(NewsNation) — Vlad Lyubovny, commonly known as DJ Vlad, says the investigation surrounding Sean “Diddy” Combs “looks bad from the outside looking in.”
“People are being relatively quiet,” DJ Vlad said during an appearance on “Banfield” on Tuesday night. “At the end of the day, he is a very impactful person. He did help a lot of people. And I think … slowly, you’re gonna start seeing people come forward. But right now it’s seeing what happens because you don’t know what the charges are. He hasn’t been arrested yet. So you really don’t know.”
DJ Vlad built a media empire by interviewing major hip hop stars including “Diddy” and his former bodyguard Gene Deal. He’s best known for his YouTube channel, djvlad, which has more than 5 million subscribers.
Federal agents swarmed two properties belonging to Combs on Monday. The properties in Los Angeles and Miami were searched by Homeland Security agents as part of an ongoing sex trafficking investigation.
Multiple videos from NewsNation affiliate KTLA show authorities moving into the Los Angeles home and placing multiple people in handcuffs, but it’s unclear where Combs was during the raids.
There have been several sexual assault lawsuits filed against Combs in recent months.
In February, a music producer filed a lawsuit alleging Combs coerced him to solicit prostitutes and pressured him to have sex with them. Combs’ attorney Shawn Holley has said of those allegations that “we have overwhelming, indisputable proof that his claims are complete lies.”
Combs’ former girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie, sued him in November alleging years of sexual abuse, including rape. The lawsuit said he forced her to have sex with male prostitutes while he filmed them. The suit was settled the day after it was filed.
Another of Combs’ accusers was a woman who said the rap producer raped her two decades ago when she was 17.
Combs had said in a November statement, “I did not do any of the awful things being alleged.”
Combs 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.
Combs created the fashion clothing line Sean John, launched the Revolt TV channel with a focus on music, and produced the reality show “Making the Band” for MTV.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
