Various lawsuits have detailed alleged sexual assaults at parties held at Mr. Combs’s properties, while so-called “Freak-off” parties at hotel rooms seem to be a focus for federal authorities. The Department of Justice charged him with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution in a 14-page indictment last month.
Prosecutors have accused Mr. Combs of recording sex acts during “Freak Offs”, which federal authorities describe as days-long sex parties involving multiple sex workers.
The indictment alleged that Mr. Combs and his associates booked hotel rooms and stocked them with narcotics like ketamine, lubricant, extra linens, and lighting so that they could record the orgies.
During the “Freak Offs,” Mr. Combs allegedly “hit, kicked, threw objects at victims,” which led to injuries that would sometimes take weeks to heal, the court documents state.
According to the indictment, participants were allegedly coerced with drugs and threats to remain “obedient and compliant”. Afterwards, those involved would take IV fluids to recover, prosecutors allege.
Ms. Ventura’s lawsuit, filed in November 2023 – almost a year before his indictment in New York – includes graphic details of these alleged “Freak-Off” parties. The lawsuit states Mr. Combs would host these events weekly in hotels in New York and Los Angeles, flying in sex workers, supplying drugs that included ecstasy, cocaine, and ketamine, and forcing the singer to perform sex acts.
During a raid on Mr. Combs’s Los Angeles and Miami mansions, law enforcement officers seized AR-15-style guns, large-capacity magazines, thousands of bottles of lube, and baby oil.
Mr. Combs’s arrest and the fallout surrounding his career has sparked hope among activists and survivors of sexual violence that his case could drive meaningful change within the music industry.
Gloria Allred, a prominent women’s rights lawyer who has defended a number of women throughout the #MeToo movement, believes the world is finally seeing a “reckoning” in the music industry.
She’s representing Thalia Graves, who alleges she was drugged and violently raped by the rapper in 2001. She said she was threatened by Mr. Combs and did not speak out, fearing he would “ruin her life,” Allred said.
But Ms. Allred told the BBC she thinks the fallout from Diddy’s arrest is far from over.
“Courage is contagious,” she said.
And prosecutors and lawyers for the growing list of Mr. Combs’s accusers have hinted there is more to come.
“Combs did not do this all on his own,” Damian Williams, US Attorney for the Southern District of New York, said. “He used his business and employees of that business and other close associates to get his way.”
The investigation into the case is still open, authorities say.
As Mr. Combs left his most recent court appearance in a beige prison jumpsuit, he mouthed to his family “I love you” and repeatedly put his hands to his heart, making a prayer sign.
As the hearing ended, a group of fans huddled by the courtroom doors on their tiptoes hoping to catch sight of him and show support for the rapper.
For his former assistant, the media storm that now surrounds the rapper is not without a hint of irony.
“He wanted to make himself the most famous person in the world, and ironically, now he is,” Mr. Shuter said.