today I'm announcing the unsealing of a three-count indictment charging sha combes with racketeering conspiracy sex trafficking Interstate transportation for prostitution the indictment alleges that between at least 2008 and the present comes abused threatened and coerced victims to fulfill his sexual desires protect his reputation and conceal his conduct as alleg in the indictment to carry out this conduct Shan comes LED and participated in a racketeering conspiracy that used the business Empire he controlled to carry out criminal activity including sex trafficking forc labor kidnapping arson bribery and the obstruction of justice let me say a little bit
more about the charges the indictment alleges that coms abused and exploited women and other people for years and in a variety of ways as alleged coms used Force threats of force and coercion to cause victims to engage in extended sexual performances with male commercial sex workers some of whom he transported or caused to be transported over state lines Colmes allegedly planned and controlled the sex performances which he called freak offs and he often electronically recorded them the freak offs sometimes lasted days at a time involved multiple commercial sex workers and often involved a variety of
Narcotics such as ketamine ecstasy and GHB which Combs distributed to the victim to keep them obedient and compliant as alleged when combms didn't get his way he was violent and he subjected victims of physical emotional and verbal abuse so that they would participate in the freak offs and that Combs hit kicked through objects at and dragged victims at times by their hair on one occasion in March of 2016 that conduct was captured on video and later reported in the media specifically comes kicked dragged and threw a vase at a victim in a Los Angeles hotel
when the victim was attempting to flee as alleged these assaults often resulted in injuries to the victims which took days or weeks to heal in addition to the violence the indictment alleges that com's threatened and coerced victims to get them to participate in the freak offs he used the embarrassing and sensitive recordings he made of the freak offs as collateral against the victims and the indictment alleges that he maintained control over the victims in several ways including by giving them drugs by giving and threatening to take away financial support or housing by promising them career
opportunities by monitoring their whereabouts and even by dictating their physical appearance because of all of this the indictment alleges that the victims did not believe they could refuse Combs without risking their security or facing more abuse the indictment also alleges other acts of violence undertaken by Combs and others including violence against witnesses to his abuse kidnapping and arson the indictment alleges that on more than one occasion Combs carried or brandished Firearms to intimidate and threaten victims and Witnesses thanks for watching stay updated about breaking news and top stories on the NBC News app or follow
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