LOS ANGELES — Federal agents discovered firearms while searching properties owned by Sean “Diddy” Combs in Los Angeles and Miami, three sources familiar with the matter told NBC News on Tuesday.
Homeland Security Investigations executed a warrant Monday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York and seized his cellphone in Miami before he traveled to the Bahamas.
Sources familiar with the matter told NBC News that the music mogul is under federal criminal investigation amid multiple lawsuits filed against him in recent months.
Sources said three women and a man were interviewed by federal officials in Manhattan on charges of prostitution, sexual assault, and solicitation and distribution of illegal drugs and firearms.
It was not immediately clear what type of gun was found or who it belonged to.
Combs' attorney, Aaron Dyer, described Monday's search as an “excessive abuse of military-level force.” Dyer noted in his statement that neither Combs nor any of his family members have been arrested.
“There is no excuse for the excessive force and hostility shown by authorities and the way his children and staff were treated,” Dyer said. “Mr. Combs has never been detained, but he has communicated and cooperated with authorities.”
Dyer said Combs is innocent and “will continue to fight every day to clear his name,” adding that Combs has not been found responsible for the charges against him.
Since November, Combs has been the subject of numerous civil lawsuits, following one from former lover Cassie, who accused him of physically and sexually abusing her for years. Cassie, whose full name is Casandra Ventura, took advantage of the New York Adult Survivors Act, which gives adult victims of sexual assault a one-year window to file civil lawsuits regardless of the statute of limitations.
She and Combs settled the lawsuit one day after filing it in New York. Combs dismissed the accusations as insulting and absurd.
Since then, three other women have filed lawsuits in the Southern District of New York alleging they were sexually assaulted by Combs. The two men said they were teenagers at the time of the alleged assault.
Combs has denied all allegations of sexual assault, calling them “disgusting.”
A former employee who worked for Combs from September 2022 to November 2023 also filed a lawsuit in February, alleging that Combs sexually harassed, drugged and threatened her for over a year. In the lawsuit, producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones also claimed he had video and audio evidence that Combs, his employees and others “engaged in serious illegal activity.”
These cases are ongoing and Combs has denied the claims.