Federal agents searched the Miami Beach mansion of rapper and music mogul Diddy as part of an ongoing sex trafficking investigation. NBC6’s Christian Colón reports
A known associate of Sean "Diddy" Combs was arrested Monday in South Florida as federal agents raided the music mogul's mansions in Miami Beach and Los Angeles.
In a civil lawsuit that alleges Combs operated a criminal enterprise that included sex trafficking and the illegal distribution of illegal narcotics and firearms, 25-year-old Brendan Paul is accused of being a "mule" for the mogul's drugs and guns.
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Paul was arrested at Opa-locka Airport for carrying cocaine and marijuana-laced candy, Miami-Dade Police said in an affidavit. He faces charges of possessing cocaine and a controlled substance.
Video from TMZ showed Diddy pacing around at the same airport as Homeland Security agents executed the bi-coastal search warrants.
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Combs is the subject of a federal criminal investigation amid several lawsuits filed against him in recent months, sources told NBC News.
In one civil lawsuit, producer Rodney "Lil Rod" Jones, who worked for Combs between September 2022 and November 2023, alleged that Combs sexually harassed, drugged and threatened him for more than a year.
Jones also alleged that he had video and audio evidence of Combs, his staff and others “engaging in serious illegal activity." The complaint provides photos of Paul holding pill bottles while on Combs' yacht.
Paul, who played basketball for Syracuse University in 2019, bonded out of jail Tuesday morning.
On Monday, music mogul's homes in Los Angeles and Miami were searched by federal agents with Homeland Security Investigators and other law enforcement. Officials said the searches were connected to an investigation by federal authorities in New York.
Footage from Chopper 6 showed multiple agents at the rapper's property on the exclusive Star Island. NBC6 captured agents walking through the more than $30-million home with paper bags and walking out with multiple boxes and laptops. Among the items seized were several phones and guns, law enforcement sources said.
In a statement on Tuesday, Combs' attorney called the raid an "unprecedented ambush" and the mogul "is innocent and will continue to fight every single day to clear his name.”
“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," Aaron Dyer's statement said in part.
