Diddy is facing criminal charges as grand jury is impaneled in NYC to hear from 'accusers and exes'

Sean 'Diddy' Combs is facing criminal charges as a grand jury has been selected to hear evidence against him in a federal probe.

The Justice Department is gearing up to potentially bring a criminal indictment against Diddy, as the mogul's accusers have been notified they could be brought to testify before a grand jury in New York City, CNN reported on Wednesday.

The rapper and producer has been named in eight lawsuits accusing him of sexual assault and human trafficking. 

The potential witnesses have not yet been prepped to testify for the prosecution, as Homeland Security investigators are still reportedly gathering evidence in the case.

A source told CNN that detectives want their indictment against Diddy to be 'bulletproof.'

The indictment would not be related to Diddy's filmed assault of his ex-girlfriend Cassie in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in 2016.

Cassie, whose legal name is Cassandra Ventura, sued Combs in November over what she said was years of sexual, physical and emotional abuse, including beatings and rape.

The suit said he plied her with drugs, forced her to have sex with other men, and raped her in her home as she was trying to end the relationship in 2018. Diddy, through his attorney, 'vehemently denies' the accusations. 

The suit was settled the next day, but spurred intense scrutiny of Combs, with several more lawsuits filed in the following months, along with a federal criminal sex-trafficking investigation that led authorities to raid Combs’ mansions in Los Angeles and Miami.

Combs' sons, Justin and Christian 'King' Combs, were handcuffed during the raid at their father's residence in Los Angeles.

Two more women accused Diddy of sexual abuse in lawsuits filed on the eve of the expiration of the Adult Survivors Act last November, a New York law permitting victims of sexual abuse a one-year window to file civil action regardless of the statute of limitations. 

The lawsuits, filed by Joi Dickerson and another woman who was not named, allege acts of sexual assault, beatings and forced drugging in the early 1990s by Combs, then a talent director, party promoter and rising figure in New York City’s hip-hop community. 

In December, another woman alleged in a lawsuit that in 2003 when she was 17, Diddy and two other men raped her. The lawsuit filed in federal court in Manhattan says she was living in a Detroit suburb and was flown to a New York studio, where she was given drugs and alcohol that made her incapable of consenting to sex, and the men took turns raping her.

The same day, Diddy posts a statement on Instagram broadly denying all the allegations in the mounting series of lawsuits. 

'I did not do any of the awful things being alleged,' the post says. 'I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth.'

In February, a music producer filed a lawsuit alleging Diddy coerced him to solicit prostitutes and pressured him to have sex with them.

Diddy and his attorneys have denied all of the lawsuits' allegations.

The rapper is among the most influential hip-hop producers and executives of the past three decades.

Formerly known as Puff Daddy, he built one of hip-hop's biggest empires, blazing a trail with several entities attached to his famous name.

He is the founder of Bad Boy Records and a three-time Grammy winner who has worked with a slew of top-tier artists including Notorious B.I.G., Mary J. Blige, Usher, Lil Kim, Faith Evans and 112.