Did Navy SEALs raid a warehouse belonging to rapper Sean "Diddy" Combs and seize a stockpile of adrenochrome that he used as a drug at his orgies? No, that's not true: The story is from a website that regularly publishes fabricated content, and there's no proof that any such military operation ever took place. Adrenochrome has long been the subject of conspiracies and federal law prevents the U.S. military from taking part in domestic law enforcement without express authorization from Congress.
The claim appeared in an article published by Real Raw News on September 25, 2024. The article was titled "NAVY SEALs Find and Trash Sean 'Diddy' Combs' Adrenochrome Stockpile" (archived here). It began:
Navy SEALs on Tuesday ransacked a Miami warehouse where Sean 'Diddy' Combs hoarded a thousand Adrenochrome infusion bags stored in refrigerated chests, a source in General Eric M. Smith's office told Real Raw News.
White Hats, he said, learned of the stash from one of Combs' former acquaintances whom Gen. Smith has placed in protective custody. Although our source wouldn't name the informant, he said the individual and Combs are intimate acquaintances, and that Combs had groomed and sexually exploited the person from adolescence. The person -- we believe it's Justin Bieber -- had been used as a 'sexual prop' at Combs' star-studded 'Freak offs,' where Adrenochrome flowed like tap water. Drug use, sexual molestations, physical violence, and murders occurred with alarming regularity at Combs' jamborees, our source said.
This is what the post looked like on Real Raw News at the time of writing:
(Source: Real Raw News screenshot taken on Sun Sep 29 11:45:55 2024 UTC)
Adrenochrome, a chemical compound formed from the oxidation of adrenaline, is also a term co-opted by QAnon conspiracy theorists to describe a hallucinogenic substance that global elites purportedly harvest from children's bodies for use during satanic rituals. There is no scientific evidence that adrenochrome, which is easily accessible from lab-supply companies, has any psychedelic qualities. An expert in pediatric endocrinology at the University of California, Los Angeles, Steven Mittelman, told Lead Stories in 2020 that he is not aware of any process by which adrenochrome is harvested from humans, willing or unwilling.
There is no evidence that Navy SEALs raided the supposed Miami warehouse of Combs, a hip-hop artist and entrepreneur, and seized an adrenochrome stash. The 1878 Posse Comitatus Act prohibits the U.S. military from engaging in domestic law enforcement unless expressly authorized by Congress. A search of Congress.gov, conducted on September 30, 2024, turned up no act that would authorize the Navy to take action against Combs (archived here).
A keyword search of Google News conducted the same day (archived here) did not find any articles confirming the story, which would have generated international headlines. Combs was arrested in New York City on September 16, 2024, on federal charges of "racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution," according to a statement on the U.S. Department of Justice's website (archived here).
Lead Stories has contacted both the U.S. Navy and Marc Agnifilo, Combs' attorney, and will update this story if they reply.
Real Raw News
Real Raw News is a website that consistently publishes fictitious stories about U.S. politics. The website's well-written English and its news-style layout often fool people into believing the stories are genuine. Screenshots and copies of the stories are regularly presented as real on other websites or on social media.
On its About Us page, the site notes that it "contains humor, parody and satire" (archived here):
Disclaimer:
Information on this website is for informational and educational and entertainment purposes. This website contains humor, parody, and satire. We have included this disclaimer for our protection, on the advice on legal counsel.
The same About Us page claims the main author is a man named Michael Baxter. In 2021, a PolitiFact article (archived here) identified the writer as a "Michael Tuffin" in Texas, based on records found in a GoFundMe campaign set up to support the site.
In 2021, NewsGuard, a company that provides credibility ratings for news and information websites, published a five-page PDF report (archived here) that described realrawnews.com as "An anonymously run website that has published baseless and debunked conspiracies about COVID-19 and U.S. politics." It cautioned readers that the website severely violates basic journalistic standards.
Previous Lead Stories debunks of Real Raw News claims are collected here. Other Lead Stories fact checks of claims about Sean "Diddy" Combs can be found here.
