By now everyone has heard about a federal raid on hip-hop artist and entrepreneur Sean “Diddy” Combs. Combs’ homes in Florida and California were raided in conjunction with an investigation into alleged sex trafficking allegations made in a lawsuit against the star.
Combs, who wasn’t at either residence at the time, wasn’t arrested, but two of his sons were handcuffed.
Also, his alleged “drug mule” was arrested and he has a surprising college basketball connection.
According to People magazine, Brendan Paul, who walked on for the Syracuse Orange basketball team, was taken into custody at Opa-Locka airport by Miami-Dade police working alongside Homeland Security agents.
An affidavit alleges that Paul was arrested because he was carrying cocaine and marijuana in his travel bags. Although Paul is also part of the Diddy investigation, he wasn’t arrested for that reason, but the drug charges certainly didn’t help his case.
Paul, who is originally from Ohio, was released on a $2,500 bond. Although he briefly played at Syracuse, he graduated from Fairmont State and was an amateur record producer.
The Diddy lawsuit, which Paul is a part of, was filed in February by Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones in New York federal court. It claims that Jones was sexually harassed, drugged, and threatened for over a year. According to Jones, Paul, besides being the drug mule for Diddy, was also responsible for retrieving guns for the star.
Paul has yet to make a statement about his arrest. However, his lawyer says they won’t try this in the court of public opinion or the media.
“We do not plan on trying this case in the media — all issues will be dealt with in court,” Paul’s lawyer Brian Bieber said in a statement to People.
If any of those allegations are true, Combs and Paul aren’t the only ones who may be in trouble. The feds might use the charges against Paul to see if he would roll over on Combs and others allegedly involved.
Allegations against Combs began to come out after he broke up with his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura. Ventura filed a lawsuit against him, alleging that he abused her, forced her to have sex with male sex workers while he filmed them, raped her, and introduced her to “an ostentatious, fast-paced and drug-fueled lifestyle.”
Combs would settle out of court with her, but the damage had already been done and then more allegations began to come out from other parties like Jones.
[PEOPLE]
