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Diddy homes raided in federal sex trafficking probe: reports

Paras Griffin/Getty Images

Federal law enforcement reportedly visited two properties owned by Sean “Diddy” Combs Monday afternoon as part of a sex trafficking investigation.

The coordinated raids were carried out in Los Angeles and Miami by armed Department of Homeland Security agents, with assistance from local law enforcement, sources familiar with the matter told TMZ.

A department spokesperson confirmed the raids in a statement to The Daily Beast.

“Earlier today, Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) New York executed law enforcement actions as part of an ongoing investigation, with assistance from HSI Los Angeles, HSI Miami and our partners local law enforcement officials,” they said. “We will provide further information as it becomes available.”

A local Los Angeles station, FOX11, aired aerial footage of the raid in Los Angeles showing what appeared to be two of the rappers' sons, Justin Combs and King Combs, handcuffed outside the home.

The execution of search warrants from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York is believed to be linked to allegations that have mounted against Combs, 54, in recent months.

Los Angeles media outlet KNBC reported that three Jane Does and one John Doe were questioned by prosecutors as part of their investigation into “sex trafficking, sexual assault, [and] solicitation and distribution of narcotics and illegal firearms.

At least three more Jane Doe interviews are planned, a source at the station said.

The first lawsuit against Combs was filed in November by R&B singer Cassie Ventura, who accused him of subjecting her to sexual and physical abuse during their years-long romantic relationship.

Combs and Ventura settled his complaint privately a day after it was filed. However, a week later, two more women came forward with their own allegations of abuse.

One of them, Liza Gardner, said she was 16 when Combs and another musician took turns raping her and her friend in 1990. The rapper has denied any wrongdoing by the through a representative, who called the two new lawsuits a “money grab.”

In December, a fourth woman accused Combs of sexual assault, alleging that he, the former longtime president of her label, and another man gang-raped her in 2003, when she was 17.

“Enough is enough,” Combs said in a statement released shortly afterward. “Over the past few weeks, I have sat in silence and watched as people attempted to assassinate my character, destroy my reputation and my legacy.” He denied the “sickening allegations” made against him and said he would fight to clear his name.

“We will always support law enforcement as they seek to pursue those who have violated the law,” Douglas Wigdor, an attorney representing Ventura and the fourth accuser, told The Daily Beast on Monday. “I hope this is the beginning of a process that will hold Mr. Combs accountable for his depraved conduct.”

Monday's action comes almost exactly a month after a former producer of Combs, Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, sued him for sexually harassing, drugging and threatening him while they worked on the project 2023 from the tycoon. The Love Album: Off the Grid together.

In response, Combs' attorney called Jones “nothing more than a liar who shamelessly filed a $30 million lawsuit seeking an undeserved payday.”

On Saturday, music outlet AllHipHop reported that Jones alerted a judge to alleged punitive behavior by Combs, who he said began “sending his agents out to harass [Jones’] 8-year-old daughter, mother of his child and ex-spouse.

Jones also claimed Combs was spreading false stories about him with TMZ.

A representative for Combs did not immediately return a request for comment Monday.

Read more at The Daily Beast.

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