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The high-profile racketeering and sex trafficking trial of music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, which has sent shock waves through the global entertainment industry, is scheduled to begin next week with opening statements and will stretch into the summer.
It’s expected to become one of the most closely watched celebrity trials in years.
Combs, 55, was arrested last September and faces charges of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.
Combs has pleaded not guilty to all charges and denied all allegations against him. Earlier this month, he rejected a plea deal during his final pre-trial hearing. If convicted, Combs, who has been jailed since his arrest, could spend the rest of his life in prison.
Federal prosecutors allege that Combs ran a “criminal enterprise” through his expansive business empire, aided by associates and employees, that engaged in or attempted to engage in crimes including sex trafficking, kidnapping, forced labor, arson, bribery, enticement to engage in prostitution and obstruction of justice, dating back to at least 2004.
The indictment accuses the Bad Boy Records founder of sex-trafficking three women and of exerting control over them through a combination of physical violence, promises of career opportunities, surveillance, granting and threatening to withhold financial support, and supplying them with drugs.
Prosecutors allege that Combs “engaged in a persistent and pervasive pattern of abuse toward women and other individuals” which was “verbal, emotional, physical, and sexual”.
The indictment details allegations that Combs used “force, threats of force and coercion” to get women to engage in “elaborate and produced sex performances” with him and with male sex workers that prosecutors allege Combs referred to as “freak offs”.
The so-called “freak offs” were allegedly directed by Combs and arranged with help from associates. Prosecutors claim that they were often electronically recorded.
Prosecutors allege that these “freak offs” occurred regularly, sometimes spanning multiple days, and that Combs supplied “a variety of controlled substances to victims, in part to keep the victims obedient and compliant”.
Combs has repeatedly denied all allegations against him, and his legal team has said that any group sex was consensual, and that the accusers are “former long-term girlfriends, who were involved in consensual relationships”.
The trial is expected to feature testimony from three, possibly four, accusers, according to Reuters.
The indictment also includes accusations of physical abuse, alleging that for years Combs assaulted women by “striking, punching, dragging, throwing objects at, and kicking them”.
A key piece of evidence expected to be presented at trial is hotel security footage from 2016 which appears to show Combs kicking and dragging his then girlfriend, singer Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, in a Los Angeles hotel hallway.
Prosecutors allege that Ventura was attempting to leave a “freak off” at the hotel and that Combs, with the help of several associates, later paid hotel security staff $100,000 for the footage.
CNN obtained and published the video last year, and shortly afterward Combs took to social media to publicly apologize for his behavior.
“I take full responsibility for my actions in that video,” Combs said at the time. “I was disgusted then when I did it. I’m disgusted now. I went and I sought out professional help.”
“I’m so sorry,” he continued. “But I’m committed to be a better man each and every day. I’m not asking for forgiveness. I’m truly sorry.”
Several months before, Ventura, had filed a civil lawsuit against Combs, alleging physical abuse, sex trafficking and rape. The lawsuit was settled for undisclosed terms the day after it was filed, with representatives for Combs saying that the settlement was “in no way an admission of wrongdoing”.
Ventura is expected to be one of the key witnesses testifying against Combs in the upcoming trial.
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In addition to the federal criminal case currently unfolding in Manhattan, Combs has been accused of sexual assault in more than 30 civil lawsuits since 2023, according to the New York Times. These civil cases will not be part of the criminal trial, and Combs has strongly denied all of the allegations.
Jury selection in the federal criminal trial took place this week, with Combs watching from his seat at the defense table.
Judge Arun Subramanian, who was appointed to the federal bench by Joe Biden in 2022 and confirmed by the US Senate in 2023, is presiding over the trial.
This week, Subramanian questioned nearly 100 potential jurors on topics such as their knowledge of Combs’s case and any personal experiences with sexual assault, to see who can be unbiased.
Jurors were also shown a list of more than 100 locations and names of individuals that may be mentioned during the trial, according to NBC News.
At one point during jury selection, Combs reportedly told the court he was “a little nervous” and requested a bathroom break.
Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported that assistant US attorney Maurene Comey informed the court that one of the alleged victims, “Victim-3”, may not take the witness stand after all, due to difficulties in reaching her lawyer.
On Friday, Combs’s defense attorneys informed the judge of their intention to accuse Ventura of domestic violence and said that they plan to show that there was mutual violence between her and Combs, according to Reuters.
The judge reportedly appeared reluctant to allow the defense to introduce evidence of alleged violence by Ventura, Reuters reports, but said that he would rule on the matter on Monday.
The trial is being held at the federal district court in lower Manhattan and is expected to last roughly eight weeks, with opening statements scheduled to begin next week.
The trial will be held five days a week. Due to federal court rules, it will not be televised.
Any verdict must be unanimous.
