Why Was Diddy Arrested? What We Know about the ‘Freak Offs,’ Baby Oil, and Everything Else

As Diddy sits in jail after his September 16 arrest, more details and sources are coming to light about what, exactly, he allegedly did and facilitated. The indictment against him, which was unsealed on September 17, revealed that Combs was charged with sex trafficking and racketeering.

Sexual assault and abuse allegations against Sean Combs, better known to music fans as Diddy, first came to light when his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura filed a lawsuit against him in November 2023. The allegations became front-page news in March 2024, when two of his homes were raided as part of an ongoing human trafficking investigation, according to CNN.

Here is a timeline of everything we know so far about the Diddy assault allegations.

October 1: Diddy is facing a wave of new sexual assault allegations. During a press conference on October 1, Texas-based attorney Tony Buzbee said that he is representing more than 120 accusers and will be filing a series of civil lawsuits against Diddy in various states over the next 30 days.

Buzbee added that he and his team have “collected pictures, video, texts,” as evidence, and that allegations include: “violent sexual assault or rape, facilitated sex with a controlled substance, dissemination of video recordings, sexual abuse of minors.” The youngest alleged victim was just nine years old at the time of their assault, Buzbee noted. The allegations span the past 20 years.

“We will expose the enablers who enabled this conduct behind closed doors,” Buzbee told reporters. “We will pursue this matter no matter who the evidence implicates.”

Though he did not single out anyone specifically, Buzbee claimed that some of these “enablers” include high-profile people. “These names will shock you,” he said. Buzbee added that he will be naming the other defendants at a later date.

The lawyer, who also represented victims of the fatal crowd crush at Travis Scott’s Astroworld Fest, said that more than 3,000 people came forward with allegations against Diddy.

In a statement, Diddy’s lawyer Erica Wolff said, “As Mr. Combs’ legal team has emphasized, he cannot address every meritless allegation in what has become a reckless media circus. That said, Mr. Combs emphatically and categorically denies as false and defamatory any claim that he sexually abused anyone, including minors. He looks forward to proving his innocence and vindicating himself in court if and when claims are filed and served, where the truth will be established based on evidence, not speculation.”

September 24: The four children Diddy shared with his late ex-girlfriend Kim Porter—Quincy Brown, Christian Combs, and Jessie and D’Lila Combs—refuted conspiracy theories about their mother in a joint statement posted to Instagram. “We have seen so many hurtful and false rumors circulating about our parents, Kim Porter and Sean Combs’s relationship, as well as about our mom’s tragic passing,” they wrote. The statement denies the rumors that Porter wrote a “memoir,” and reiterates that her death was natural.

September 21: All week, the internet dug up old pictures and clips that seem to back up the allegations against Diddy. In a particularly uncomfortable video, he detailed his party tips to Conan O’Brien. At one point, he suggested that in addition to alcohol and ladies, one needs “locks on the doors.”

He also made questionable comments in a video with a then-underage Justin Bieber.

September 18, 2024: Diddy was repeatedly denied bail as his lawyer offered ever more elaborate guarantees to assuage the judge’s fears of potential witness tampering. His lawyers offered to restrict the rapper to his home and only allow family to visit, as well as a $50 million bond and weekly drug testing, among other ideas, per CNN.

His next court appearance is scheduled for October 9, when his lawyer will again appeal the ruling. Until then, he is being held at the Special Housing Unit in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.

September 17, 2024: After the indictment against Combs was unsealed, journalists quickly pulled out the most salacious details. Per Page Six, the indictment includes detailed descriptions of drug-fueled sex parties and other activities allegedly hosted by Combs on his property. The indictment alleged that Combs would force women into lengthy sexual sessions with male sex workers while he recorded the encounters (to be used as blackmail against victims to keep them from coming forward) and pleasured himself. He called these sessions “Freak Offs.”

“Freak Offs were elaborate and produced sex performances that Combs arranged, directed, masturbated during, and often electronically recorded,” the indictment says. Per the document, the rapper lured women into his home with promises of a romantic relationship, then plied them with drugs to facilitate the Freak Offs. One particularly telling detail is that the sessions lasted so long that the women involved had to receive fluids through an IV afterward “to recover from the physical exertion and drug use.”

During the raid in March, we learned, the feds found multiple AR15s with their serial numbers filed off, as well as other weapons that the mogul allegedly had his staff carry. Per the New York Post, feds also discovered “Freak Off supplies, including narcotics and more than 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant.”

September 16, 2024: Combs was arrested at a Manhattan hotel at around 8:30 p.m., according to The New York Times, following an indictment, which was sealed at the time of his arrest.

On Tuesday, per the Associated Press, the unsealed indictment revealed that Combs was charged with sex trafficking and racketeering, the same crimes R. Kelly was found guilty of in 2022. Combs’s lawyer Marc Agnifilo said outside the courthouse that his client would plead not guilty, and that Agnifilo would “fight like hell” to get Combs released.

May 19, 2024: In an Instagram post, Diddy apologized for his “inexcusable” actions against Cassie Ventura, which were depicted in the recently released footage from 2016. “It’s so difficult to reflect on the darkest times in your life,” he said in the short video message. “Sometimes you got to do that. I was fucked up. I mean, I hit rock bottom. I make no excuses. My behavior on that video is inexcusable.”

Diddy went on to say he takes “full responsibility” for his actions “in that video,” though he didn’t expand on any other allegations. “I’m disgusted. I was disgusted then when I did it, I’m disgusted now,” he continued. “I went and I sought professional help. Going to therapy, going to rehab. I had to ask God for his mercy and grace.”

He concluded, “I’m so sorry, but I’m committed to be a better man each and every day. I’m not asking for forgiveness. I’m truly sorry.”

May 18, 2024: The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office released a statement explaining why Diddy will not be charged for assaulting Cassie in 2016. Noting that although the footage was “extremely disturbing and difficult to watch,” the DA’s office claimed the incident had exceeded the statute of limitations.

“If the conduct depicted occurred in 2016, unfortunately we would be unable to charge as the conduct would have occurred beyond the timeline where a crime of assault can be prosecuted,” the office said in the social media statement. “As of today, law enforcement has not presented a case related to the attack depicted in the video against Mr. Combs, but we encourage anyone who has been a victim or witness to a crime to report it to law enforcement or reach out to our office for support from our Bureau of Victims Services.”

May 17, 2024 (Part I): People reported that Combs’s alleged drug mule Brendan Paul had accepted a plea deal on cocaine and marijuana possession charges. “Brendan accepted the prosecutor’s offer to permit his entry into the diversion program which, after completion, the case against him will be dismissed in its entirety,” Paul’s attorney Brian Bieber said in a statement.

May 17, 2024 (Part II): CNN shared a graphic surveillance video of Combs assaulting then girlfriend Cassie Ventura on March 5, 2016. In the video Combs can be seen chasing after Ventura in a hotel hallway wearing nothing but socks and a towel around his waist. When Combs catches up to Ventura by the elevators, he can be seen pulling her to the ground by the neck of her hoodie before kicking her multiple times and attempting to drag her away.

The video later shows Ventura picking up a phone in the elevator bank before being shoved by Combs. Through a mirror, Combs can then be seen sitting in a chair and throwing something (presumably) toward Ventura.

This footage appears to match an incident described in Ventura’s lawsuit, which occurred “around March 2016.” According to the lawsuit, Combs punched Ventura in the face “while extremely intoxicated” at the InterContinental Hotel in Century City. Once Combs was asleep, Ventura attempted to leave the hotel. However, Combs woke up and “followed her into the hallway of the hotel while yelling at her.”

Per CNN, the complaint continued, “He grabbed at her, and then took glass vases in the hallway and threw them at her, causing glass to crash around them as she ran to the elevator to escape.” The lawsuit also claimed Combs paid the since-closed hotel $50,000 for security footage of the incident.

Once CNN aired the footage in May 2024, Ventura’s lawyer Douglas H. Wigdor shared the following statement: “The gut-wrenching video has only further confirmed the disturbing and predatory behavior of Mr. Combs. Words cannot express the courage and fortitude that Ms. Ventura has shown in coming forward to bring this to light.”

March 27, 2024: Fans found and resurfaced a 2016 Howard Stern interview with singer Usher, who lived with Combs when he was a teenager starting out in the music business. In the clip he is vague about what he saw there, saying, “There were very curious things taking place.”

That same day Combs’s lawyer issued a statement, calling the raid an “excessive show” and an “ambush” that was executed as a media spectacle. He noted that Combs was never detained and that he was cooperating with authorities. The lawyer described allegations against Diddy as a “witch hunt based on meritless accusations made in civil lawsuits” and reiterated that his client was “innocent.”

March 26, 2024: TMZ published photos of Combs’s private jet landing in Antigua, though Combs himself did not appear to be on board the plane.

In the wake of the raids, a lawyer for Cassie and another unnamed alleged victim released a statement to Good Morning America, per ABC: “We will always support law enforcement when it seeks to prosecute those that have violated the law…. Hopefully, this is the beginning of a process that will hold Mr. Combs responsible for his depraved conduct.”

March 25, 2024: Federal agents for the department of Homeland Security Investigations New York raided Combs’s homes in Miami and LA, according to ABC News, as part of an “ongoing investigation” led by the Southern District of New York. Sources in law enforcement told the outlet that the investigation is related to alleged human trafficking. Rolling Stone reported that four Jane Does and one John Doe had already sat with investigators for interviews related to alleged sex trafficking, domestic violence, and racketeering.

According to NBC News, Combs was in Florida at the time of the raids, and his phones were seized by the authorities ahead of his scheduled trip to the Bahamas. Later that same day, TMZ published video of Combs apparently at the Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport, reportedly just a few hours after the searches were executed at his homes.

Rolling Stone reported that Brendan Paul, who was accused in a recent lawsuit of being Combs’s drug mule, was arrested at 4:30 p.m. at Miami-Opa Locka airport on cocaine and marijuana possession charges. According to the arrest affidavit, police were working alongside Homeland Security agents when the arrest was made. At that time it was unclear if the arrest was related to the investigation into Combs.

Police and Homeland Security officers are seen at the waterfront mansion of Sean Combs, a.k.a. Diddy, in Florida during a bicoastal raid on March 25, 2024.

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December 6, 2023: A woman identified as Jane Doe in legal documents became the fourth person to accuse Diddy of sexual assault—specifically, gang rape—as well as sex trafficking, per the AP. She alleged that in 2003, Harve Pierre, then president of Combs’s Bad Boy Records, flew her on a private jet from Detroit to New York, where Combs, Pierre, and a third man raped her when she was 17, a minor.

In a statement published on Instagram on December 6, Combs denied all accusations of sexual assault, writing, “Sickening allegations have been made against me by individuals looking for a quick payday. Let me be absolutely clear: I did not do any of the awful things being alleged. I will fight for my name, my family, and for the truth.”

November 18, 2023: Ben Brafman, one of Combs’s lawyers, denied that settling the lawsuit equates to an “admission of wrongdoing” in a statement to CNN.

“A decision to settle a lawsuit, especially in 2023, is in no way an admission of wrongdoing,” Brafman said. “Mr. Combs’s decision to settle the lawsuit does not in any way undermine his flat-out denial of the claims. He is happy they got to a mutual settlement and wishes Ms. Ventura the best.”

November 17, 2023: Ventura and Combs settled their lawsuit, according to separate statements obtained by CNN. “We have decided to resolve this matter amicably. I wish Cassie and her family all the best. Love,” Combs said, per the news outlet.

As for Ventura, she said, “I have decided to resolve this matter amicably on terms that I have some level of control. I want to thank my family, fans, and lawyers for their unwavering support.”

The settlement amount was not disclosed.

November 16, 2023: Singer Cassie Ventura filed a lawsuit accusing Sean “Diddy” Combs of physical and sexual abuse that lasted for years, according to the Associated Press. The pair dated on and off for over a decade between 2007 and 2018.

Through his lawyer, Combs denied the accusations. After Ventura’s lawsuit went public, others came forward with similar lawsuits that also accused the music mogul of sexual assault.

This story will be updated.