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Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs charged with sex trafficking and racketeering
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Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs charged with sex trafficking and racketeering

Music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs has been charged with human trafficking, extortion and transporting people for prostitution.

The charges come a day after the Southern District of New York announced that Combs had been arrested by federal agents. Sources told PEOPLE that the rapper and producer was taken into custody at a Manhattan hotel by Homeland Security Investigations agents.

Speaking in federal court in New York, Diddy’s attorney Marc Agnifilo vowed to fight “like crazy” to get his client released and said the mogul would “obviously plead not guilty.”

“He is going to fight this with all his energy and all his might and with the full confidence of his lawyers, and I expect a long fight with a positive outcome for Mr. Combs,” Agnifilo said.

In a statement to PEOPLE following the rapper’s arrest, Diddy’s attorney Marc Agnifilo said they were “disappointed” by what he called an “unjust prosecution.”

“Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is a music icon, self-made entrepreneur, loving family man and proven philanthropist who has spent the last 30 years building an empire, adoring his children and working to improve the black community,” Agnifilo said. “He is an imperfect person, but he is not a criminal.”

“It must be said that Mr. Combs has been nothing but cooperative with this investigation and he voluntarily relocated to New York last week in anticipation of these charges,” Agnifilo continued. “Please reserve judgment until you have all the facts. These are the actions of an innocent man with nothing to hide and he looks forward to clearing his name in court.”

The charges follow several lawsuits filed against Combs over the past year alleging sexual abuse. In November, his former girlfriend, singer Cassie, sued him in New York.

In the lawsuit, Cassie accused Combs of raping her during their decade-long relationship. The lawsuit was settled the day after it was filed.

Douglas Wigdor, Cassie’s attorney, tells PEOPLE she has no comment on Diddy’s lawsuit.

A week after Cassie filed the lawsuit, another woman, Joi Dickerson-Neal, did the same. She accused Diddy of drugging and raping her while she was a student at Syracuse University in 1991. The next day, a third woman filed a lawsuit against Combs, alleging that he and his friend Aaron Hall took turns raping her in 1990, when she was 16.

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Another woman sued Combs in December, alleging that he and two other men raped and trafficked her in 2003, when she was 17.

Diddy denied all allegations in a statement to PEOPLE in December.

“ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. Over the past few weeks, I have sat quietly and watched as people have attempted to assassinate my character, destroy my reputation and my legacy,” he said. “There have been vile allegations made against me by individuals looking for a quick payout. Let me be absolutely clear: I have not done any of the horrible things that have been alleged. I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth.”

Diddy was later named as a defendant in several other lawsuits.

In March, federal authorities raided Diddy’s homes in Miami and Los Angeles.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or visit regenn.org.