Judge won’t delay criminal trial against Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs
USA TODAY was in the courtroom in New York where Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs appeared ahead of his criminal trial.
Sean “Diddy” Combs once stood tall as one of music’s most powerful figures. After a stunning downfall, he will stand trial in May.
The billionaire Bad Boy Records founder’s trial officially begins May 5 in New York City as he faces a slate of federal sex-crimes charges, a judge ruled April 18.
Combs, 55, was arrested in September 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 accusations of rape, sexual assault and physical violence.
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What charges is Diddy facing?
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?
U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian ruled against Combs’ defense team’s request to push back the start of his federal trial two months.
Combs’ trial, which will take place in downtown Manhattan, is currently set to begin with jury selection on the first Monday in May. The trial’s start date is the same day as the Met Gala at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, just miles away from the courthouse.
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 and 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.
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.
“I’ve only seen one piece of him, which is Diddy in prison, and he’s been kind to people in the unit; he’s been kind to me,” Bankman-Fried said. “It’s also, it’s a position no one wants to be in.”
Diddy was subdued during April 18 pre-trial hearing
As he faces decades in prison, Diddy’s lawyers were denied a chance to push back his May trial during a pre-trial hearing on April 18.
At a roughly two-hour hearing, Combs was seen smiling and waving to a few people as he exited the courtroom, including his mother Janice Combs, following the hearing, more emotionally subdued than a previous one in March.
Throughout the April 18 court hearing, Combs looked around the room multiple times. In some moments, he nodded along with his defense team, and at other times passed notes to his attorneys.
Combs’ attorneys made the original request in a motion filed April 16 in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, according to court documents obtained by USA TODAY.
Contributing: Anna Kaufman, Taijuan Moorman, USA TODAY
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