Hip-hop’s “Unhealthy Boy” billionaire Sean “Diddy” Combs has drawn comparisons to late sex-trafficking financier Jeffrey Epstein, however one individual believes there’s a massive distinction between the 2 highly effective gamers.
“Jeffrey wasn’t an open secret,” Lisa Phillips, a mannequin who mentioned Epstein sexually assaulted her on his personal island, informed Fox Information Digital.
“Jeffrey was all beneath the desk,” she mentioned. “Solely sure folks knew concerning the intercourse trafficking. He was very good – he was a lot smarter than Sean Combs, far more extremely smart.”
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Sean “Diddy” Combs was charged with racketeering conspiracy, intercourse trafficking by drive, fraud or coercion, and transportation to have interaction in prostitution. (Munawar Hosain/Getty Photographs)
Phillips, now a mannequin scout at Choose Fashions Los Angeles, has a brand new podcast, “From Now On.” In it, she goals to deliver consciousness to human trafficking. She may also be talking out to different survivors in upcoming episodes.
Phillips claimed to Fox Information Digital that for years, there have been whispers of Combs’ alleged conduct, ones that, she mentioned, have been well-known throughout the music trade.
“Once I was a mannequin within the early 2000s, I knew all about abused ladies with Sean Combs,” Phillips claimed. “We heard about it, folks talked about it… I feel he simply thought he was God and above all. Nothing was going to occur to him.”
Lisa Phillips has a brand new podcast, “From Now On,” which goals to teach the general public about human trafficking. She additionally particulars her expertise with Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted intercourse offender who died behind bars in 2019. (Brett Erickson)
Phillips famous that Combs and Epstein ran in “very completely different circles.” Nonetheless, the modus operandi remains to be the identical, she claimed.
“When you’ve got that kind of wealth, energy, allure and affect to make issues occur for folks… a whole lot of males don’t abuse it, however predators do… It is vile.”
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Jeffrey Epstein seems in {a photograph} taken for the New York State Division of Felony Justice Companies intercourse offender registry. (New York State Division of Felony Justice Companies/Handout by way of REUTERS)
Based on Phillips, the continued case serves as a warning that human trafficking is an ongoing drawback that goes past showbiz.
“They take these younger ladies and faux like, ‘I’m doing good for you.’ However no, they’re sending them to their pals, associates and different highly effective folks,” she defined. “The sufferer thinks, ‘Oh wow – I get to satisfy so-and-so.’ However no, they’re sending you to be abused, for the sexual gratification of one other individual. They’re being trafficked. They’re placing you on a airplane or sending you an Uber – no matter it’s – [but] they’re sending you to anyone else.”
Based on a bombshell indictment, Combs, 54, is accused of being the chief of a felony enterprise. The disgraced media mogul pleaded not responsible in Manhattan federal court docket to racketeering conspiracy and intercourse trafficking expenses.
Sean “Diddy” Combs and his protection lawyer Marc Agnifilo stand earlier than U.S. Justice of the Peace Choose Robyn Tarnofsky after prosecutors introduced three felony expenses towards him in federal court docket within the Manhattan borough of New York Metropolis. (REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg)
Not solely was Combs denied a proposed $50 million bail, however he was additionally remanded and despatched to jail instantly after the listening to.
Combs was formally charged with racketeering conspiracy, intercourse trafficking by drive, fraud or coercion, and transportation to have interaction in prostitution. He faces a minimal of 15 years behind bars or a most sentence of life in jail if discovered responsible.
Combs allegedly distributed “a wide range of managed substances to victims, partially to maintain the victims obedient and compliant. Generally unbeknownst to the victims, Combs saved movies he filmed of victims participating in intercourse acts with industrial intercourse employees.”
Following the “Freak Offs,” Combs and his victims “usually obtained IV fluids to get better from the bodily exertion and drug use,” paperwork said.
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Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell are seen right here attending a New York Metropolis occasion in 2005. Maxwell was convicted of serving to her ex-lover sexually abuse ladies. (Joe Schildhorn/Patrick McMullan by way of Getty Photographs)
Phillips claimed she noticed video cameras in Epstein’s home. On the time, Phillips mentioned that, like lots of Epstein’s alleged victims, she feared talking out. It was not till Epstein’s loss of life that Phillips slowly gained the braveness to talk out, she mentioned. Phillips mentioned it additionally wouldn’t be till Epstein’s loss of life that she realized there have been many others, like her.
“The mentality is, ‘If I’m taking place, you’re all taking place with me,’” mentioned Phillips on why she believed Epstein had cameras “throughout.”
“… I feel Jeffrey did it as a result of he had a deeper, big reference to politicians and really highly effective individuals who have been abusing younger ladies. I feel Jeffrey did it extra so to guard himself.”
“When Jeffrey knew he was going to go down, he knew that was going to guard him,” Phillips mirrored. “He needed to get away with it… In Sean Combs’ case, individuals are being held accountable, or no less than, we’re shedding some mild on whom these individuals are.”
Fox Information Digital reached out to Combs’ lawyer and spokesperson for remark.
Sean “Diddy” Combs hosted lavish “White Events” the place he invited the wealthy, well-known and elite. (Bryan Bedder/CP/Getty Photographs for CP)
In 2019, Epstein was charged with sexually abusing dozens of underage ladies. It was a case introduced greater than a decade after he secretly reduce a take care of federal prosecutors to get rid of almost equivalent allegations.
The 66-year-old hedge fund supervisor as soon as socialized with a few of the world’s strongest folks. Nonetheless, that 12 months, his lifetime of luxurious was decreased to a concrete and metal cage at New York Metropolis’s Metropolitan Correctional Middle (MDC). The disgraced financier was beneath psychological commentary for a suicide try that left his neck bruised and scraped.
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Jeffrey Epstein died in 2019. He was 66. (Neil Rasmus/Patrick McMullan by way of Getty Photographs)
On Aug. 10, 2019, Epstein was discovered useless.
The Justice Division’s watchdog mentioned {that a} “mixture of negligence, misconduct and outright job efficiency failures” by the federal Bureau of Prisons and employees on the jail enabled Epstein to take his personal life. They discovered no proof of foul play.
Officers claimed Sean “Diddy” Combs and plenty of un-named associates within the Combs Enterprise used intimidation ways to “lure feminine victims into Combs’ orbit, usually beneath the pretense of a romantic relationship.” (Dia Dipasupil/Getty Photographs)
Combs is being held on the MDC in Brooklyn.
In a press release to Fox Information Digital, a Combs’ spokesperson mentioned, “Mr. Combs is robust, wholesome, and targeted on his protection. He’s dedicated to combating this case and has full confidence in each his authorized group and the reality.”
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Sean Combs’ son, King Combs, is seen right here arriving at United States Court docket in Manhattan after the music mogul was arrested by federal brokers in New York Metropolis. (REUTERS/Brendan McDermid)
Combs had beforehand been positioned on routine suicide watch, however on Sunday, sources informed Fox Information Digital he’s “off suicide watch” and has been receiving visits from relations.
Phillips testified in a 2022 civil case involving Virginia Giuffre, who mentioned she was trafficked by Epstein, USA At present reported. Based on the outlet, Phillips additionally filed as a Jane Doe beneath the Grownup Survivors Act. Individually, she obtained a settlement in a case involving JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Epstein accusers, the outlet famous.
At present, Phillips hopes her podcast – and story – will make clear how human trafficking can occur to anybody.
“It isn’t only a white van pulling you up, grabbing a 13-year-old, throwing her within the automobile and sending her off to Dubai,” she defined. “No – there are highly effective people who find themselves profiting from your aspirations and ambitions.”
Virginia Roberts Giuffre, with a photograph of herself as a teen, when she says she was abused by Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell, amongst others. (Emily Michot/Miami Herald/Tribune Information Service by way of Getty Photographs)
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“There are these sending quite a few younger folks to the identical individual,” she continued. “They’re trafficking you. And I’m so glad it’s coming to mild now. We have to perceive what’s actually occurring. There’s a whole lot of training that should occur.”
Fox Information Digital’s Stephanie Giang-Paunon, Larry Fink, Michael Ruiz and The Related Press contributed to this report.
