Costco has issued a statement saying that none of its U.S. warehouse stores sold baby oil in “bulk” to Sean “Diddy” Combs, in furtherance of the hip-hop mogul’s alleged “freak off” sex parties that have become the centerpiece of the federal government’s sex trafficking case against him.
TMZ reported Thursday that Costco had raised objections to its brand name being associated with Combs’ alleged crimes, with a spokesperson telling the news and gossip site that none of its members-only locations carry baby oil. TMZ seemingly confirmed this assertion by not finding baby oil among the products listed on the Costco site.
Over the past week, Combs’ attorney, Marc Agnifilo, invoked Costco’s name while trying to come up with not-so-nefarious explanation for why his client would possess a massive supply of baby oil: He buys in bulk from Costco.
According to the criminal complaint against Combs, Homeland Security agents found 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant when they raided his mansions in Los Angeles and Miami. According to prosecutors, the rapper would lure and coerce women to engage in sexual performances with male sex workers for him to watch and record — sometimes without their knowledge, as the New York Post reported.
During an interview with TMZ, Agnifilo tried to cast doubt on the U.S. Attorney’s accounting of the baby oil, saying “I don’t know where the ‘1,000’ came from.”
“I can’t imagine it’s thousands (of bottles), and I’m not really sure what the baby oil has to do with anything,” Agnifilo said.
When TMZ founder Harvey Levin explained that the baby oil could be used as “a lubricant for an orgy,” the attorney responded, “I guess — I don’t know what you need a thousand (for). One bottle of baby oil goes a long way. I don’t know what you need a thousand for.”
Agnifilo added, “(Combs) has a big house. He buys in bulk. I think they have Costcos in every place where he has a home. I mean, have you sat in a parking lot of a Costco and see what people walk out of there with?”
“I don’t think it was a thousand. Let’s just say it was a lot.”
Agnifilo made the same assertion to The New York Post, while standing outside Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, where Combs remains in custody pending trial.
“I mean, there is a Costco right down the street,” Agnifilo said. “I think Americans buy in bulk, as we know.”
