The federal investigation into record mogul Sean Combs' alleged sex trafficking offenses continues after authorities raided his homes in Miami and Los Angeles on Monday, March 25.
Authorities have interviewed four people with ties to Combs, three women and a man, NBC News reported. They also have plans to interview three more associates.
More than 30 law enforcement vehicles were spotted outside Combs' property in the Holmby Hills on Monday. His adult sons Justin, 30, and King, 25, were led out in handcuffs.
Combs was reportedly in Miami at the time, where officials seized his phone ahead of a planned trip to the Bahamas.
The businessman was spotted pacing around the Miami-Opa Locka Executive Airport and speaking on the phone last night, RadarOnline.com reported. He appeared anxious at the time. It's not clear if he made it to his final destination.
Homeland Security said more information about the raids will be released "as it becomes available." According to NBC, Combs is under investigation for allegations relating to sexual assault, firearms and solicitation and distribution of narcotics.
Those are in addition to several sexual misconduct lawsuits he's facing, including one for $30 million filed by producer Lil' Rod Madeit.
The plaintiff's lawyers in that case claimed that Combs' access to celebrities like Prince Harry is what drew people to his alleged sex trafficking parties, according to court documents obtained by The Daily Mail. They haven't alleged any wrongdoing on the Prince of Sussex's part.
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Celebrities and legal experts have also been reacting to the situation.
The rapper 50 Cent spoke about the situation in a series of since-deleted Instagram posts viewed by RadarOnline.com.
"S--t just got real the Fed’s in all the cribs, damn they got the kids in cuffs," he said.
"Now it’s not Diddy do it, it’s Diddy done they don’t come like that unless they got a case… Ran off and left the kids in the whole s--t, yo he doing the race said f--k it!"
Combs' former lawyer Mark Geragos also spoke about the situation during his appearance on NewsNation's CUOMO.
"I’ve known Sean for at least over a decade. I’ve represented him and I will tell you it’s a shocking turn of events," he said.
The network's legal analyst Jennifer Coffindaffer speculated that Combs' planned trip could have been what spurred the raids.
"The reason I think that they acted at this particular time on this particular day is there were rumors of actually P. Diddy leaving for some period of time and they wanted to make sure they got the electronics, the computers, the cellphones," she said. "They didn’t want that to be gone."
The sexual misconduct allegations against Combs – whose vast business empire grew from music to encompass television, fashion and beverage ventures over the past several decades – began last November.
That's when the R&B singer Cassandra "Cassie" Ventura, who was previously in a relationship with Combs, filed a lawsuit that included allegations of rape, physical abuse, and threats to blow up a car belonging to Kid Cudi. The rapper later confirmed to The New York Times that a vehicle of his exploded.
That was settled out of court, but Combs is now facing several other similar lawsuits. He and his lawyers have denied all the allegations so far, but haven't responded to Q's request for comment about Monday's raids.