New pictures show Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs speaking with police outside of his private jet as they arrested the man accused of being the rapper’s drug mule.
Brendan Paul, 25, was arrested by Miami-Dade Police, alongside Homeland Security agents, at Opa-Locka Airport in Miami about 4:30 p.m. on Monday while authorities raid Diddy’s mansions.
The photos show Diddy wearing a white shirt and blue pants with his back to the camera while speaking to cops. Paul, wearing a blue hoodie and black hat is seen in the mix.
Combs was seen speaking to agents at the airport 15 minutes from his Miami Beach Monday evening but never arrested.
Aaron Dyer, an attorney for the rapper, broke Combs’ silence just over 24 hours after the Homeland Security investigation with a statement to DailyMail.com.
‘Yesterday, there was a gross overuse of military-level force as search warrants were executed at Mr. Combs’ residences. There is no excuse for the excessive show of force and hostility exhibited by authorities or the way his children and employees were treated,’ Dyer said.
Diddy is pictured speaking with police outside of his private jet as they arrested the man accused of being the rapper’s drug mule on Monday
The photos show Diddy wearing a white shirt and blue pants with his back to the camera while speaking to cops
Brendan Paul, 25, was arrested by Miami-Dade Police, alongside Homeland Security agents, at Opa-Locka Airport in Miami about 4.30pm on Monday
Paul, Diddy’s alleged ‘drug mule,’ was seen wearing a blue hoodie and black hat in the mix before his arrest
Combs was seen speaking to agents at the airport 15 minutes from his Miami Beach Monday evening but never arrested
‘Mr. Combs was never detained but spoke to and cooperated with authorities,’ he added. ‘Despite media speculation, neither Mr. Combs nor any of his family members have been arrested nor has their ability to travel been restricted in any way.’
‘This unprecedented ambush — paired with an advanced, coordinated media presence — leads to a premature rush to judgment of Mr. Combs and is nothing more than a witch hunt based on meritless accusations made in civil lawsuits,’ Dyer continued.
‘There has been no finding of criminal or civil liability with any of these allegations. Mr. Combs is innocent and will continue to fight every single day to clear his name.’
The rapper, 54, has not been seen since homeland security agents descended on his properties in Miami and Los Angeles as part of their investigation into alleged sex trafficking.
Sources told Page Six that Combs was planning to fly to the Bahamas to spend time with his 17-year-old twins, Jessie and D’Lila, when the agents swooped in on his properties.
Diddy was spotted about 3 p.m. at pacing outing of Opa-Locka Airport, not long before Paul was arrested there.
An arrest warrant obtained by DailyMail.com says that Paul admitted to having drugs in his luggage as law enforcement intercepted him
The document, filed by the Miami-Dade Police Department, states: ‘While working alongside the Department of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection, the defendant was taken into custody for being in possession of suspected cocaine and marijuana candy.
‘The defendant had the contraband inside of his personal travel bags, which he claimed prior to being searched.
‘The suspected cocaine was located and tested by agents… the defendant was charged accordingly.’
Paul, 25, of Chagrin Falls, Ohio is charged with felony cocaine possession and marijuana possession. Paul was held at Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center in Miami on two $2,500 bonds.
Paul was referred to as Diddy’s ‘drug mule’ in a $30 million lawsuit Rodney ‘Lil Rod’ Jones filed against Diddy.
The complaint, one of five against Combs since November, alleged he was involved in ‘acquir[ing] and distribut[ing] Mr Combs drugs and guns’.
Jones lawsuit is one of several filed against the rapper since late last year that prompted the raid of his homes.
The inquiry was being directed by Homeland Security Investigations agents in New York, where he was accused by a former girlfriend R&B singer Cassie Ventura in a lawsuit filed in federal court in November of engaging in sex trafficking.
She alleged Diddy controlled and abused her for over a decade – as well as plying her with drugs, beating her, and forcing her to have sex with multiple male prostitutes while he watched and recorded.
Combs has denied the allegations and settled with Ventura out of court.
The lawsuit by Ventura was one of at least four civil complaints brought in recent months leveling sexual assault allegations against Combs.
The rapper and music mogul has been fighting various legal battles, including one against an unnamed woman who claimed he and two friends sexually assaulted her when she was 17.
Joi Dickerson-Neal, another accuser, claims Combs slipped something into her drink and sexually assaulted her in 1991 while she was a student at Syracuse University. She alleges that he filmed the attack and shared the video with his social circle.
Another Jane Doe alleges that she and a friend were raped by Combs and his friend, the singer–songwriter Aaron Hall, in the early 1990s.
During the raids, two of his sons were detained at the scene of the Holmby Hills, California, home while the warrant was executed but released without charges.
Armed agents entered luxury properties on both East and West Coasts of the United States, with video footage showing helicopters circling overhead.
The agents, who were wearing vests, gathered in the home’s backyard near the pool.
Multiple officers were seen carrying bags and boxes of evidence to a van with assistance from police dogs.
They gathered evidence including a ‘number of’ electronic devices, ABC News reported.