Today I'm announcing the unsealing of a three-count
indictment, charging Sean Combs with racketeering conspiracy,
sex trafficking, interstate transportation for prostitution.
This is the type of indictment you would expect
from someone in the mafia.
They start making this case, in my opinion,
as a takedown of a successful Black man.
The freak-offs sometimes lasted days at a time,
involved multiple commercial sex workers.
I've spoken to about a half a dozen of these different men
involved, and I asked them, was there
any indicia of lack of consent?
And they said absolutely not.
And they seized cases and cases of the kinds of personal
lubricant and baby oil that Combs's staff allegedly used
to stock hotel rooms for the freak-offs, more than
1,000 bottles all together.
How do you explain 1,000 bottles of baby oil?
He has a big house.
He buys in bulk.
You know, I think they have Costcos in every place
where he has a home.
I mean, have you sat in a parking of a Costco
and see what people walk out of there with?
Not 1,000 bottles of baby oil.
When I saw the video with Cassie running for her life,
I cried my eyes out.
I'm going to show that video over and over and over
about what happens to women that won't change their stories.
Combs did not do this all on his own.
If there are higher-up people, people that are still famous
right now that are on these videos, Hollywood
is going to just implode.
Does this compel you to put him on the stand?
I don't know that I could keep him off the stand.
I think he is very eager to tell his story.
We have obtained video of Diddy's arrest on Monday night.
And I have to say, he was blindsided.
Sean "Diddy" Combs was taken into federal
custody in New York.
This according to TMZ.
We're told it happened in a Midtown Manhattan hotel
where Combs had been staying.
And according to sources talking to TMZ,
this actually came a day earlier than originally expected.
The world-famous Sean "Diddy"
Combs is expected to be arraigned
on federal charges this morning, following
a grand jury indictment.
Today, I'm announcing the unsealing of a three-count
indictment, charging Sean Combs with racketeering conspiracy,
sex trafficking, interstate transportation for prostitution.
Diddy, among other things, he has been accused
of sex trafficking, engaging in a conspiracy
to foster prostitution, racketeering,
kidnapping, narcotics offenses, arson, bribery.
That is the beginning.
The indictment alleges that on more than one occasion,
Combs carried or brandished firearms
to intimidate and threaten victims and witnesses.
The indictment alleged
some of Combs's employees helped set up
freak-outs, in which women were forced into sex acts
with male prostitutes.
And they seized cases and cases of the kinds of personal
lubricant and baby oil that Combs's staff allegedly used
to stock hotel rooms for the freak-offs, more
than 1,000 bottles altogether.
Prosecutors now say when
this notorious video was taken, Cassie was actually
fleeing a wild freak-off.
I mean, this has gotten very, very scary.
Hollywood's in trouble.
Hip hop and R&B is in trouble.
Sean "Diddy" Combs has pleaded not guilty
to several federal charges.
We are learning in just the last few minutes that
a federal judge is now refusing to grant Sean "Diddy"
Combs bail.
He is going to be behind bars until his trial
begins, whenever that is.
Sean Combs really fought to stay out of this place, where
his attorney called conditions horrific,
but the judge sent him back, finding Diddy a danger to women.
We're appealing the decision to hold him without bail.
TMZ is also reporting Diddy was placed
on suicide watch at the detention center
that he's being held at in New York.
Your reaction to this really stunning indictment?
I'm very surprised, Harvey, that you say you're stunned.
What, you need another decade of Sean, a.k.a.
"Puffy," a.k.a.
"Diddy," a.k.a.
"Love" Combs, brutalizing women stunning?
I'm only stunned it took so long.
Diddy has dodged a lot of legal bullets in the past.
Does this one feel different to you?
It does.
This one feels different.
As you know, Harvey, you don't have the Feds raid your homes
unless they have something of substance,
something significant.
Federal law enforcement agents have
raided properties owned by musician and producer
Sean "Diddy" Combs.
There's got to be something there in order for them to put
themselves in a position with someone who is so powerful, who
can retaliate, who has the authority and the means
to be able to fight cases.
To put yourself in that position,
there must be something there.
Let's switch our focus to the government, in my opinion--
I'm just going to say it the way it is--
no-- no friend, historically, of the successful Black man.
OK?
None.
And they start making this case, in my opinion,
as a takedown of a successful Black man.
I think what is interesting and what was surprising to me
was when I read the indictment, I dissected the indictment,
and I looked at count 2, which is the sex trafficking
count, the sex trafficking by force, coercion, and fraud,
it only names one victim.
Hey, Cassie, how are you?
How do you feel about all the allegations
with Diddy going on right now?
And I believe that's Cassie, his long-time girlfriend.
It only names that one victim, where there's so many women who
have come forth with civil claims looking for money, making
allegations against them.
Now there's only one named victim in that count,
and that's the count that everyone seems to be talking
about, that he's involved in sex trafficking,
and he's using force and coercion.
It's one named victim in that count.
And that's surprising to me, considering
the amount of alleged victims there are in this case.
What up, Sean? PRESS MEMBER 2: Over here, man.
Yeah, what's up?
Do you think the fact that your client is
a very big celebrity played a part in the Feds' decision
to indict him?
I think it played the biggest part.
I think it played a prominent part.
I think that-- that if he's not a big celebrity,
he's just going about his life, you know, without interference
from the US government.
Even though a lot of people now claim that they basically
had knowledge of this, and it certainly was whispered about
prior to becoming common knowledge,
I do think that it's probably one of the most seismic events
in the history of hip hop.
I have never read 14 pages that contained--
So many allegations,
so much shocking information and allegations.
1, 2, 3.
This is the type of indictment you would expect
from someone in the mafia, not somebody
who runs a clothing line--
Matter of fact, you can call me Sean John.
-an alcohol brand--
Let's be clear, Ciroc is for the culture.
someone who was at the top of the hip-hop world.
All about the bitches, baby
What y'all want to do?
Want to be ballers, shot callers, brawlers
To hear charges of transportation,
of prostitution, sex trafficking,
it was pretty astonishing.
You know, you mentioned the mafia.
The mafia tends to operate underground.
Diddy operated way above ground for 16 years,
according to the Feds.
And there were maybe whispers about this, but none of this
came to light.
The reality is Diddy has had run-ins with
the law several times, and it seems he
always has gotten away with it.
So this was really just a build up.
He was, of course, going to operate in plain sight
because nothing ever happens to him until now.
I guess I'd say America loves a story of a good rise.
America loves a story of a-- of a huge fall.
And this is certainly up there, you
know, with any that we've seen.
But, you know, I certainly didn't
have any of this stuff on my bingo card,
covering Puffy for, you know, over a decade.
There's a lot you can say about the guy.
But, you know, this stuff just didn't come up in my reporting.
And I think it took all of us by surprise.
Am I surprised by the allegations?
No.
These are rumors that have been floating around the industry
for decades now.
You know, some people have seen them firsthand.
Some people have just heard about them, you know, directly.
But many of us who've been in the music industry or music
industry adjacent have been aware of Puff's
behavior for many years.
Freak-offs sometimes lasted days at a time,
involved multiple commercial sex workers,
and often involved a variety of narcotics, such as ketamine,
ecstasy, and GHB, which Combs distributed
to the victims to keep them obedient and compliant.
They call them freak-offs.
But, you know, back when I was a kid in the late '70s, they
were called threesomes.
This was, you know, with the woman that
was his woman at the time--
Cassie, over here, please,
And can I see that smile, please?
and allegedly, a third person
I've spoken to about a half a dozen of these
different men involved.
And I asked them, was there any indicia of lack of consent?
And they said absolutely not.
We would never have gone forward a single step
had it seemed like anybody in that room was not consenting.
Was anyone high, too high?
Was anyone drunk?
No one was too high.
No one was too drunk.
If these are genuinely threesomes, how do you explain
1,000 bottles of baby oil?
I don't know where the number 1,000 came--
The US attorney said it.
I can't imagine it's thousands.
I mean, you know-- and I'm not really sure what the baby
oil has to do with anything.
They're essentially saying it's a lubricant for an orgy.
I guess.
I don't know what you need.
1,000-- I mean, one bottle of baby oil goes a long way.
I don't know what you need 1,000 for.
I mean, he has a big house.
He buys in bulk.
You know, I think they have Costcos in every place
where he has a home.
I mean, have you sat in a parking of a Costco
and see what people walk out of there with?
Not 1,000 bottles of baby oil.
I don't think it was 1,000.
I think it was--
I think it was-- let's just say it's a lot, OK?
The US attorney has said that the freak-off parties are going
to be the core of this case.
I've covered a lot of cases in my day.
I cannot think of a single one that
is more salacious than United States versus Sean Combs.
I cannot think of anything that even comes close.
I can't either.
And you know, again, if we start hearing the details of what went
down at these parties, I mean, I remember
back in the day the allure of a Diddy white party.
You're going to hear about my parties.
They're going to be shutting them down.
They're going to probably be arresting me, doing
all types of crazy things.
Everyone wanted to be there.
It was so secretive.
And to know that these parties will be on Front Street,
we are going to hear what happens
not just at these parties but obviously these after parties.
I kind of am hoping to hear the details, even as terrible
and sordid as it may be, because it's astonishing
that these things could be happening right
underneath people's noses--
very famous people.
If you don't have what they need, they're going to leave.
Got to keep them there.
You need locks on the doors.
That's sounding kind of dangerous now.
It's a little kinky, but, you know--
Yeah, yeah.
But just check it out.
You need a lot of heat--
a lot of heat. CONAN O'BRIEN: Heat?
Yeah.
You mean physically the place has to be hot.
Yeah, don't have no air conditioning.
No air conditioning. - No.
Why is that?
Heat affects the alcohol, and it also affects, like--
everybody gets a little bit more comfortable and loose,
builds up a nice little sweat.
Do you ever see any of that in the parties
that you threw or he threw?
Did you ever get any sense of that kind
of eventually evolving?
My Spidey senses were always on high alert.
And I know that there's no safety after a certain hour when
you've got drinks flowing and people behind your back doing
drugs in bathrooms, two and three people
walking out of a bathroom together.
There's no safety in that.
So could there could there potentially be?
Absolutely.
Did I see it?
No, because I never stayed at a party late enough to see it.
Did you sense it?
Did I sense that there could be trouble?
There could be trouble riding on the subway.
Yes, I sensed it.
Yes.
There's no way out for Diddy on this.
I'm just telling you, there's no way out.
All he's going to be able to do now is whine about his jail.
He might get in a better jail.
He's going to whine about his tuna fish sandwich and his bunk
and his naughty roommate.
Have fun with that, Diddy.
You look good, man.
Here's a man who has made some of the most
important businesses owned by a Black man,
run, owned, created, founded.
The vision was that of a Black man.
What have we done?
We have reduced him, not everyone,
but a large amount of our society, to being a monster.
That should make us shake in our boots.
Down here at Pura Vida by my pad, run into the mayor right
here.
Love.
What's up?
The indictment alleges that between at least 2008
and the present, Combs abused, threatened, and coerced victims
to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation,
and conceal his conduct.
This is the government scrutinizing his businesses.
His businesses are fine.
Scrutinizing the taxes.
He pays his taxes.
He does everything right.
What's the last vestige?
We're going to go into his bedroom.
We're going to go into his bedroom
because maybe we don't like the way he's having sex.
Diddy, come on, hook us up.
Hook a brother up, man.
Appreciate it.
I really wanted to get somebody who
is just all over this genre.
And I want to talk to you about the whispers,
because according to prosecutors,
this has been going on for 16 years at least.
And yet, nothing surfaced publicly until Cassie.
So what were the whispers over the years?
What were people saying?
There was a lot of talk of party parties or Diddy parties,
as they're kind of known now.
It was always sort of known that if you went to a party
at Puff's house and were you to stay
past certain hours that you might be introduced
to some sort of massive orgy.
There was just a lot of whispers about what
it might have consisted of.
This about we.
This is motherfucking bad boy, bitch.
We love everybody.
Certainly, I don't think
that it was common knowledge that there was so much
non-consensual stuff going on or any of the seedier allegations,
but it was definitely discussed.
Years ago, Diddy was on Ellen DeGeneres's talk show.
And she even joked about that.
I could think of you starting a party at, like, midnight.
Like, what time will it go till?
That's a different type of party, though.
No, it'd go from, like, 9:30 to, like,
maybe 3 o'clock, 2-3 o'clock.
And then we have the top two floors of the hotel.
And then it will carry on there?
Yeah. Yeah.
I mean, the after party.
No, I know about them.
I listen to the music.
I've heard that song "After Party."
No, I mean, I think everybody knew that Diddy was a highly
sexual individual and that he certainly
was a fan of drugs in general.
Let's go, baby.
How could this go under the radar for 16 years?
I think that Diddy, over those years, before he was
apprehended, I think that it was just
his ego just kept inflating.
And he kept getting away with more and more things.
If you go back to the Shyne incident,
that was an incident in which he assaulted somebody
in a nightclub in front of presumably hundreds
of powerful people, influential people.
Prosecutors then say one of Combs' associates,
19-year-old Jamal Barrow, also known as the rapper Shyne,
opened fire while Combs reportedly
pulled out a pistol of his own.
And he got away with it.
He was able to make this young artist basically
take the fall for him.
I had nothing to do with a shooting in this club.
I want to make this a 100% clear.
I had nothing to do with a shooting in this club.
And I feel terrible that people were hurt that night.
I am Natania Reuben.
I'm a mom.
I'm a business owner.
I'm a daughter.
And I am a victim of gun violence.
Three people inside the club were injured,
two of them critically, including
a young woman with a bullet lodged in her cheek.
I am the woman who was shot on December 27, 1999,
in Club New York by Sean Puffy Combs.
I have said it from that day, and I will say it till I die.
I just watched Shyne and Puffy start backing back
towards the door, like you would see in any movie
when someone is backing away from a scene
but reaching to their side.
They were reaching to their side,
backing away from the scene to get to the front door.
I turned around to tell my friends, oh, my god.
Oh, my god, watch out.
I think they're going to-- this is getting crazy.
I think they're going to shoot.
I saw the muzzle flash, and the bullet slammed into my face.
I watched them.
I watched both of them fire their guns.
Do you have any sense of which person
fired the shot that hit you?
Absolutely.
Shyne was closest to the bar.
Puffy was closest to me.
Remember one thing.
This man testified to a jury in 2001,
and he saw 12 New Yorkers look him dead in the eye and say,
you're not guilty.
Why do you think it took 16 years for authorities to really
come down hard on Diddy, given what you say happened to you,
what happened to Cassie, and what allegedly
happened to many other people?
There's an old adage.
Every dog has his day.
This victory is not just a victory for Cassie,
for little Rod, for me, it's a victory for everyone
who has felt the specter of violence, oppression,
wickedness, evil, whatever.
I am the fucking hottest hustler in the world.
This is savage part two.
Don't tell me about shit.
It's 2022, and I'm still a savage.
Whatever I want, I get.
Whatever I want, I fucking get.
People were definitely talking about
not just his emotional abuse, but his physical abuse,
and his temper, and his anger, and his treatment of women.
And there was a lot of rumor and a lot of fear.
Fear of retaliation?
Fear of retaliation, fear of reputational damage,
and fear of being called inauthentic
by a culture that unfortunately values sexual violence.
The personality profile that I would assess to Puffy
during the years we were working together
was very hard working, ingenious, creative, demanding,
prone to temper tantrums.
If he didn't have his way, screamed a lot.
Did y'all know that's the hustle?
You make enough money to pay everybody so you don't do shit
but be as happy as you can be.
I want to be happy.
I've paid too many people.
I have heard that you would refer
to Diddy as the problem child.
Is that right?
Yes, I called him my problem child.
I used to always joke that I had the Notorious B.I.G.
and I had the notorious VIP.
And the notorious VIP is Puffy.
Sean Diddy Combs was a hero to a lot of people.
He also fed a lot of mouths.
And he kept a lot of people clothed and employed.
So people were afraid to come out and talk about it.
I interviewed his former makeup artist,
Miles Morales, who said she was horrified at what she heard.
She heard him beating Cassie behind closed doors
and basically got her out of there, packed her bags,
and then took her to see a doctor.
So I think people were afraid for their careers.
They were afraid for their livelihoods.
He was very quick to anger.
He was quick to have a reaction to things.
And he really felt that he was impenetrable.
He felt that nobody could go after him, that nobody
could take him down.
He had a god complex.
Puffy really had a god complex.
And that defined a lot of his interactions
with people that he considered lesser than.
Act bad.
It's going to be an act bad summer.
Act bad just means being free, enjoying yourself, letting
it go, not giving a fuck.
Let's get ready to act bad.
Diddy was able to get away with lots of stuff
for a long time for a few reasons.
One, he was cast in the public image as the alternative
to Suge Knight.
Suge's the big bad monster.
Diddy's the nice guy that wants to get along.
Diddy is also quite charming.
He will disarm you with his smile, with his conversation.
And in my interactions with him, he's a very nice guy.
I have nothing bad to say about him.
I've never had a bad interaction with Diddy.
And then there's also the fact that Diddy is quite powerful.
What more do I have to do, man?
Look at my hat, man.
Look at my hat.
Look how I show up on-- look how I show up on the Amalfi Coast,
B. Am I letting y'all down?
Let me know.
Am I not representing y'all the right way?
You know what I'm saying?
The fuck.
New surveillance footage obtained exclusively
by CNN appears to corroborate some of the allegations of abuse
against music mogul Sean Diddy Combs.
The video captured on multiple cameras
shows Combs wearing only a towel,
assaulting his then girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, in a hallway
at a Los Angeles hotel in March 2016.
I think the Cassie video was the moment
where everybody in hip hop basically had to stop pretending
that this was all a witch hunt.
I think that there was a strong incentive
for a lot of people to basically say, well, Diddy,
he's a sexual guy.
He's a freaky guy.
He may or may not be bisexual.
But was he an abuser?
Was he a monster? No way.
I don't believe that.
But then when you see that video,
it's kind of hard to imagine this guy actually having
a sane, rational, normal sex life
when you can witness him behaving in such a way
to his long-time girlfriend.
So I think that when that tape hit,
it really kind of changed the game.
But we are able to shun him.
And he should be treated like the leper, the social leper
and criminal he is.
We saw him commit assault.
When I saw the video with Cassie running for her life,
I cried my eyes out and wondered how she got there
and how he got to a place where he could
brutalize someone in that way and think
that he could get away with it.
And gentlemen, everybody in this side right
here.
When I got the nerve to really watch it and analyze it,
I was stricken with how easily he delivered the blows.
As Ventura lies on the ground,
Combs then kicks her twice.
Anybody who has watched that video--
and I imagine millions of people have watched that video--
you can't watch it and think that is
a man that has compassion, that is a man that treats women well.
There's no excuse for anything that happened on that video.
And he's going to have a hard time convincing
anyone, especially a jury, that he's a standup guy
and has been for years and that was just a one-off thing.
I think that it is game over.
There may have been a path forward
before we saw him in action.
But now that we've seen him physically assault Cassie,
I just don't see how any of us can erase that from our minds.
Mr. Combs, himself, went publicly
and apologized for the video.
And it was hard to watch for him.
It was hard to watch for me.
It's hard to watch for anyone.
That being said, it is not evidence of sex trafficking.
There was a certain level of toxicity and drug use
in the 10-year relationship between Mr.
Combs and the woman that he was in love with,
very much in love with, and who was very much in love with
him for a period of 10 years.
Their difficulties did not stem from their intimate time
together.
Their difficulties stemmed from the fact
that she was cheating on him and he was cheating on her.
And what we see in that video is terrible.
It's unforgivable.
And we don't seek to forgive it.
But it's not related to the charge.
There were the folks who
would say, what was she doing?
Anybody who accused of beating a woman
or putting their hands on a woman.
We don't know what she was doing before that
to cause him to do that.
Well, there's nothing that you can do to cause
someone to react that way.
No one deserves to be beaten like that.
What's up?
What's up, Diddy?
How are you doing, man?
How are you doing, man.
Do you think the defense will try and argue to the judge
that the Cassie video is so incendiary, so inflammatory, so
prejudicial that he couldn't get a fair trial if the jury absorbs
it, so that they would try to keep it out
because it's simply too prejudicial?
Is that something they would argue?
And is it something that would fly?
You're a lawyer, huh?
So that's the great argument, Harvey.
So, yes, that's something that they would argue.
That's something that they definitely will argue.
I would argue it because it's not tied into these freak-offs.
This whole thing is about these sex romps, the sex trafficking.
That's an isolated incident that has nothing to do with the sex
trafficking, these freak-offs, the prostitution, the lack of
consent for sex, the coercion.
That is a fight between a couple,
an ugly fight between a couple.
And like you just said, that will
inflame the passions of a jury.
Anyone who looks at that is disgusted.
I'm disgusted looking at that.
How do you hit a woman?
I mean, to me, it's a horrible thing.
And the prejudicial value will clearly
outweigh the probative value in this instance.
Will a judge preclude it?
Probably not the way things have been going for him,
because the prosecution's going to argue
it's a pattern of his behavior, including violent behavior
that he employed against women.
The Cassie video was such a big deal.
But really, him throwing his girlfriend
on the ground in the hotel hallway,
that kind of pales in comparison to a lot
of the things that have been alleged in this indictment.
So if there's further video footage--
and presumably there's a lot of this footage--
it's going be crazy.
Harvey, talk about the Cassie video
being inflammatory to a jury.
Wait till they see the freak-off videos.
The Cassie Ventura video, that's child's play
compared to what they're going to see in freak-off videos.
Diddy.
R&B singer Cassie has accused
hip hop mogul Sean Diddy Combs of rape
and a decade of physical abuse.
The two were romantically involved for years.
But in a lawsuit, Cassie says there was a pattern of control,
drug use, and forced sexual encounters.
I find it unbelievable that Diddy did not
settle that lawsuit before it got filed, and especially
knowing that there was surveillance
video of the incident in 2016, that if he
would have settled with her, we may not
be talking about this today.
Cassie is the one that opened Pandora's box.
And had she just gotten the money, gone away,
Diddy might be a free man today.
I have to imagine when Diddy woke up in his jail
cell that first day, he thought, why didn't I just take the deal?
Because exactly that.
If he had just settled, we probably would have never
known any of this went down.
So for us it's a blessing, because if he is found guilty
of all of the things that are alleged in this indictment,
we don't want a person like that walking around in society.
Main emotion I always get when I see a man putting
his hands on a woman in this way is just
disgust and disappointment.
Like, you know, yeah, Diddy need his ass beat.
Like, I wish Cassie would have had a gun on her
and would have shot him right there on the spot.
Honestly, I don't understand
how this case was handled on behalf of P Diddy,
on behalf of Combs.
There's no reason to have those settlement negotiations, which
they were engaged in for quite some time,
not agree to a settlement, let her file the case,
have a front page of every newspaper have
explosive allegations against your client,
and then settle one day later.
That was absolutely the worst of all worlds,
because what you have is now an allegation that destroys
reputationally this guy.
It's actually what started this federal investigation.
Had Diddy settled with Cassie
before she filed a lawsuit, you and I
might not be speaking today.
I agree with you 100%.
There's no criminal case if that happens.
The lawyers let her file a lawsuit,
settle 24 hours later, and open Pandora's box.
That's pretty incredible.
And unfortunate.
Had it been settled quietly, they
would have never known about it to have the opportunity
to do what they did.
He must be kicking himself for that.
You know, he is so focused on trying to right
this wrong that it's actually giving him a form of strength
and a form of confidence that I think
is going to get him through this difficult time period.
There's an adage that we have in my office, "Don't tell me
what I did wrong.
Tell me what I do next."
And that's where he is.
Sean, Cassie, this way!
Sean, Cassie.
Cassie Ventura's bombshell lawsuit in November
that opened the door, really the floodgates
for all these similar allegations to come forward.
Well, this latest lawsuit was filed by adult film star Adria
English, where she alleges that she was forced to drink
alcohol and consume drugs and then was,
quote, passed off to be sexually assaulted.
In a 79-page lawsuit filed by a music producer who claims
to have worked with and lived with Sean Combs for a period
of time alleges there were underage girls,
hidden cameras, and sexual harassment at his home.
How you doing?
In a new lawsuit, Dawn Richard,
who is a member of the Combs-formed group Danity Kane,
accuses him of terrorizing and sexually abusing her for years.
Indicted music mogul Sean "Diddy" Combs is facing
new sex assault allegations.
A woman named Thalia Graves just filed
a lawsuit accusing him of drugging and then raping her.
This is more than two decades ago.
It opened a Pandora's box, because what
else it did was this.
If you make a claim against me, within 24 hours,
I will settle with you.
So of course, now the floodgates open.
Legally, I don't understand.
That was maybe the worst strategy
I've ever seen in my life.
Shocking new accusations,
his alleged victim humiliated and traumatized.
Diddy's legal troubles just got bigger.
Sean "Diddy" Combs faces another new lawsuit,
the second this week.
A fourth woman is now suing music mogul Sean Combs,
claiming he sexually assaulted her
when she was just a teenager.
Now another woman has come forward accusing hip hop mogul
Sean "Diddy" Combs of sexual assault.
This is the eighth lawsuit against Combs since November.
Cassie Ventura really opened the floodgates,
and women now feel empowered.
And a whole lot of people are coming out,
and they're telling their stories about Diddy.
I have to imagine we are going
to see a long line of people who want him to be found guilty
in the criminal trial, because it makes,
obviously, the civil cases that much more easy once he is
found guilty or if he is found guilty
of these criminal charges.
I have to imagine his assets just get seized,
they start getting auctioned off.
And I think the fact that he has a lot of money
kind of fuels that fire.
Because this is not like suing somebody who's judgment-proof.
There's a lot of money to go around.
There is a lot of money to go around.
And I think even if he escapes these criminal charges,
he's going to have years and years ahead of him
with these civil lawsuits.
The woman bringing this latest lawsuit
says she was only 17 when she was
a victim of sex trafficking and gang rape
by Combs and his associates.
She alleges in 1991 Sean "Diddy" Combs drugged her,
then sexually assaulted her.
In the suit, she says he videotaped and distributed it.
Lampros claims the rapper forced her to take
ecstasy and demanded she have sexual intercourse
with Kim Porter.
She says Combs then began
kissing her without her consent and forced
her to perform oral sex on him.
I have had women that a rape,
even if it was when they were a child, ruins their life.
They can't have a relationship.
They can't make love with their husband.
They can't have a family.
They have flashbacks.
They are afraid.
They have night terrors.
And it never goes away.
And if you do manage to marry or have children or have a family
in some way, it affects the way you raise your children,
how you see the world.
It's never over, Harvey.
It's never over.
No, no, no, no, no.
Not yet, not yet, not yet.
You see, messing up.
That's your problem.
I've got a nice--
go get a drink downstairs.
Combs allegedly planned and controlled the sex performances,
which he called "freak-offs," and he often
electronically recorded them.
Hollywood is often quick to speak
up and speak loudly when somebody does something bad.
But they've been silent on Diddy.
I'm wondering if there are a lot of nervous people in this town,
especially now knowing that there are videos.
There should be a lot of nervous people in this town.
If there are higher-up people, people that are still
famous right now that are on these videos,
it's going to blow--
I mean, Hollywood is going to just implode, I think.
Diddy party stories, they're our favorite genre
of anecdote, if you have one. ASHTON KUTCHER: Really?
Wow.
OK I've got a lot I can't tell.
So-- [sigh] I can't tell that one either.
Fair to say that some of these videos
might include people other than Cassie and Diddy
and that there might be other celebrities on these videos?
I don't know of other celebrities, I'll tell you that.
In terms of the other people, I don't want to comment
on that until I've seen them.
That's probably a bridge too far for me,
because I haven't seen the evidence yet.
But we'll see what's on them.
What about his desire to bring
celebrities into the fold?
Based on what you know about him, was that something
that was always his end game?
Because what I'm wondering is, what's on these video tapes?
I think the prosecutors have them.
The question is, did he court celebrities to come to these?
He was a celebrity magnet.
My phone rang consistently with celebrities asking,
can I come to the party?
When is the next party?
Put my name down.
Take my number.
The parties were fantastic, Harvey.
Let it breathe, Quincy!
Breathe.
Fantastic.
And then they went sideways.
I suppose.
I never stayed long enough to find out.
Shake your body down to the ground
Let's dance, let's shout
Shake your body down to the ground.
So who was with you this weekend?
A bunch of my friends.
Diddy, Quincy, Justin Bieber.
So far, so good.
French Montana.
I got on a plane
at 5:30 AM to go to this party.
I think half the people there were butt naked.
Diddy threw lots of parties
that were filled with celebrities, big celebrities.
Let's make a toast to Sean Combs, Puff Daddy.
And as you say, there were whispers about what happens late
into the night at various parties, not to mention specific
parties like freak-offs.
How likely is it, do you think, that there
are celebrities there?
I would assume that the vast majority of the people involved
in these freak-offs would be celebrities, at least
on the male side of things.
It's easy for me to imagine, and from what we've
heard, that a lot of these parties
might be like a handful of guys and then
dozens or even hundreds of women who
are basically involved in it.
Touch the star.
The real sad part about it
is the silence of the people in Hollywood.
Are they scared?
Are they nervous for themselves?
Are they worried about something like this coming out about them?
People are concerned about the slightest infraction these days.
I have to be honest with you.
People are afraid of being canceled.
You said "we are not done" and that
Combs did not do this alone.
Do you foresee that there could be other charges
related to this case?
I'm not taking anything off the table.
People are thinking, oh crap, I was at that party.
What happened?
What did I do?
What did others do?
And I think that video that the Homeland Security
folks seized freaked them out.
Yeah, it freaked a lot of people
out for sure.
It's the after parties.
It's the side rooms.
It's whether there's video of those smaller gatherings
of people who stay when the party's over,
or who are getting together when everybody
else is in the larger room, that people are afraid of.
I think that video is going to blow a lot of stuff
open wide if it comes to light.
If some celebrity is captured on video at one of these
freak-offs, could that celebrity's lawyer somehow go
to prosecutors, the judge, and say, please blur my client,
cut them out?
There's no reason to make them collateral damage.
It's possible that somebody of some renown, some fame,
a recognizable face, could be involved in some
of these freak-off tapes.
If they are, that person clearly can ask prosecutors
to take some kind of action, to blur out their face,
or to make sure that they're not recognizable if they
haven't done anything illegal.
However, at some point, there's a balancing test
between a celebrity's right to privacy and to the protection
of their career and to the public's right to know
and to the jury's right to see and deliberate
on a just decision.
And every time the prosecution is going to choose the public's
right to know and the jury's right
to do justice over a celebrity's right to remain private.
If I was a Hollywood celebrity and I
was at one of those parties, I'd make sure to talk to a lawyer,
because I could easily be dragged into this.
Does he have any goodwill attached when it comes
to this jury that he'll have?
In my opinion, Sean Combs enters the courtroom with a very
complicated history.
How you doing?
Hey, love.
Love, man.
Ooh!
I'm a savage!
Whatever I want, I'm going to get!
Whatever I want, I have to get!
I think the defense is going
to have a difficult time portraying him as a choirboy,
or as someone who is beloved by the public.
Sean Combs is someone who has been consistently
in the crosshairs of law enforcement since the '90s when
he first came into prominence.
So he's a complicated figure entering that courtroom.
What if, Nancy, Diddy's lawyers say in trial, look,
the prosecution is infantilizing women by saying that they were
at these freak-offs under duress or pressure, that people
go to orgies, people do drugs.
To assume that they didn't have the right
not to go or to leave when they wanted is a huge leap.
To that, as a prosecutor, you would say what?
So when evidence comes out of Sean Combs beating,
threatening, chasing victims--
then I believe a jury will see that they were not infantilized,
as you are describing.
Yes, they were coerced.
Yes, they were forced.
Yes, they were asked to change their stories.
They're going to show that video over and over and over
about what happens to women that won't change their stories.
If the defense can find witnesses that participated
in these freak-offs, who are willing to get on the stand
and said, I did so freely, I was not coerced,
I wanted to do these things, and they have enough
witnesses that are compelling, that will be their best defense.
It's not illegal to be a freak.
It is illegal to drug people, coerce people
into doing those things.
We hear that these investigators have
been contacting individuals that they have seen on this footage.
One person, in addition to the accusers
who have filed these civil suits, is a male sex worker.
It's pretty stunning that Diddy's lawyer
could subpoena some of the people who
were at these parties, knowing they were there
because there's video of them.
And all of a sudden, they're forced to take the stand
and talk about this.
I have to imagine anyone who has participated
is absolutely terrified right now.
Because imagine if you started participating in these parties
years ago.
And now you've gone on to become a tradwife,
or maybe you're just a stay-at-home mom.
And that is not your life anymore.
But you might be subpoenaed, and you
might have to testify to things that are on these videos.
It's absolutely horrifying.
But I will say it will be a really compelling trial.
Just wanted to give y'all a taste of what it's like being
in a mix, mixing a record.
What you got to say?
I just want to say thank you to everybody.
And I hope everybody likes the record.
It's definitely an honor to be on what Puff
is calling a "bad boy classic."
If I'm the defense,
I would also, also point out that there
was also a financial motive here for these women, right?
It's not just consent.
How many years ago was that confrontation?
Many, many years ago.
She didn't go to the law, police at any time.
She didn't go to a lawyer at any time, until recently.
And then, instead of going to law enforcement-- look.
If you're a victim of a crime, the first place you should go to
is the police.
She didn't do that.
She went to a lawyer and tried to get money.
OK?
And I'm just telling you what the defense would argue here.
And she got money.
All of a sudden, all these other victims came forward.
Everyone who was claiming to be a victim
was, first, looking for money.
And that's a motive.
That's proper fodder for cross-examination.
They are going to ascribe motives to the women,
that they would sleep with Combs or his cohorts
in exchange for a career boost.
There was all the quid pro quo.
I don't think women on the jury are going to go along with that.
But when you combine that with threats of violence
and actual violence, Harvey, please.
Hiding women away in remote areas
so their bruises could heal?
They're gonna hear that.
The jury's gonna hear that.
We should want, as a society,
to question the validity of an allegation.
It doesn't mean smearing somebody.
It simply means, how come you never said
this to anyone for 20 years?
What's up, bro?
How you doing?
Good, man.
Happy Wednesday to you, bro.
Happy Wednesday, bro. MAN: Thank you, man.
I have interviewed a lot
of people for this documentary.
And a lot of them have said, game over, after they
saw the Cassie video.
Does this compel you to put him on the stand and explain it?
I don't know that I could keep him off the stand.
I think he is very eager to tell his story.
And I think he will tell every part of his story,
including what you see on the video.
So I expect it's gonna be explained by the both of us.
The thing that's missing from this story
is the overall context of the entire situation.
And when that context is appreciated, what people are
gonna see, clearly, this was a long-term,
loving, intense relationship that had mutual infidelities.
And that is the reason why you see some
of what you see on the video.
It's kind of breathtaking that what you're telling
me is that Diddy is gonna take the stand.
And he will be cross-examined about this video,
about the violence in the video, about the freak-offs,
about allegedly blowing up a car, all of those things.
That feels kind of dicey.
He has his story.
And he has a story that I think only he can tell in the way
he can tell it, in real time.
And it's a human story.
It's a story of love.
It's a story of hurt.
It's a story of heartbreak.
I mean, when he describes that relationship,
the word he uses more than any other word is "heartbreak."
He was heartbroken.
She was heartbroken.
What's up, Puff?
Are you doing all right, man?
Are you OK?
Are you all right, man?
What kind of a jury does Sean Combs want?
Men, women, white, Black?
Is it more complicated than that?
The best jury for Sean Combs is
a very diverse jury and perhaps a jury that is primarily male.
He, 100%, wants Black people on the jury, people that understand
where he comes from and the hard work and dedication that he had
to show to rise to the level of prominence
where he currently is.
He wants people that respond to celebrity success, fame, power.
I find, as a former sex crimes
prosecutor and someone who's tried these cases,
sometimes women are the harshest critic of women
and the most severe judge of the credibility of other women
making accusations.
Honestly, older Black women from Brooklyn,
where I'm from, where he's from, they're street smart.
You want street smart jurors, is what you want here.
What kind of jury do you want?
I want people who've gone out and had
a life with romance and love and loss
and cheating and heartbreak on their own.
Because that is the person who's gonna see this for what it is.
And this is all about those things.
You mentioned, earlier,
about a racial component here.
Do you want Black people on this jury?
I've never been one to do that, when picking a jury.
I want people who are sensitive to the issues that I think
are important.
Would you be open to a plea bargain?
Well, it's not up to me.
It's up to Mr. Combs.
And I don't see it happening.
Why?
Because he believes he's innocent.
He believes he's innocent.
And what's more, he believes that he needs to stand up, not
just for himself, for his family and for everybody
who's been targeted by the federal government.
He feels an obligation to those people to say, you know what?
Maybe I can break the model.
Maybe I can show the world that a Black man can win, you know,
in federal court.
And I think he probably is the only person
I know of who might be able to actually accomplish that.
No, Diddy.
That's really Diddy, bro.
Diddy was denied bail.
This trial could be a year out.
So this man went from a person of incredible wealth and means--
Sean, to the right, up top!
Sean, to the right!
-to somebody who is now in a very small
jail cell, mostly in isolation.
That must be beyond jarring.
It has to be pretty eye-opening to wake up
in a cell, when you were living on Star Island,
one of the most exclusive places in the world to live.
But, again, I think it goes back to that Cassie video
in the hotel.
Anyone who has seen that video thinks, to themself,
I'm glad Diddy is sitting there, eating his bologna
sandwich on his very hard cot.
What's his state of mind right now?
His state of mind is actually remarkably positive.
I spend several hours with him every day.
I'm gonna leave you and go see him now.
And his resolve is strong.
He's engaged.
He's focused on his defense.
And we see him every day.
And he is-- come to terms with the fact
that this is where he is for now.
We are trying to get this matter to trial as soon as possible.
Whether he skates on federal charges or not,
is it game over for him, in terms of his career,
because of the Cassie video?
There's no returning from this.
I mean, how can you look at that video and then, you know,
have anybody take you seriously or want to sit across a table
at the boardroom?
Even just that video is enough.
Nothing else may materialize.
He may be found not guilty for anything,
moving forward, past the video, but I
think his reputation is over.
I think his career is over.
And America loves a good comeback story.
I think this may be the exception to that rule.
You know, he just listened to every record.
He gave me his input on what could make the records that he
did comment on all the way classic
and just reach they full potential.
Nobody's ever gonna be able to take it away from Puff, that he
had a hand and was incredibly important in the career
of so many important artists.
As I lay down laws like I lay carpet
Stop it, if you think you're gonna make a profit
[PUFF DADDY, "DO YOU LIKE IT, DO YOU WANT
IT"] When you got a lot of cars
Don't even drive no more
When you expected to win
They ain't surprised no more.
Yo, what you know about goin' out
Head west, red Lex, TVs all up in the headrest?
I don't know what they want from me
It's like the more money we come across
The more problem we see
The artistic contribution of so many of these artists that he
brought to the forefront was so gigantic
that it's kind of hard to imagine
anyone being able to take that away from him.
But at the same time, I mean, we've, kind of, seen
it with Russell Simmons.
We've certainly seen it with R. Kelly.
R. Kelly is spending more time in prison,
after being sentenced federally for child
pornography and enticement of minors for sex.
As time goes by and people become
uncomfortable with celebrating your contributions,
it's just gonna be more and more difficult
for people to have a conversation about Diddy
without bringing up all of this negative shit as well.
It's an asterisk.
It doesn't negate what you've been able to achieve.
Far be it for me to ever act like--
I mean, I danced to quite a lot of those songs.
I'm not gonna be a hypocrite.
Nothing about me is a hypocrite.
Sean!
He is an icon.
He has been an icon all these years.
And he is an icon with an asterisk now.
You can be a phenomenal musician and a monster.
I don't care about his legacy.
I don't give a flying fig about his legacy.
His legacy is as a sex abuser with probably
hundreds, if not more, victims.
That's his legacy.
Don't ask me any more about his Hollywood legacy.
I don't care.
Now you gonna say one time.
Yeah!
Now you gonna say one time.
Yeah!
Now you gonna say it.
We're talking about a guy that
did a hell of a lot for the Black culture, for the culture,
in general.
We not gonna label any color on it.
We gon' say, for the culture, right?
Black excellence, tequila made by a Black man.
Give everybody jobs, schools.
It was a dream of mine to come back to my neighborhood
and open up a school in Harlem.
He really meant something to Black people.
He was an inspirational figure, where people wanted to aspire
to be like him, to have that degree of success,
to be able to buy a giant compound
and estate in the Hamptons and throw white parties every year
and invite every single A-list celebrity and have your own jet.
All black, everything.
All-Black crew, the greatest pilots in the world.
I mean, look, it's the uber American dream, to be
able to do something like that.
So he was a giant, huge role model for a lot of people.
And now he's fallen from that perch.
You build him up.
You tear him down.
But I think, sadly, he gave folks the ammunition
to be able to tear him down.
Hello, hello, hello, hello
Good morning, good morning, morning
Hello, hello, hello
Good evening
Is Diddy concerned about his legacy,
given everything that's come out already,
even if he's found not guilty?
That's a very good question.
And, honestly, I haven't asked him that.
I'm gonna venture an answer.
I think he views his legacy as being a fighter.
I think he views his legacy as someone
who has worked very, very hard to get
everything that he earned.
And if he can work hard and earn a not guilty verdict in the eyes
of 12 New Yorkers, I think that would
be consistent with his legacy.