A man described in a lawsuit as rap mogul Diddy’s “mule” was busted on drug charges at Miami Opa-locka Executive Airport Monday afternoon, as the artist’s homes on both sides of the country were being raided by federal agents — and before a plane linked to the superstar producer took off from the airport to a Caribbean island.
Miami-Dade Police charged Brendon Paul, 25, of Chagrin Falls, Ohio, with possession of cocaine and suspected marijuana-laced candy at the airport at 4:30 p.m., just before a plane linked to Diddy, whose legal name is Sean Combs, took off for Antigua.
The arrest affidavit was brief and said the alleged drugs were found in Paul’s bag, but made no mention of Diddy.
A law enforcement source said Miami-Dade Police working a different detail at the airport were asked to take a look at the plane linked to Diddy by Homeland Security investigators. Once inside the aircraft, the source said, they found the drugs in Paul’s possession.
Paul’s arrest was not related to Monday’s federal raids on Combs’ mansions on Star Island in Miami Beach and in Los Angeles, which were part of an ongoing sex-trafficking investigation. Homeland Security Investigations agents haven’t said specifically what they seized or were looking for, but the raids came a month after a lawsuit was brought by a music producer who accused Diddy, 53, of using the producer and others to hire sex workers for him.
Though Paul or a representative hadn’t been reached by early Tuesday afternoon, a man named Brendan Paul is described as “Mr. Combs Mule” and a distributor of his drugs and weapons in the lawsuit filed against Diddy last month by producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones. The man arrested and the lawsuit spell Paul’s first name slightly differently.
According to Paul’s arrest form, he was taken to the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center. He got out of jail on a $2,500 bond and his first court appearance is scheduled for April 24.
The lawsuit filed by Jones in the Southern District of New York, says Diddy, his staff and music executives knew about — and were involved in — illicit and unwanted sexual activities in Florida, New York, California and the U.S. Virgin Islands. The lawsuit also claimed that Paul would pay sex workers in cash.
Prosecutors from the federal Southern District of New York are heading a sex trafficking investigation, and Jones is one of several people who are witnesses, sources familiar with the probe told the Miami Herald.
A source told the Herald that Diddy and his entourage arrived in Miami over the weekend and were here when federal agents searched his homes on Star Island and in Los Angeles.
Diddy and his entourage, including family members and friends, flew to Antigua Monday from the Opa-locka airport after being questioned by federal agents at the airport, according to the source.
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