A 25-year-old man accused in a current lawsuit of being Sean Combs’ drug “mule” was arrested on Monday on cocaine and marijuana possession fees, in response to arrest information obtained by Rolling Stone.
Brendan Paul was taken into custody by Miami-Dade police on Monday afternoon at Opa-Locka Airport round 4:30 p.m. Police have been working alongside Homeland Safety brokers when the arrest was made, in response to the arrest affidavit.
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Across the identical time, dozens of Homeland Security agents and local law enforcement officers descended upon Combs’ residences in Miami and Los Angeles as a part of a federal intercourse trafficking investigation. Led by Homeland Safety, the coordinated raids have been the primary indication of a felony investigation in opposition to Combs after quite a few civil lawsuits have been filed in opposition to the Bad Boy Data government. (It isn’t clear whether or not HSI’s search is expounded to any of the allegations raised within the civil lawsuits. A member of the family of Paul’s confirmed he was arrested. A rep for Combs didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.)
It’s unclear if Paul’s arrest is related to the broader investigation into Combs or the place he was headed on the airport. Combs was confirmed to be in Florida on the time of the raid, in response to NBC News, and officers reportedly seized his telephones earlier than he was scheduled to depart for a visit to the Caribbean. (In video footage obtained by TMZ Monday afternoon, Combs will be seen in Miami pacing round exterior the airport. Miami Police inform Rolling Stone they’d no file of Combs being arrested by their division.)
Paul was just lately named in a lawsuit filed by music producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones in opposition to Combs, by which Jones accused Paul of being Combs’ “mule,” allegedly “acquir[ing] and distribut[ing] Mr. Combs medication and weapons.” An individual near the scenario confirmed to Rolling Stone that Paul’s mugshot was the identical man named in Jones’ grievance.
Arresting officers claimed Paul had “the contraband inside his private journey luggage … [and] the suspect cocaine was situated and examined.” Paul was taken to Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Heart in Miami. He’s presently being held on two $2,500 bonds for 2 fees: cocaine possession and possession of a managed substance.
Jones’ lawsuit was the newest to accuse Combs of sexual assault alongside harassment and never compensating him for work on the Grammy-nominated The Love Album. Jones claims he witnessed Paul “purchase and distribute” medication to Combs and his associates. “Members of the enterprise and their associates procured, transported and distributed ecstasy, cocaine, GHB, ketamine, marijuana, mushrooms, and tuci by packing these substances of their carry-on baggage and going via TSA,” the lawsuit claims.
Jones claims that he “personally witnessed” Paul transport or intend to move unlawful substances in his baggage whereas touring between Los Angeles, Miami, Virginia, the Caribbean and London on three events in December 2022, April 2023 and November 2023. In a photograph equipped in his lawsuit, Paul is seen holding up what seems to be prescription tablet bottles and a black pouch sitting on his lap. Jones claims the the bag was “stuffed with ecstasy, cocaine, GHB, ketamine, marijuana, mushrooms, and tuci.”
R&B singer Cassie’s bombshell complaint against Combs on Nov. 16 has kicked off a tidal wave of sexual abuse allegations in opposition to Combs, alleging he subjected her to vicious beatings, intercourse trafficking, and rape. In her 35-page submitting that began with a vibrant purple “set off warning,” Cassie claimed Combs punched, kicked, and “stomped” on her and compelled her to have drug-fueled intercourse with male intercourse staff throughout preparations he dubbed “freak offs.” In a press release, Combs’ lawyer mentioned the lawsuit was a monetary shakedown “riddled with baseless and outrageous lies.” (Diddy reached a private settlement with Cassie at some point later.)
One week later, as New York’s Grownup Survivors Act was set to run out, two extra girls stepped ahead on Thanksgiving Day with equally disturbing claims in opposition to Combs. The second accuser alleged Combs drugged and sexually assaulted her when she was a Syracuse College pupil in 1991. The lady claimed Combs filmed the incident and confirmed the video to others in an act described as “revenge porn.” By means of a rep, Combs denied the allegation. “This last-minute lawsuit is an instance of how a well-intentioned legislation will be turned on its head. (This) 32-year-old story is made up and never credible. Mr. Combs by no means assaulted her, and she or he implicates corporations that didn’t exist. That is purely a cash seize and nothing extra,” the spokesperson mentioned.
The third lawsuit was from Liza Gardner, who alleged she was 16 when Combs and singer-songwriter Aaron Hall took turns raping her following an Uptown Data occasion in 1990. She additional claimed {that a} day later, Combs turned “irate and started assaulting and choking” her till she virtually “handed out” as a result of he was anxious she may expose what occurred. “These are fabricated claims falsely alleging misconduct from over 30 years in the past and filed on the final minute,” a Combs spokesperson mentioned of Gardner’s lawsuit. “That is nothing however a cash seize.”
In early December, a fourth accuser alleged Combs’ former Unhealthy Boy president Harve Pierre and a 3rd man gang raped her at Combs’ New York recording studio in 2003 when she was 17 years outdated.
Combs has denied any wrongdoing in every case. Nonetheless, he stepped down from the chairmanship of his Revolt TV media firm final yr as more than a dozen companies fled his e-commerce platform. In January, liquor large Diageo minimize him free in a private settlement beneath which Combs will now not be a joint proprietor of the tequila model DeLeón or have any ties to Cîroc vodka.
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