Sean “Diddy” Combs on August 26, 2023 in Atlanta, Georgia – Credit: Paras Griffin/Getty Images
A 25-year-old man accused in a recent lawsuit of being Sean Combs’ drug “mule” was arrested on Monday on cocaine and marijuana possession charges, according to arrest records obtained by Rolling Stone.
Brendan Paul was taken into custody by Miami-Dade police on Monday afternoon at Opa-Locka Airport around 4:30 p.m. Police were working alongside Homeland Security agents when the arrest was made, according to the arrest affidavit. Brian Bieber, Paul’s attorney said in a statement to Rolling Stone, “We do not plan on trying this case in the media – all issues will be dealt with in Court.”
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Around the same time, dozens of Homeland Security agents and local law enforcement officers descended upon Combs’ residences in Miami and Los Angeles as part of a federal sex trafficking investigation. Led by Homeland Security, the coordinated raids were the first indication of a criminal investigation against Combs after numerous civil lawsuits were filed against the Bad Boy Records executive. (It is not clear whether HSI’s search is related to any of the allegations raised in the civil lawsuits. A family member of Paul’s confirmed he was arrested. A rep for Combs did not immediately reply to a request for comment.)
It’s unclear if Paul’s arrest is connected to the wider investigation into Combs or where he was headed at the airport. Combs was confirmed to be in Florida at the time of the raid, according to NBC News, and officials reportedly seized his phones before he was scheduled to leave for a trip to the Caribbean. (In video footage obtained by TMZ Monday afternoon, Combs can be seen in Miami pacing around outside the airport. Miami Police tell Rolling Stone they had no record of Combs being arrested by their department.)
Paul was recently named in a lawsuit filed by music producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones against Combs, in which Jones accused Paul of being Combs’ “mule,” allegedly “acquir[ing] and distribut[ing] Mr. Combs drugs and guns.” A person close to the situation confirmed to Rolling Stone that Paul’s mugshot was the same man named in Jones’ complaint.
Arresting officers claimed Paul had “the contraband inside his personal travel bags … [and] the suspect cocaine was located and tested.” Paul was taken to Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Miami. He is currently being held on two $2,500 bonds for two charges: cocaine possession and possession of a controlled substance.
Jones’ lawsuit was the latest to accuse Combs of sexual assault alongside harassment and not compensating him for work on the Grammy-nominated The Love Album. Jones claims he witnessed Paul “acquire and distribute” drugs 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 in their carry-on luggage and going through TSA,” the lawsuit claims.
Jones claims that he “personally witnessed” Paul transport or intend to transport illegal substances in his baggage while traveling between Los Angeles, Miami, Virginia, the Caribbean and London on three occasions in December 2022, April 2023 and November 2023. In a photo supplied in his lawsuit, Paul is seen holding up what appears to be prescription pill bottles and a black pouch sitting on his lap. Jones claims the the bag was “filled 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 against Combs, alleging he subjected her to vicious beatings, sex trafficking, and rape. In her 35-page filing that started with a bright red “trigger warning,” Cassie claimed Combs punched, kicked, and “stomped” on her and forced her to have drug-fueled intercourse with male sex workers during arrangements he dubbed “freak offs.” In a statement, Combs’ lawyer said the lawsuit was a financial shakedown “riddled with baseless and outrageous lies.” (Diddy reached a private settlement with Cassie one day later.)
One week later, as New York’s Adult Survivors Act was set to expire, two more women stepped forward on Thanksgiving Day with similarly disturbing claims against Combs. The second accuser alleged Combs drugged and sexually assaulted her when she was a Syracuse University student in 1991. The woman claimed Combs filmed the incident and showed the video to others in an act described as “revenge porn.” Through a rep, Combs denied the allegation. “This last-minute lawsuit is an example of how a well-intentioned law can be turned on its head. (This) 32-year-old story is made up and not credible. Mr. Combs never assaulted her, and she implicates companies that did not exist. This is purely a money grab and nothing more,” the spokesperson said.
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 Records event in 1990. She further claimed that a day later, Combs turned “irate and began assaulting and choking” her until she almost “passed out” because he was worried she might divulge what happened. “These are fabricated claims falsely alleging misconduct from over 30 years ago and filed at the last minute,” a Combs spokesperson said of Gardner’s lawsuit. “This is nothing but a money grab.”
In early December, a fourth accuser alleged Combs’ former Bad Boy president Harve Pierre and a third man gang raped her at Combs’ New York recording studio in 2003 when she was 17 years old.
Combs has denied any wrongdoing in each case. Still, he stepped down from the chairmanship of his Revolt TV media company last year as more than a dozen companies fled his e-commerce platform. In January, liquor giant Diageo cut him loose in a private settlement under which Combs will no longer be a joint owner of the tequila brand DeLeón or have any ties to Cîroc vodka.
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