() – Music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs was charged Tuesday with racketeering and sex trafficking in a federal indictment unsealed in New York.
The charges are part of a lengthy 14-page complaint.
Combs will plead not guilty, his attorney Marc Agnifilo said Tuesday.
“He is not guilty. He is innocent of these charges,” Agnifilo told reporters as he entered the courthouse in lower Manhattan.
Combs was arrested Monday night.
Agnifilo said Combs moved to New York two weeks ago in anticipation of the charges. He said he anticipated a “long battle with a good outcome for Mr. Combs.”
Combs is currently in pretrial detention being processed, according to a law enforcement official.
The timing of his initial court appearance remains unclear.
New York Southern District Attorney Damien Williams will hold a press conference at 11:30 a.m. ET regarding the charges against Sean “Diddy” Combs.
The three-count indictment alleges that Combs “engaged in a persistent and pervasive pattern” of physical, verbal, emotional and sexual abuse “toward women and others,” and that on numerous occasions beginning in 2009 he “assaulted women by, among other things, hitting them, punching them, dragging them, throwing objects at them, and kicking them.”
The complaint further alleges that Combs used his various businesses and employees “to carry out, facilitate and conceal his abuse and sexual exploitation.”
Combs’ businesses, the complaint alleges, involved “sex trafficking, forced labor, interstate transportation for the purpose of prostitution, coercion and enticement of prostitution, narcotics offenses, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice.”
Prosecutors wrote that Combs was able to ensure the “absolute loyalty” of his company members through “acts of violence and threats,” and that Combs’ company avoided detection of illegal activities through “acts of intimidation, manipulation, bribery, and threats of retaliation against individuals who witnessed crimes committed by members and associates of the company.”
–With information from ’s Kara Scannell.
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