Diddy Case: New York Hotel Arrest Footage Surfaces
Diddy has pleaded not guilty and remains in custody after being denied bail.
Footage has surfaced showing Diddy's arrest in New York earlier this week.
Friday, TMZ shared the video in question, which shows the 54-year-old Bad Boy Records founder seemingly being taken by surprise with his arrest in a hotel lobby on Monday.
The footage, available above by clicking through to YouTube and/or here via TMZ, contains no audio, at least not in the form shared on Friday. The video begins by showing Diddy among a group of individuals walking through the doors of a Manhattan hotel.
Within seconds, he’s approached by two men, presumed to be federal agents based on prior reporting, who then walk him out of frame. From there, Diddy appears to be cuffed, at which point he’s led out of the hotel.
After Diddy's arrest, an unsealed indictment revealed charges including racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution. Marc Agnifilo, an attorney for Diddy, criticized the larger case as an attempted “unjust prosecution” of his client shortly after news of Monday’s arrest broke. Per Agnifilo, Diddy has been “nothing but cooperative,” including having “voluntarily relocated” to New York ahead of the indictment.
“Please reserve your judgment until you have all the facts,” Agnifilo said in an emailed statement, adding that Diddy is “an innocent man” in this case.
Prosecutors have argued from the beginning that Diddy should be considered a flight risk, though his attorney pushed back against the assessment, albeit unsuccessfully. In the days since the indictment was unsealed, certain specifics from the 14-page document have continued to receive ever-heightening attention, particularly prosecutors' descriptions of "Freak Offs" and the alleged use of drugs to facilitate compliance. The possibility of video and photo evidence has also been mentioned, though not in detail.
According to U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, the investigation into Diddy’s alleged actions “is far from over.”
