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What did agents find when they raided Diddy's Miami Beach mansion? Where is the mogul? What to know

Grethel Aguila, Jay Weaver and Omar Rodríguez Ortiz, Miami Herald on

Published in Entertainment News

MIAMI — Four people in Diddy’s entourage were cuffed by federal agents after raiding his Miami Beach mansion Monday. Another Diddy associate was busted on drug charges at the Opa-locka airport. And the rap mogul was questioned by agents at the airport before a plane linked to him flew to a Caribbean island.

The agents ultimately let the four go, but Miami-Dade Police arrested a man at Miami Opa-locka Executive Airport on Monday afternoon who was described as Diddy’s “mule” in a lawsuit against the music producer.

At the same airport, federal agents seized Diddy’s phone and questioned him before clearing him to fly with family and friends to Antigua and Barbuda, a twin-island Caribbean nation just east of Puerto Rico. On Tuesday morning, the plane was at V. C. Bird International Airport in Antigua and Barbuda, but there is no evidence that Diddy personally landed in Antigua and Barbuda, a government official on the island told the Herald.

Antigua and Barbuda has an extradition treaty with the United States, the official noted.

The incidents followed Monday’s raids by federal agents at Diddy’s mansions on Star Island in Miami Beach and in Los Angeles, part of an ongoing sex trafficking investigation into the rap mogul. A source familiar with the Miami Beach raid told the Herald that Diddy, whose legal name is Sean Combs, and his entourage arrived in Miami over the weekend and were here when federal agents simultaneously searched his homes on Star Island and in Los Angeles.

The feds were concerned that Diddy, 54, would destroy evidence, prompting the secretly coordinated raids, the source said.

The raids came a month after a lawsuit filed by music producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones accused Diddy of being the leader of a criminal enterprise that could qualify as a “widespread and dangerous criminal sex trafficking organization.” On Monday, Jones amended the complaint, filed in New York federal court, to name the actor Cuba Gooding Jr. as a co-defendant with Diddy.

The swarms of federal agents largely disappeared from Star Island Tuesday, as life returned to normal for the tony neighborhood, except for the media throng lined up by 1 Star Island Drive — the home that agents raided and that Diddy bought from two other Miami luminaries, Gloria and Emilio Estefan, for $35 million in 2021.

A woman visiting her friend on Star Island told the Herald Tuesday morning that she witnessed agents leaving Diddy’s compound with several people in handcuffs. She also said landscapers working on top of palm trees told her they had seen a “tank” ramming the custom-made, 15-feet-tall gate at the home.

What did agents find?

Homeland Security Investigations agents based in New York searched the Star Island mansion with the help of agents in Miami and Los Angeles and local police. They were at the compound from 3:30 p.m. to after midnight.

The home appeared as if no one lived in it, the source familiar with the raid said. Agents seized electronics found inside — and four of Diddy’s staffers were detained, handcuffed and questioned, according to the source. They were ultimately let go.

Prosecutors from the federal Southern District of New York, where Jones filed the lawsuit, are heading the sex trafficking investigation. Jones is one of their key witnesses, a source with knowledge of the investigation told the Miami Herald.

Several people — including singer Cassie — came forward before the search warrant was executed, the source said. The witnesses’ information helped agents establish probable cause to obtain the warrant.

Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Elizabeth Ventura, is one of four women who have accused Diddy of sexual assault in separate lawsuits over the past five months. In the filing, Cassie says Diddy raped her and made her have sex with male sex workers while they were dating. Diddy settled that lawsuit the day after it was filed in November in New York.

 

What happened at Opa-locka airport?

One of Diddy’s alleged associates, Brendon Paul, 25, of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, was arrested by Miami-Dade Police at the Opa-locka airport at 4:30 p.m. Monday. He was charged with possession of cocaine and suspected marijuana-laced candy.

He posted a $2,500 bond and got out of the Miami-Dade County jail. He is due to make his first court appearance on April 24.

A law enforcement source said Miami-Dade Police working a different detail at the airport were asked to take a look at the plane linked to Diddy by Homeland Security investigators. Once inside the aircraft, the source said, they found the drugs in Paul’s possession.

Paul is described in Jones’ lawsuit as Diddy’s “mule,” court records show. Jones also alleges that Paul distributes drugs and weapons — and pays sex workers — for the mogul.

The scene at Star Island

Outside Diddy’s compound Tuesday morning, drivers of two black SUVs with tinted windows — a Mercedes-Benz and a Cadillac Escalade —were walking in and out of one of Diddy’s mansions through a partially opened, 15-feet-tall gate that was damaged.

The two men were wearing black rain jackets and black surgical masks. Miami Beach police vehicles were patrolling the gated neighborhood, home to the Estefans and other luminaries.

A white Range Rover with a realty company sign was also parked outside the Star Island mansion — an indication that Diddy might be considering selling his Star Island mansion, one of two he owns on the island, the second at 2 Star Island Drive.

A neighbor who lives across the island told the Miami Herald Monday night there are frequent parties at the mansion and people coming and going at all hours, their cars parked along the exclusive island’s single palm-lined road.

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(Miami Herald staff writers Jacqueline Charles, Joey Flechas and Charles Rabin contributed to this report.)

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©2024 Miami Herald. Visit miamiherald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

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