Dear Gossips,

Programming note: LaineyGossip will be dark on Friday, March 29, but we will be squawking about Cowboy Carter in a live chat on The Squawk at 1 PM Eastern/10 AM Pacific. The mailbag will drop next Tuesday, in lieu of a newsletter.

Earlier this week, the Department of Homeland Security raided two of Sean “Diddy” Combs’s homes, one in Miami, and one in Los Angeles. Back in November, when Cassie sued Diddy for sexual abuse and rape, among other things, Stephanie made note of TMZ’s report that the NYPD was investigating Diddy in a case noted for its “sensitivity”. This week’s raids were not executed by the NYPD, but DHS thanked their “local law enforcement partners”, which could include the NYPD. But Diddy has WAY bigger problems than the NYPD, because this week’s news included the factoid that these raids occurred as part of an investigation by the Southern District of New York.

Katt Williams really said 2024 is coming for Diddy!

The SDNY doesn’t f-ck around, and they don’t go after high-profile citizens unless they expect to get results. When I worked for an attorney in Los Angeles, there were only two federal offices she ever spoke ill of—the IRS and the SDNY. Basically, you don’t f-ck with the IRS’s money, and you don’t f-ck with the SDNY, period. Presumably, the NYPD found something in that “sensitive” investigation and handed it off to DHS and the SDNY for prosecution. That whatever they found warrants federal attention, that they raided Diddy’s bi-coastal homes, well…

The rumor is that sex trafficking is involved, which aligns with Cassie’s lawsuit, which included allegations of sex trafficking. (Cassie and Diddy settled just 24 hours after she filed, which sure makes it look like Diddy didn’t want anyone poking into his business.) A Rolling Stone article about the raids also mentions racketeering as a possible reason for the searches, too.

I don’t want to downplay sex trafficking, and none of these things are mutually exclusive, but the mention of the SDNY and racketeering in the same sentence made my hair stand up, because that’s a potential RICO case. The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act allows for federal prosecution of criminal organizations. Rather than prosecuting one person for one crime, it allows prosecutors to build cases against networks of people and enterprises believed to be engaged in criminal activity. It’s how federal prosecutors, including the SDNY, took down the mafia in the Seventies and Eighties. Donald Trump is currently facing RICO charges in Georgia.

The thing about RICO cases is that they’re basically hoovers, they suck up everything in a given radius. A RICO case is never about one person, it’s about the organization, the system of people and actions facilitating criminal enterprise, whether it’s (alleged) election interference or sex trafficking, or tax evasion, and so on. RICO charges come in multiples—multiple people, multiple charges, multiple convictions. And they’re relatively easy to win because the case is about patterns, not specific acts.

If the SDNY is building a RICO case, these raids are just the beginning, and Diddy WILL NOT be the last famous name we hear. They’re already trying to drag Prince Harry into it—he partied with Diddy once in the 2000s, he’s not named in any suits—and it will get worse, maybe a LOT worse, as the case is built. Think of everyone Diddy is connected to, think of all his myriad business interests. RICO cases can stretch back years, think of everyone who could get caught up in that. We had no warning when the bombshell reports naming Harvey Weinstein as a serial predator broke in 2017. But this time, we have Diddy, the SDNY, racketeering, and sex trafficking all bouncing around reporting this week. Brace yourself. More WILL come.

Live long and gossip,

Sarah

Sean Diddy Combs Gossip

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