O n a balmy weekend last September, Sean Combs returned to Harlem to roam his old neighborhood with four of his seven children. He reveled in the attention from passersby who gasped and honked as the billionaire hip-hop mogul chatted and posed for pictures. After spending the past year largely out of the spotlight in the comfort of his massive Miami Beach compound β one of two homes raided by Homeland Security officials last March β Combs was suddenly seen sunbathing in Central Park and traipsing around the city.
As dusk approached on Monday, Sept. Combs was planning on heading back out that evening to look for a more permanent residence in the area. But seconds after he crossed the lobby threshold, two plainclothes federal agents approached him, holding a page criminal indictment that accused him of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy, and transportation to engage in prostitution. The next day, Combs stood in front of a U. He allegedly called and texted a potential government witness 58 times over four days, in a barrage prosecutors later labeled potential tampering.
Multiple bags of a pink powder were found in his plush hotel suite, prosecutors said, noting the substance appeared similar to stimulants previously seized from Combs that tested positive for Ecstasy and other drugs.
Two hotel employees tell Rolling Stone that a woman was waiting for Combs upstairs when he was taken into custody. The staffers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Combs and the woman had planned to celebrate her birthday, specially decorating the suite for the occasion. Combs also had been trying to persuade a different romantic partner to come to New York that weekend, in what she now believes was an attempt to keep her silent about what transpired during their four-year relationship.
The last time the woman had seen Combs, she tells Rolling Stone, was when he summoned her to his Miami compound last July. In this final encounter, she claims Combs shoved two pills into her mouth, causing her to black out. She awoke to a destroyed room, with empty baby-oil bottles, a hookah, towels, food, and wine bottles strewn everywhere.
