Sean Combs's White Parties Were Edgy, A-List Affairs. Were They More?

In the 2000s, few events held the cultural cachet of the White Party thrown by Sean Combs — fetes in Beverly Hills, the Hamptons and other playgrounds of the rich, studded with famous names and fabulous tableaus.

At the 2009 party, Demi Moore made the scene with Lil' Kim, dancers gyrated in giant plastic balloons alongside tottering stilt walkers, and Ashton Kutcher swung, Tarzan-like, across a swimming pool as models in white bikinis lounged beside it.

And at the center of it all was Mr. Combs, the billionaire hip-hop mogul also known as Puff Daddy and Diddy, invariably toasting the scene with a glass of Cîroc vodka, and welcoming comparisons of his revels to those of lore.

The criminal indictment unsealed in Manhattan federal court this month has invited something of a reappraisal of the White Parties for some of those who reveled or worked at them. Were they merely innocuous, press-conscious branding events at which to see and be seen? Or was there, beyond the all-white facade, a darker element?

In a statement on Saturday from Mr. Combs's representatives, his camp denied that any wrongdoing had occurred at the White Parties.

"It's disappointing to see the media and social commentators twist these cultural moments into something they were not," the statement said. "Shaming celebrities who attended, taking video clips and photos out of context, and trying to link these events to false allegations is simply untrue."

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