What is a grand jury indictment? Diddy taken into federal custody following trafficking probe

Hip-hop star Sean "Diddy" Combs had been arrested in New York City on several legal charges after being indicted by a grand jury, as reported by The New York Times. It had also been mentioned that the criminal charges filed against him were yet to be revealed to the public.

Trigger warning: The article contains references to s*x trafficking and s*xual abuse. Readers' discretion is advised.

According to University of Washington's School of Law, the responsibility of a grand jury is to determine if there is sufficient evidence to begin a trial and file charges on behalf of the complainant(s).

An article published by MoloLamken LLP on their official website mentioned that a grand jury ensures that no individual faces prosecution on charges that have no foundation. It is important to note that a grand jury indictment doesn't imply that the accused is guilty.

In layman's terms, when a person is indicted by a grand jury, it means that they'll have to face a trial and charges will be filed against them.

Coming back to Diddy's indictment, the charges were related to the s*x trafficking investigation against him. His legal team told The Times that they weren't satisfied with the fact that a trial was happening in the first place.

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Diddy's legal team explained that he relocated after anticipating the charges against him

As mentioned, there had been significant developments in the trafficking allegations previously made against Sean "Diddy" Combs. The indictment came after his home was raided back in March by the Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) in connection to a federal investigation.

The development in the case happened amid several other lawsuits that had been filed against Diddy, which claimed that he had abused people physically, s*xually, and emotionally.

Post the indictment, the mogul's legal team had confirmed that he had relocated to New York City last week after anticipating the charges.

Pitchfork obtained statement by his legal team had been issued, which read:

"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 uplift the Black community. He is an imperfect person but he is not a criminal."

When HSI had raided his house previously, his legal team described it as "a gross overuse of military-level force as search warrants were executed."

They further claimed that he wasn't detained back then, and he had also cooperated with the authorities as per requirement.

The legal team had tried to highlight his alleged cooperation with the cops in the latest statement as well.

BBC reported that according to US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams, the indictment would be unsealed on Tuesday. Williams had further confirmed Diddy's arrest on Monday, September 16.

As of now, the music mogul faces a number of allegations, but, he had denied all of them.