NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” KammenThe hip-hop mogul who has faced a series of allegations from women accusing him of sexual abuse was arrested in New York on Monday night after being indicted by a federal grand jury.

The indictment was sealed and prosecutors did not immediately release details of the charges, but Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams confirmed in a statement that federal agents had Combs in custody.

“We expect to release the charges tomorrow morning and will have more to say then,” Williams said in a statement.

Combs was arrested in the lobby of a Manhattan hotel, according to a source familiar with the arrest, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak publicly.

According to his attorney, Marc Agnifilo, Combs has been cooperating with the investigation and moved to New York last week to await charges.

“We are disappointed with what we believe to be an unjust decision by the United States Attorney’s Office to prosecute Mr. Combs,” said Agnifilo, who described his client as a music icon and a “loving family man.”

“He is an imperfect person, but he is not a criminal,” Agnifilo said in a statement, adding: “Please reserve judgment until you have all the facts. These are the actions of an innocent man who has nothing to hide, and he looks forward to clearing his name in court.”

The criminal charges are a significant, but not entirely unexpected, attack on one of the most prominent producers and famous names in hip-hop history.

The federal investigation into Combs, 58, was revealed when Homeland Security Investigations agents simultaneously search warrants And raided Combs’ mansions in Los Angeles and Miami on March 25.

A day after the raids, attorney Aaron Dyer called them “a gross use of military force” and said the accusations were “unfounded.”

Combs, then known as Puff Daddy, was at the center of the East Coast-West coast hip-hop battles of the ’90s as partner and producer with the Notorious B.I.G., who was fatally shot in 1997. But like many who survived the era, his image had softened over the years, as he morphed into a distinguished party host in Hollywood and the Hamptons, a fashion-forward businessman, and a devoted father who spoiled his children, some of whom lost their mothers in 2018.

But in November, a different picture began to emerge when his former protégé and girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassiewas the first of several people to accuse him of sexual abuse with stories of a steady stream of sex workers in drug-fueled environments, some of whom were forced or coerced into having sex.

In her November lawsuit, Cassie alleged that she had been abused for years, including beatings and rape. Her lawsuit also alleged that Combs engaged in sex trafficking by “forcing her to perform forcible sexual acts in multiple jurisdictions” and by engaging in “the harboring and transportation of Plaintiff for purposes of sex induced by force, fraud or coercion.”

He also allegedly forced her to help him traffic male sex workers, with whom Combs forced Cassie to have sex while he filmed.

The suit was arranged the next day, But the reverberations would last much longer. Combs lost his lingering allies, supporters and those who had yet to make their judgments when CNN aired a leaked video of him in May hitting Cassie, kicked her and threw her to the ground in a hotel hallway.

The next day, in his first real admission of wrongdoing since the flood of accusations began, Combs posted a video on social media apologizingand said, “I was disgusted when I did it” and “I am disgusted now.” Cassie’s trial was followed in the following months by at least half a dozen others.

In February, a music producer filed a lawsuit alleging that Combs forced him to approach prostitutes and pressured him to have sex with them.

Another of Combs’ accusers was a woman who said the rap producer raped her twenty years ago, when she was 17.

Another woman who filed a lawsuit, April Lampros, said she was a college student in 1994 when she met Combs, and that a series of “terrifying sexual encounters” with Combs and those around him began that lasted for years.

Combs and his attorneys denied nearly all of the allegations in the lawsuits.

While authorities have not publicly said the lawsuits marked the start of the criminal investigation, Dyer said when the warrants were issued that the case was based on “baseless allegations made in civil lawsuits.”

Normally, the AP does not name people who say they were sexually abused unless they report it publicly, as Cassie and Lampros did.

As the founder of Bad Boy Records, Combs became one of the most influential hip-hop producers and managers of the past thirty years. In addition to the Notorious B.I.G., he has worked with a number of top artists, including Mary J. Blige, Usher, Lil Kim, Faith Evans and 112.

Combs’ roles in his businesses outside of music – including lucrative house brand spiritsA media company and the Sean John Fashion line — took a major hit when the allegations surfaced.

The consequences were even greater when the leaked video of the assault surfaced. Howard University cuts ties with him, and he gave his key to new york city at the request of the mayor.

Combs has been arrested before, and decades ago he was at the center of one of the hip-hop industry’s largest lawsuits of the time.

That trial stemmed from a 1999 shooting at a Manhattan nightclub that left three people injured. His then-girlfriend, singer and actress Jennifer Lopez, was also present when the shots rang out.

Combs was eventually acquitted of charges that he brought an illegal gun to the club and attempted to bribe his driver to take the blame for the gun. His then-protégé, Shyne, was convicted of assault and other charges in the shooting and served about eight years in prison. He now goes by Moses Barrow and is a member of the House of Representatives in his native Belize.

Also in 1999, Combs was arrested on charges of assaulting a record executive in New York. Combs pleaded guilty to harassment, a misdemeanor, and was sentenced to anger management training.

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Dalton reported from Los Angeles.