Introducing a new podcast from 20/20 and ABC Audio, "Bad Rap: The Case Against Diddy." Over the next six weeks, ABC News legal contributor Brian Buckmire will take you inside the rise and fall of Diddy, tracing how whispers of abuse came to light and led to his downfall. We'll be sharing all six episodes here on the 20/20 feed weekly on Wednesdays. But you can listen early and access twice-weekly court updates in May when the trial gets underway by following the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen to podcasts. This week the series begins with episode one, "Party's Over." Diddy was a legendary party host. His star-studded “white parties” were glittering displays of wealth and social capital that started in the world of hip-hop, and ultimately expanded far beyond it. But after a criminal indictment alleging sex trafficking, Diddy is now locked up, fighting to prove his innocence, stuck in a place that couldn’t be more different from the luxury he’s used to. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Chapter 1: Who introduces the new podcast series?
Hi there, this is Debra Roberts. For the next six weeks, the 2020 podcast is going to bring you a new series from our colleagues at ABC Audio, and this one is about Sean Diddy Combs, the hip-hop mogul now facing federal charges, which he denies. Here's ABC's Brian Buckmeyer with Bad Rap, the case against Diddy. Episode one, party's over.
In the summer of 2009, everyone was paying attention to Sean Diddy Combs. He wasn't on the top of the Billboard charts anymore, but he had become a fixture of American pop culture. The flashiest example was his annual star-studded white party. It was an exclusive event, and everything had to be white, from the decor to the dress code. This was the early days of smartphones.
Imagine every celebrity worth an Us Weekly headline with a bedazzled smartphone in their hand. It was before TikTok and Instagram, when tabloid coverage claimed to break juicy celebrity stories. Compared to the prominence of video and social media today, private celebrity parties were much more private. But one bit of Diddy's 2009 white party was captured on video.
Rapper and record producer Jay Blaze caught it on camera and posted it to YouTube for the world to see. Actor Ashton Kutcher grabs onto a swing strung over the pool and tarzans across it. Diddy is emceeing in a sea of white suits, dresses, linen, and sunglasses.
Oh!
By the summer of 2009, Diddy had won three Grammys. He had five songs hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and three of his albums had gone platinum. He was successful and rich. Four months from turning 40, Forbes magazine put Diddy's net worth at $30 million. He'd presented himself for a long time as a champion and model of Black excellence. and he was feeling patriotic after the U.S.
elected its first Black president. So he decided this year's white party would be held on Independence Day. He gave Marie Claire magazine a sneak peek before the party started. The pool draped in gauzy white curtains and chandeliers. Platters of shrimp, crab cakes, and barbecue were served.
Spreading love, Fourth of July. You know, I'm out here making movies and meeting new people, and that's what the white party's about, about people meeting new people.
A sommelier explained that all the wine served would be, of course, white.
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Chapter 2: What was Diddy's role in pop culture?
In November of 2023, someone did come forward. Diddy's ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, filed a civil lawsuit against him, alleging that for over a decade he trapped her in a cycle of abuse, violence, and sex trafficking. The lawsuit was a bombshell. It alleged Cassie was forced to participate in orchestrated, elaborate sex parties Diddy called freak-offs that he would film and keep recordings of.
A day after the lawsuit was filed, Diddy settled with Cassie for an undisclosed amount and no admission of guilt. But Cassie opened the floodgates. Over the next 12 months, others who had spent time with Diddy, from a music producer to a former model to a yacht stewardess, filed lawsuits too. These lawsuits alleged rape, sexual assault, and human trafficking.
Many also alleged Diddy would spike drinks and lace marijuana with narcotics to knock people out or make it harder for them to resist assault. Some mentioned Diddy videotaping assaults to further control and humiliate his victims. Those lawsuits went from a steady drip to a rapid current. There are now dozens of them.
In December of 2023, Diddy said in a statement that he did not do any of the, quote, awful things being alleged. He called them sickening allegations by people looking for a quick payday.
His attorney told ABC News Combs couldn't comment on settled litigation, wouldn't comment on pending litigation, and, quote, cannot address every allegation picked up by the press from any source, no matter how unreliable, end quote. But in the fall of 2024, criminal charges were filed against Diddy by the feds.
In a dramatic turn of events, federal investigators raiding two homes owned by hip-hop mogul Sean Diddy Combs.
A Homeland Security spokesperson says the raid of the rapper's properties was carried out as part of an ongoing investigation into allegations of sex trafficking.
Music mogul Sean Diddy Combs arrested in a New York City hotel by federal agents with Homeland Security investigations after being indicted by a grand jury.
Mansions where he'd once hosted lavish parties were raided by federal agents. In L.A., more than a dozen officers pulled up in armored vehicles, wearing fatigues, guns drawn, pointing them at Diddy's sons, who happened to be at home. In Miami, it was police officers in T-shirts driving up to Diddy's compound in vans.
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Chapter 3: What was the significance of Diddy's white parties?
Diddy's attorney told reporters before the start of the bail hearings, MDC was no place for his client.
I told Mr. Combs I'm going to try and get his case to trial as quickly as possible. I'm going to try and minimize the amount of time he spends in very, very difficult and I believe inhumane housing conditions in the special housing unit of the Metropolitan Detention Facility.
Over and over again, Diddy tried to get released. He tried offering a $50 million bond. He tried offering home confinement. He tried to prove he wasn't a flight risk, attempting to sell his private plane and saying he'd surrender his passport to his attorney. He was trying to be a cooperative defendant. But no, Sean Combs was denied bail four times.
The judges were also concerned he'd obstruct justice and intimidate witnesses.
That last part, witness intimidation, has become a big issue in Combs' case in recent months.
In one of his first bail hearings, prosecutors presented calls Diddy made and texts he sent before his arrest. They said Diddy reached out to potential witnesses, telling them that he'd be taken care of financially if they stuck by his side.
And then in November, after he'd been at MDC for about two months and was up for a third chance at bail, prosecutors alleged Combs had been paying other inmates to access their phone accounts and, according to the government, avoid law enforcement monitoring.
And prosecutors said they caught Combs on recorded calls from jail, asking family members to reach out to potential victims and witnesses and urged them to come up with narratives to sway the jury in his favor.
Prosecutors wrote in their court filing, "...the defendant has shown repeatedly, even while in custody, that he will flagrantly and repeatedly flout rules in order to improperly impact the outcome of his case." The defendant has shown, in other words, that he cannot be trusted to abide by rules or conditions.
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