth near Rouen in Normandy by gunmen wearing balaclavas.

Mohamed Amra
Image:
Mohamed Amra

Several hundred police officers have been deployed nationwide to find the 30-year-old convict and gunmen. It is unclear how many assailants were involved.

CCTV footage showed a black Peugeot SUV driving into the front of a white van, with other video showing at least two armed men carrying rifles circling the car in flames on the A154 motorway.

French media reports suggested a second car used during the attack was a Sedan – stolen in the town of Pontault-Combault in northern France – which had been following the convoy and together with the SUV trapped the prison van.

The two cars were later found torched a few miles away.

A day of blockades dubbed “Dead Prisons Day” has been announced in jails across France today as prison officer unions respond in anger to Tuesday’s attack.

Local media on Wednesday reported demonstrations outside of prisons across the country – including in the French capital Paris, Rouen, Nice, Grasse, Draguignan and Amiens.

A fire burns as prison staff block the entrance of a detention centre  in Val De Reuil, France. Pic: Reuters
Image:
Wooden pallets are set on fire as prison staff block the entrance of a detention centre in Val De Reuil, France. Pic: Reuters

In Yvelines 130 people blocked a remand centre and set fire to wooden pallets, Le Parisien reported.

Inside, around 15 prison staff went about their everyday jobs – compared with the 40 usually onsite.

In addition, the day’s prisoner transportations and visits were cancelled, according to the newspaper.

Hubert Gratraud, a union representative, said: “There is an awareness of the dangerousness.

“We need resources and training. We need to get as close as possible to the reality on the ground: anything can happen.”

“People were shot at point-blank range, it was a massacre, a butchery,” said Ronan Roudaut, another union official.

A minute’s silence is also planned across the French criminal justice system including prisons and courtrooms at 11am.

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‘Assassination attempt’

Police sources said Amra was involved in international drug dealing, a suspect in a kidnap and murder case in Marseille, and had ties to the city’s powerful “Blacks” gang.

He had recently been sentenced to 18 months for burglary in the suburbs of Evreux, northwest France, reported BFM TV.

The French broadcaster said his nickname was La Mouche – or “The Fly” in English.

A prison source told Le Parisien that Amra tried to saw the bars off his cell a few days ago – with the convict reportedly put in solitary confinement afterwards.

The publication said he is suspected of having ordered an assassination attempt, linked to drugs, targeting a Frenchman in Spain in the summer of 2023.

It added Amra, born in Rouen in northern France, was also re-evaluated as ‘Escort 3’ risk category, making more guards necessary during transportation.

Read more: Who is ‘The Fly’?

Dangerous fugitive’s mum speaks

His mother told French radio network RTL she had no idea her son had planned an escape.

“I went to Baumettes to see him, he was in solitary confinement, I went to [the prison of] Evreux once. He spoke normally, he didn’t show me anything. I don’t understand,” she said.

“They carry him around from right to left, they put him in solitary confinement instead of judging him once and for all.”

She said she “broke down” and “cried” when she found out what had happened.

“It makes me sick. How can lives be taken like that?” she said of the two fatalities.

“I don’t know what’s going on in his head, he’s not talking to me. He’s my son and he doesn’t talk to me about anything,” she added.

Justice Minister Eric Dupond-Moretti said two of the injured officers were in a critical condition.

“Absolutely everything will be done to find the perpetrators of this despicable crime,” he told BFM TV.

“These are people for whom life means nothing. They will be arrested, judged and punished according to the crime they committed.”

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UK

‘If I go, I know they will detain me’: Asylum seekers consider skipping Home Office meetings over Rwanda fears

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'If I go, I know they will detain me': Asylum seekers consider skipping Home Office meetings over Rwanda fears

In June 2022, Kidus, 30, from Eritrea, came to the UK in a small boat with around two dozen other people.

He still has the video on his phone showing everyone – including some women and children – clinging on to the dinghy wearing identical red lifejackets.

Back then, the government had already announced plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.

Despite being sent a letter warning he’s being considered for removal, he’s never thought it could really happen until now.

Kidus – not his real name – says before he left France, one of the people smugglers reassured him the government wouldn’t go through with it: the Rwanda policy simply wouldn’t affect him.

But earlier this month, one of his friends from Eritrea, who was on the same boat across the Channel, was detained when attending a routine appointment with the Home Office at a site in Liverpool.

As a result, Kidus is now considering not going to his next fortnightly meeting, even though attending the appointments is a condition of his immigration bail.

“If I didn’t go there, I know they’ll drop my case,” he tells us, concerned his asylum application will be cancelled.

But he adds: “If I go I know they will detain me. So, I’m just confused what I’m going to do.”

Kidus says he fears being deported to Rwanda
Image:
Kidus says he fears being deported to Rwanda

A document drawn up by Home Office officials revealed only 2,143 of the 5,700 asylum seekers Rwanda has agreed to accept actually attend check-ins and “can be located for detention”.

If people like Kidus stop attending, they will join the remaining 3,557 migrants who are currently missing.

The shared house Kidus lives in is paid for by the Home Office – so his address makes it almost impossible to disappear. But this means he knows he could be detained at any time.

“I’m always just frightened here. So, they might come at night or day and I’m always thinking that they’ll come and they’ll take me to detention. I’m not feeling safe here,” he says.

Kidus has stopped attending college where he was learning English and carries the phone numbers of legal firms with him at all times.

He speaks to his friend on the phone – who is now being held in a detention centre near Heathrow.

Nahom, not his real name, 26, estimates he’s among around 40 asylum seekers there who’ve been told they’ll be sent to Rwanda.

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“It’s like a nightmare, it’s like a prison and I don’t like it here. I’m really stressed and panicked about the situation,” Nahom tells us from the site almost 100 miles away.

He admits he has been able to meet his solicitor but says he’s feeling increasingly desperate about being faced with the prospect of being sent to Rwanda.

“They can send my body, but not me alive,” he says. “I’m just giving up.”

In west London, we meet Nura, in her 20s, whose real name is withheld and who has made the decision to keep attending meetings with the Home Office because she doesn’t want to be kicked out of her taxpayer-funded hotel.

Nura says she will keep going to the appointments
Image:
Nura says she will keep going to the appointments

Read more:
Sunak’s Rwanda plan is at risk of being undermined
UK considered Iraq for asylum seekers in Rwanda-type deal

But each time she goes to sign in she’s terrified of being detained.

“Sometimes I say ‘why me’?” she asks tearfully, looking at her “notice of intent” letter warning her she’s being considered for removal to Rwanda.

“It’s not a safe country,” she adds. “What is the difference from Eritrea? It’s the same.”

Nura says when she came to the UK by small boat, she believed women wouldn’t be sent to Rwanda. She says she wouldn’t have come if she’d known she was at risk.

The notice of intent letter
Image:
The notice of intent letter

Kidus says the same thing: “If I’d have known this I’d have never come here.” He added he’d have instead gone to “Belgium or France, or Germany maybe”.

Now they’re here, their only hope is they won’t be chosen for detention.

The government remains determined to get the first flights to Rwanda within weeks.

Ahead of a general election, the plan has become a clear dividing line between the Conservatives and Labour, which has vowed to scrap the scheme if it comes to power.

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UK

Schools won’t be allowed to teach children that they can change their gender ID, reports say

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Schools won't be allowed to teach children that they can change their gender ID, reports say

Teachers in English schools will not be allowed to teach children that they can change their gender identity, according to reports.

Age limits are also set to be imposed for the first time on when children can be taught sex education.

The Times reports that education ministers will warn schools in England today that gender identity is “highly contested” and that teaching the issue could have “damaging implications”.

If asked, school staff should teach the “biological facts” about sex, the government will say, The Times adds.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has become concerned gender identity is becoming “embedded” in schools as an uncontested fact, the newspaper says.

Under other proposals, schools will be told not to teach children any form of sex education until year 5, when pupils are aged nine.

The plans will also rule out any explicit conversations about sex until the age of 13, The Times report also says.

More on Education

Thirteen would also be the age threshold for pupils to be taught about contraception, sexually transmitted infections, and abortion.

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The new guidance is reportedly part of the government’s response to concerns children are receiving age-inappropriate relationships, sex and health education (RSHE).

Schools will reportedly be required to provide parents with samples of the material their children will be taught.

RSHE became compulsory in all English schools in September 2020.

The existing guidance outlines broad lesson modules, stating primary school children should be taught about alternative types of families and healthy relationships.

Secondary-school-aged children are taught more complex topics, including puberty, sexual relationships, consent, unsafe relationships, and online harms.

The Department for Education said it could not confirm the newspaper reports, and that it would not speculate on leaks.

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