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Feds want Sean 'Diddy' Combs' communications, flight records in sex trafficking probe

Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times on

Published in Entertainment News

LOS ANGELES — Federal investigators are seeking telecommunications records involving Sean "Diddy" Combs as part of an investigation into alleged sex trafficking, a source close to the investigation told The Times.

The news comes several days after the Department of Homeland Security served search warrants at Combs' Los Angeles and Miami estates. The hip-hop mogul has denied any wrongdoing in the sweeping investigation, which includes multiple lawsuits in recent months alleging sexual assault and harassment.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, said investigators also have requested flight records linked to Combs.

The musical artist remains in the U.S., according to sources with knowledge of the situation, who said Combs was scheduled on Monday to depart by plane for a spring break vacation with his school-age daughters but delayed the trip after learning of the searches. He still has his passport, they added.

He was spotted playing golf with two of his daughters at a driving range in the Miami area Thursday night, according to reports by the Daily Mail.

But Homeland Security agents on Monday stopped a plane on the ground at an executive airport in Miami, and Miami-Dade police officers who accompanied them arrested Brendan Paul, a man in Combs' entourage. Authorities say they found cocaine and marijuana-laced candy in his bag. Paul, 25, was described in a recent lawsuit against Combs as a confidant and drug "mule."

 

Companies doing business with Combs' empire also are being issued subpoenas, as first reported by TMZ, including a private charter jet firm and phone provider and computer companies.

On Monday, federal agents seized several electronic devices, including cellphones, according to a source familiar with the investigation. They also disabled Combs' security system at his Holmby Hills mansion and seized the hard drive, a source told The Times.

But much remains unknown about the case and how close authorities are to determining whether to file criminal charges.

Sources with knowledge of the operation who requested anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss it publicly said it appears investigators searching Combs' Holmby Hills home emptied safes, dismantled electronics and left papers strewn in some rooms.

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