NEW YORK (WABC) — Sean “Diddy” Combs was taken into custody in New York City on Monday night, multiple sources told ABC News.

In a statement from his attorney, Marc Agnifilo, Combs said he moved to New York in light of the charges and that Combs wanted to clear his name through the courts.

“We are disappointed in the decision to prosecute the U.S. Attorney for what we believe to be an unjust prosecution of Mr. Combs. 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 better the black community. He is an imperfect person, but he is not a criminal. To his credit, Mr. Combs has been nothing but cooperative with this investigation and voluntarily relocated to New York last week in anticipation of these charges. Please reserve judgment until you know 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 remain secret.

In July, Combs faced new sex trafficking allegations in a lawsuit by a former porn star, and the name of a woman accused of being to “Diddy” what Ghislaine Maxwell was to Jeffrey Epstein.

Adria English, who performed under the name Omunique, said she has “lived her adult life with the memories of being trapped in a cycle of sex trafficking that she never wanted to participate in and that was chosen because Defendant Combs knew he could manipulate her.”

That was at least the tenth lawsuit filed against Combs alleging physical abuse and sex trafficking.

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 Cassie was the first of several people to accuse him of sexual abuse. She told of a constant stream of sex workers in drug-fueled settings, with some of them forced or coerced into sex.

In her November lawsuit, Cassie alleged years of abuse, 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.” It also said he forced her to help him traffic male sex workers, with whom Combs forced Cassie to have sex while he filmed.

The lawsuit was settled the next day, but its aftermath would last much longer. Combs lost his staunch allies, supporters and those who had yet to judge when CNN aired a leaked video in May of him punching, kicking and throwing Cassie to the floor 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 apologizing, saying, “I was disgusted when I did it” and “I’m still disgusted now.” Cassie’s lawsuit was followed by at least a half dozen more lawsuits in the months that followed.

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 claimed the rap producer raped her two decades ago, when she was 17.

Another woman who filed the lawsuit, April Lampos, said she met Combs as a college student in 1994 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 were the start of a 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’ role in his non-music businesses — including lucrative private-label liquor brands, a media company and the Sean John Fashion line — took a major hit when the allegations came to light.

The fallout was even greater when the leaked video of the assault surfaced. Howard University cut ties with him and he returned his key to the city of New York at the request of the mayor.

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