The controversial legacy of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs. Here’s what we know
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs faces federal sex crime charges. Here’s what we know about his controversial legacy.
NEW YORK — Less than two weeks before Sean “Diddy” Combs is set to go to trial in his federal sex crimes case, the hip-hop mogul’s legal team is back in court.
Combs’ attorneys met with Judge Arun Subramanian on April 25 at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan United States Courthouse in Manhattan to hash out trial preparations with prosecutors.
The pretrial conference comes as attorneys for Combs dispute key aspects of the legal proceeding with the U.S. government, such as the identities of Combs’ alleged victims on the witness stand and the scope of expert testimony presented to jurors in the case.
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Combs, whose trial is set to begin May 5, was arrested in September 2024 at a Manhattan hotel and was subsequently charged with racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty to all five counts.
The criminal trial emerges as a series of civil lawsuits from dozens of accusers have been aimed at Combs, accusing one of the music industry’s most recognizable figures of a pervasive pattern of sexually and physically abusive behavior. The allegations span decades and include claims of rape, sexual assault and physical violence.
What charges does Diddy face?
Diddy is charged with two counts of sex trafficking, two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution and one count of racketeering.
Racketeering is the participation in an illegal scheme under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Statute, or RICO, as a way for the U.S. government to prosecute organizations contributing to criminal activity.
Using RICO law, which is typically aimed at targeting multi-person criminal organizations, prosecutors allege that Combs coerced victims, some of whom they say were sex workers, through intimidation and narcotics to participate in “freak offs” — sometimes dayslong sex performances that federal prosecutors claim they have video of.
In March, prosecutors submitted a second superseding indictment (updating the amended indictment from January that added three unnamed women who were allegedly victims of his so-called sex trafficking enterprise), which claims Combs subjected employees to forced labor under inhumane circumstances.
In a third superseding indictment, prosecutors added two additional counts — one count of sex trafficking and one count of transportation to engage in prostitution of “Victim-2” — to the previous three charges against him.
When does Diddy’s trial start?
Combs’ trial, which will take place in downtown Manhattan, is set to begin with jury selection on May 5. The trial’s start date is the same day as the Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, just miles from the courthouse.
Judge Subramanian previously ruled against Combs’ defense team’s request to delay the start of his federal trial by two months.
Combs, a Met Gala mainstay, regularly attended the exclusive annual gala, benefitting the museum’s Costume Institute. His infamous appearance at the 2015 fête with ex-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura Fine, captured in a Vogue interview video clip with the late Vogue creative director André Leon Talley, is notorious among Diddy trial onlookers.
Ventura Fine could testify at Combs’ trial; she kicked off his public legal struggles with a sex trafficking, rape and physical abuse civil lawsuit filed against the hip hop mogul in November 2023 and quickly settled the next day.
CNN exclusively reported last year about a hotel surveillance video, reportedly from March 5, 2016, with clips from multiple camera angles of the rapper beating Cassie. Combs issued a video apology after the footage was released.
Is Diddy still in jail?
Despite repeated attempts at bail, Combs was ordered to remain in custody at the Special Housing Unit in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center ahead of trial — a ruling his legal team has challenged in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals. He’s been jailed since his arrest on Sept. 16, 2024.
The facility is the same facility that holds alleged UnitedHealthcare CEO shooter Luigi Mangione and disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, who praised Diddy in a recent interview with conservative podcaster Tucker Carlson.
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