Speaker 1: Before we jump into today's deep dive, just a quick
Speaker 1: heads up that this episode deals with fairly distressing content,
Speaker 1: things like sexual assault and sex trafficking. If you do
Speaker 1: choose to listen to this episode, please listen with care.
Speaker 1: Help is always available at one eight hundred.
Speaker 2: Respect already. And this is the Daily OS.
Speaker 3: This is the Daily ohs oh, now it makes sense.
Speaker 1: Good morning, and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Thursday,
Speaker 1: the twenty sixth of September.
Speaker 2: I'm zara, I'm emma.
Speaker 1: Earlier this month, rapper Sean Diddy Combs was denied bail
Speaker 1: after he was charged with sex trafficking and a slew
Speaker 1: of other crimes. Investigators accused Combs of using his business
Speaker 1: empire to cover up decades of abuse against women to quote.
Speaker 2: Fulfill his sexual desires and protect his reputation.
Speaker 1: Now, in today's deep dive, we're going to explain the
Speaker 1: timeline leading up to those child and what it could
Speaker 1: mean for the Rappernecks. But first, m what's making headlines.
Speaker 3: New data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows inflation
Speaker 3: dropped to its lowest rate in three years in August,
Speaker 3: down to two point seven percent for the twelve months
Speaker 3: to August. That's down from three point five percent the
Speaker 3: month before. The category with the greatest drop was electricity,
Speaker 3: which fell by almost eighteen percent. The ABS attributed this
Speaker 3: to the government's three hundred dollars energy rebates, which came
Speaker 3: into effect in July. Inflation is a measure of the
Speaker 3: rate at which prices rise, so lower inflation means prices
Speaker 3: arising at a slower rate than before, not that they
Speaker 3: are falling. Treasurer Jim Charmers said the figures were welcoming
Speaker 3: and encouraging, while Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor said the price
Speaker 3: of services remains high.
Speaker 1: PM Anthony Albanezi has refused to rule out chain just
Speaker 1: to tax concessions for Australians who own multiple properties. Negative gearing,
Speaker 1: as it's known, allows poemowners to claim losses on their properties,
Speaker 1: meaning they end up paying a lower rate of tax.
Speaker 1: Nine newspapers reported the government asked the Treasury Department to
Speaker 1: run a cost analysis for a negative gearing policy. Albernizi
Speaker 1: said the Treasury was considering a range of proposals, but
Speaker 1: didn't confirm any further details. Labour promised to scrap negative
Speaker 1: gearing ahead of the twenty nineteen election, which it lost
Speaker 1: to the Coalition. The party has refused to commit to
Speaker 1: the policy ever since.
Speaker 3: Australia's Foreign Minister, Penny Wong has met with her Chinese
Speaker 3: counterpart Wang Yi on the sidelines of the UN General
Speaker 3: Assemblies annual meeting in New York. It comes amid continuing
Speaker 3: efforts by the government to have China removed tariffs on
Speaker 3: Australian exports. China started imposing high input taxes on Australian
Speaker 3: goods like wine, barley and beef when tensions increased during
Speaker 3: the pandemic under the previous government. Talks between high level
Speaker 3: Chinese and Australian officials have resulted in the tariffs mostly
Speaker 3: being dropped in recent years, although the taxes remain for
Speaker 3: rock lobster. Minister Wong said she and wog Ye discussed
Speaker 3: ways to quote progress, our interests and manage our differences.
Speaker 1: And In today's good news, several native marsupials, including the Bilbi,
Speaker 1: have been reintroduced to a national park in northern New
Speaker 1: South Wales where they went extinct a century ago. Unsw
Speaker 1: researchers and conservation experts released a group of quoals, betongs
Speaker 1: and Bilbi's to a fenced off section of the Sturt
Speaker 1: National Park. The animals disappeared from the wild in New
Speaker 1: South Wales, mostly due to changes in the ecosystem and
Speaker 1: the prevalence of predators like feral cats and foxes. Now
Speaker 1: a group of over one hundred individual marsupials have been
Speaker 1: released in a ten thousand hecta semi bounded area where
Speaker 1: they be protected from predators, followed successful repopulation efforts from
Speaker 1: a similar trial in South Australia.
Speaker 3: Okay, Zara, So today we are talking about Sean Diddy
Speaker 3: Comb's akap Diddy aka paf Daddy, a string of allegations
Speaker 3: that he is currently facing. Now, this is a story
Speaker 3: that's completely rocked the music industry, the entertainment industry more broadly,
Speaker 3: and it has really far reaching implications. But let's start
Speaker 3: from the beginning. There are a lot of layers to this,
Speaker 3: as we'll get to for anyone who isn't familiar with
Speaker 3: this story, with this man who is Diddy.
Speaker 1: Okay, So Sean Diddy Combs and you referred there to
Speaker 1: his many names. He's known as Puff Daddy, p Diddy,
Speaker 1: Puffy and Diddy. He's a rapper and a producer, and
Speaker 1: just I think for clarity, we'll just call him Diddy
Speaker 1: throughout this podcast, because I think that's how most people
Speaker 1: our age would know him and would certainly be familiar
Speaker 1: with him through that name.
Speaker 2: So did. He founded bad.
Speaker 1: Boy Records back in nineteen ninety three, and that was
Speaker 1: a really big music label that represented some of the
Speaker 1: world's biggest and most famous rappers, including the notorious Big.
Speaker 1: He's a three time Grammy Award winner. He's worked with
Speaker 1: people like Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, Usher, and Faith Evans.
Speaker 1: He's also done a bit of acting. He starred in
Speaker 1: Monster's Ball, Get Him to the Greek and Draft Day.
Speaker 1: And I do really just want to say here, I'm not,
Speaker 1: you know, running through his resume for any reason but
Speaker 1: to show the extent of Ditty's power. He kind of
Speaker 1: had this power that wasn't just contained, as you said,
Speaker 1: to the music industry, but more broadly, he had really
Speaker 1: shaped the foundations of the entertainment industry.
Speaker 2: And even as a businessman.
Speaker 3: You might know him from Sarok Vodka, like, he is
Speaker 3: an entrepreneur in many different industries.
Speaker 1: Yes, So he was until very recently one of the
Speaker 1: most powerful figures in the entertainment industry.
Speaker 3: So you've mentioned there very poignantly until recently. So when
Speaker 3: did we first learn of the allegations against Didty?
Speaker 1: Yeah, So I think that it is important to go
Speaker 1: through this timeline because the news of this month didn't
Speaker 1: happen in a vacuum. There were previous allegations that kind
Speaker 1: of led to what happened earlier this month, And I'll
Speaker 1: get to that in a second, but we'll start with
Speaker 1: the first allegations that were leveled at Ditty, and they
Speaker 1: were in twenty twenty three, and they were made by
Speaker 1: former partner Cassandra Ventura.
Speaker 2: She's known as Cassie. She is a singer.
Speaker 1: So Cassie accused Ditty of sexual assault back then in
Speaker 1: twenty twenty three. At the time, her lawyers described him
Speaker 1: as vicious, cruel and a controlling man. Did He denied
Speaker 1: all of the allegations, and just one day after Cassie
Speaker 1: filed that lawsuit, the matter was settled out of court. Then,
Speaker 1: in May of this year, see Inn published I think
Speaker 1: what can only be labeled as very disturbing footage that
Speaker 1: appeared to show Didty kicking and dragging Cassie in a
Speaker 1: Hope Hallway that dated back to twenty sixteen. In a
Speaker 1: video to Instagram, did he apologize for what he called
Speaker 1: his quote inexcusable behavior, but he didn't name Cassie in
Speaker 1: that statement. Cassie wasn't the only person to file legal
Speaker 1: action against Didty in recent years. Earlier this year, music
Speaker 1: producer Rodney Jones, who goes by Lil Rod, filed a
Speaker 1: lawsuit against him. Jones alleged that did He spiked the
Speaker 1: drinks of miners and sex workers at his homes in California,
Speaker 1: New York, Florida, and the US Virgin Islands. When those
Speaker 1: allegations were made public, did he denied all of them.
Speaker 1: And then, if we're to follow this timeline, in March
Speaker 1: of this year, US authorities raided Diddy's properties in both
Speaker 1: LA and Miami. Those were part of ongoing investigations bi
Speaker 1: federal authorities that culminated in a lawsuit very recently. But
Speaker 1: what we've since found out is that at his homes,
Speaker 1: authorities uncovered things like firearms, ammunition, and also more than
Speaker 1: one thousand bottles of life.
Speaker 3: Okay, so that was in March. We knew that those
Speaker 3: police raids were going on, but we didn't really hear
Speaker 3: anything in the immediate aftermath of what was found. So
Speaker 3: since then we can assume investigators have been working on
Speaker 3: this case against him, looking at the evidence recovered from
Speaker 3: those homes. And earlier this month did he was arrested
Speaker 3: and charged in New York?
Speaker 2: Correct?
Speaker 3: Can you talk me through the charges that are now
Speaker 3: being leveled against him?
Speaker 1: Yeah, So, as you said, earlier this month did he
Speaker 1: was arrested. It was then a day later that the
Speaker 1: charges that had been leveled at.
Speaker 2: Him were made public.
Speaker 1: So Damian Williams, who's the US Attorney for the Southern
Speaker 1: District of New York, announced the charges against Ditty in
Speaker 1: a public press conference. We found out that Diddy was
Speaker 1: being charged with racketeering, conspiracy, sex trafficking by force, fraud
Speaker 1: or coercion, and transportation to engage with prostitution. Here's a
Speaker 1: little bit of that press conference when Williams announced those charges.
Speaker 4: The indicatement alleges that between at least two thousand and
Speaker 4: eight and the present Comb's abused, threatened and coerce victims
Speaker 4: to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal
Speaker 4: his conduct as a legend. The indicatement to carry out
Speaker 4: this conduct. Shaan Colms led and participated in a racketeering
Speaker 4: conspiracy that use the business empire he controlled to carry
Speaker 4: out criminal activity.
Speaker 1: Now, I know that there is a fair bit of
Speaker 1: legal jargon in those charges, so I think it's important
Speaker 1: to just explain what's being alleged here. Ultimately, what they're
Speaker 1: saying is that Diddy used his business empire to carry
Speaker 1: out this alleged criminal activity, things including sex, trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery,
Speaker 1: and the obstruction of justice.
Speaker 3: Now, one of those charges, as you mentioned, uses the
Speaker 3: word racketeering. I think that's a word that kind of
Speaker 3: gets thrown around a lot. People don't really know what
Speaker 3: it means. But in this case, it just means making
Speaker 3: money from illegal activity. So the allegations are that did
Speaker 3: he has used his business empire for illegal activity and
Speaker 3: he makes money through that empire and through that illegal activity.
Speaker 1: Exactly, And as you said, that's one of the charges,
Speaker 1: but one of many charges. Authorities alleged that did he
Speaker 1: use the pretense of a romantic relationship to intimidate, threaten,
Speaker 1: and law female victims into his orbit. They alleged he
Speaker 1: would eventually force victims to engage in extended and elaborate
Speaker 1: sex acts with male commercial sex workers. And that really
Speaker 1: goes to the heart of you know, what is being
Speaker 1: alleged here, which is that did he would host I
Speaker 1: don't want to use the word events, but that's really
Speaker 1: what is used here.
Speaker 2: He would call them freak offs.
Speaker 1: And according to the indictment, they were these highly orchestrated
Speaker 1: performances of sexual activity that took place in hotels and
Speaker 1: other places, and they were fueled by drugs and could
Speaker 1: go on for days. And those freak offs are really
Speaker 1: at the center of these.
Speaker 3: Allegations, and that's what's really captured the media's attention and
Speaker 3: public interest. It's also mentioned in the indictment that many
Speaker 3: of those quote unquote free COFs were filmed, and that
Speaker 3: Diddy would allegedly often film them himself. So he's observing
Speaker 3: woman that he's allegedly lew it in under false pretenses
Speaker 3: into these sexual situations, that he films them for whatever purpose.
Speaker 3: That's also a really interesting part of this.
Speaker 1: It is and I think it's important to note that
Speaker 1: this isn't the first time that the public had learned of.
Speaker 2: These free coffs. It was actually also.
Speaker 1: Included in Cassie's original case that we spoke about earlier.
Speaker 1: In her civil lawsuit, she mentioned these free COFs. She
Speaker 1: alleged that during these incidents the free coffs, she was
Speaker 1: forced to have sex with male sex workers while as
Speaker 1: you said, did he watched, masturbated and took photos and videos.
Speaker 1: She claimed the drug were supplied at these events and
Speaker 1: that she took them so that she could quote disassociate
Speaker 1: during these horrific encounters. And so in this latest indictment,
Speaker 1: we have once again heard of these same events that
Speaker 1: were echoed by Diddy's ex Cassie.
Speaker 3: And also the indictment mentions or allegers that these freak
Speaker 3: offs date back several decades. It's alleged that there is
Speaker 3: decades of abuse at the hands of Didy or organized
Speaker 3: by Diddy.
Speaker 1: And according to the prosecutors, this is really where the
Speaker 1: racketeering allegation comes in, because Williams, who I said led
Speaker 1: that press conference earlier this month, said did he used
Speaker 1: his business and employees of that business and other close
Speaker 1: associates to get his way. They booked the hotel rooms
Speaker 1: and stocked to them with supplies, and when those hotel
Speaker 1: rooms got damaged, they helped to clean it up.
Speaker 2: There.
Speaker 1: They're referring to those freakoff events, but also to the
Speaker 1: alleged role that his business associates played in those events.
Speaker 3: So several really serious allegations in this federal indictment from
Speaker 3: these recent charges, some that have been alluded to before
Speaker 3: in other legal proceedings. Did he deny the allegations made
Speaker 3: by Cassie Ventura? How has he responded to these new charges?
Speaker 1: Yeah, look, in much the same way he's denied these
Speaker 1: allegations too. I mentioned that earlier he was arrested, and
Speaker 1: after he was arrested, he pleaded not guilty to the chargers.
Speaker 1: That's then, you know, exposing the difference between this latest
Speaker 1: indictment and what Cassie's suit was, which was a civil
Speaker 1: suit not a criminal suit. So he was arrested in
Speaker 1: this instance. His lawyer has said that did he is
Speaker 1: innocent and that he will fight this until the end.
Speaker 1: His legal team had a really interesting line in their statement.
Speaker 1: They said, he is an imperfect person, but he's not
Speaker 1: a criminal, right, But they have said that he's looking
Speaker 1: forward to clearing his name. Did he is currently in jail?
Speaker 1: He was denied because they believed he was too much
Speaker 1: of a flight risk and that it could happen that
Speaker 1: he could intimidate witnesses. So he is currently sitting in
Speaker 1: jail and just an interesting, I think thing to notice
Speaker 1: that People magazine actually reported that he's in the same
Speaker 1: jail space as Sam Bankman Freed, who we've spoken about
Speaker 1: on this pod before, who was the ftx.
Speaker 2: Founder who was convicted of fraud crimes, the crypto king. Yeah, exactly.
Speaker 1: He's currently serving a very long sentence for the crimes
Speaker 1: that he was convicted of. But did he certainly hasn't
Speaker 1: been convicted of anything yet. It's this pre trial. He's
Speaker 1: been denied bail and he will await, you know, that
Speaker 1: next court date to see what happens next.
Speaker 3: The bail angle of this story is really interesting because
Speaker 3: it's pretty unusual for someone so high profile, who is
Speaker 3: so wealthy on paper, we know that, to not be
Speaker 3: given an opportunity to post that bail and to go
Speaker 3: and live their life while they await a court appearance.
Speaker 3: His lawyers have alleged that did he come to New
Speaker 3: York from his home in Miami in good faith as
Speaker 3: a measure to present himself to police to be arrested
Speaker 3: to hear these charges. Now, if that had happened, did
Speaker 3: his lawyers say that it would have been nearly impossible
Speaker 3: for a judge to deny him bail. But before did
Speaker 3: he had a chance to hand himself in again, reportedly
Speaker 3: he was arrested. He was intercepted by authorities unexpectedly or
Speaker 3: a surprise arrest. Now that apparently makes it easier for
Speaker 3: a judge to deny him bail. So his lawyers are
Speaker 3: sort of suggesting some kind of conspiracy against their client,
Speaker 3: which I think is really interesting.
Speaker 1: And his lawyers were pushing for that bail to be
Speaker 1: at around the fifty million dollar mark, but prosecutors pushed back,
Speaker 1: and it turns out that he has been denied bail
Speaker 1: and is currently in jail.
Speaker 2: Now.
Speaker 3: In that press conference where we heard from Williams, who's
Speaker 3: with the US Attorney, he said specifically about the influence
Speaker 3: and the power of someone like Diddy, that prosecutors wanted
Speaker 3: to very publicly show the community that it doesn't.
Speaker 2: Matter what comes above the rule of law.
Speaker 3: Exactly rands above the law, no matter how wealthy or
Speaker 3: powerful you may be. Okay, So some extremely serious charges
Speaker 3: if Ditty is found guilty, what sort of sentence is
Speaker 3: he looking at?
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I think because there are so many charges,
Speaker 1: it can vary quite dramatically. But it's been reported that
Speaker 1: what he's looking at if he is convicted, is anywhere
Speaker 1: from fifteen years to life in prison. And you know,
Speaker 1: for someone, as we started this podcast, to go full
Speaker 1: circle as someone who was at the top of an industry,
Speaker 1: you know, across the globe, to be possibly facing life
Speaker 1: in prison, I mean, it's just it's a remarkable story.
Speaker 3: What a lot of people are waiting to see next
Speaker 3: in this case is if there will be other celebrity
Speaker 3: names that fall with Ditty.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: So there are these rumors of these really parties that
Speaker 3: Diddy was famous for hosting, these white parties where everyone
Speaker 3: all dressed in white. You might have seen some photos
Speaker 3: doing the rounds from the nineties and the early noughties.
Speaker 3: You know, people like j Lo, jay Z, Beyonce, Kim Kardashian,
Speaker 3: other really high profile names who have been closely associated
Speaker 3: with Diddy for decades and who are yet to say anything. So,
Speaker 3: you know, what does that silence say in and of itself?
Speaker 3: Usha really interestingly, a close friend of Ditty has wiped
Speaker 3: all of his ex history, so all of his previous
Speaker 3: Twitter posts have disappeared. Now that move from Ussia might
Speaker 3: have meant absolutely nothing. It might be about something completely different,
Speaker 3: but there are certainly corners of the Internet really waiting
Speaker 3: with baited breath to see what comes next.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so interesting.
Speaker 3: It's also worth mentioning Zara that separately, another lawsuit against
Speaker 3: Ditty was launched this week by a woman who claims
Speaker 3: she was raped by the and producer and one of
Speaker 3: his security guards in the early two thousands. Her name
Speaker 3: is Tarlia Graves. She's suing Ditty for sexual assault and
Speaker 3: alleges that incident happened at the Rappers Music studios. As
Speaker 3: with Cassandra Ventura, this is a civil suit. Her lawyers
Speaker 3: said that holding those to account who had caused Graves
Speaker 3: to suffer was long overdue. She is the eleventh person
Speaker 3: to sue Ditty for sexual abuse, and prosecutors have really
Speaker 3: reiterated calls in line with kind of the scale of
Speaker 3: these allegations. They've urged victims of Ditty's alleged abuse or
Speaker 3: anyone who knows anything about his alleged crimes to come
Speaker 3: forward and said quote this investigation is far from.
Speaker 1: Over again some pretty distressing allegations that are being leveled
Speaker 1: against Ditty and if you do need help, it is
Speaker 1: available at one eight hundred respect You can call any time.
Speaker 1: But thank you for listening to today's episode of The
Speaker 1: Daily os. We will be back again tomorrow, but until then,
Speaker 1: take care of yourself. My name is Lily Maddon and
Speaker 1: I'm a proud Arunda Bunjelung Kalkudin woman from Gadighl country.
Speaker 4: The Daily oz acknowledges that this podcast is recorded on
Speaker 4: the lands of the Gadighl people and pays respect to
Speaker 4: all Aboriginal and torrest Rate island and nations. We pay
Speaker 4: our respects to the first peoples of these countries, both
Speaker 4: past and present,