Diddy’s alleged drug mule is a familiar name to Syracuse basketball fans.
TMZ reported on Tuesday that former Syracuse guard Brendan Paul was arrested at Miami’s Opa Locka Airport this week on two separate felony drug charges. Officers claiming to be working with Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection personnel reportedly found narcotics in Paul’s travel bags and booked him into prison (though Paul has since bailed out). He is being charged with one count of possession of suspected cocaine and one count of possession of suspected marijuana candy.
The report from TMZ further adds that Paul was named as an alleged drug mule for the rap mogul Diddy in a recent lawsuit filed by Rodney Jones, Diddy’s former producer. Jones is accusing Diddy of sexual assault and named Paul in the complaint as a close confidant of Diddy’s who allegedly handles Diddy’s guns and drugs. The lawsuit also contains several pictures of Paul and Diddy together, TMZ adds.
You can read the full TMZ report here.
Paul, 25, played at Syracuse under Jim Boeheim for two seasons from 2018-20. A walk-on, Paul only averaged 0.2 points and 0.1 rebounds per game for his Syracuse career, seeing a grand total of 17 minutes of action. But Paul was teammates there with some notable names, including Elijah Hughes, Oshae Brissett, and Buddy Boeheim (all of whom made it to the NBA). In 2020, Paul then transferred to D-II school Fairmont State University.
As for Diddy, he has denied all of the claims in Jones’ lawsuit. TMZ also notes that there is no evidence that the drugs found on Paul were linked to Diddy. But Diddy had his homes in both Los Angeles and Miami raided this week by Department of Homeland Security agents. While the DHS is only stating at this point that the raids were part of an ongoing and unspecified investigation, ABC7 in Los Angeles reports that it is believed that the raids are associated with a federal sex-trafficking investigation based out of New York. Diddy was not present at either of his homes during the raids, and his current whereabouts remain unknown.
