Sean (Diddy) Combs pleaded not guilty on Friday to a new indictment, which added accusations that the hip-hop mogul pressured staff to work lengthy hours and threatened to punish those that did not help in his two-decade intercourse trafficking scheme.
Combs, 55, entered his plea to the new indictment earlier than U.S. District Choose Arun Subramanian at a listening to in Manhattan federal courtroom. A trial stays scheduled for Could 5.
With a number of of his relations trying on from the courtroom viewers, Combs was led in to the courtroom sporting gray hair, a gray beard, and a dishevelled, tan jail outfit.
Combs beforehand pleaded not guilty to prices of racketeering conspiracy, intercourse trafficking and transportation to interact in prostitution. Whereas the new indictment added no new prices, it described what prosecutors known as the “pressured labour” that Combs demanded in reference to the 20-year alleged racketeering conspiracy.
It mentioned Combs and his associates “maintained management” over some staff by forcing them to work lengthy hours with little sleep, by using or threats to use bodily pressure, monetary hurt, psychological hurt and reputational hurt.
Combs’s defence lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, has mentioned his consumer by no means pressured anybody to interact in sexual acts towards their will.
Combs faces dozens of civil lawsuits
Prosecutors with the Manhattan U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace mentioned Combs used his enterprise empire, together with his report label Dangerous Boy Leisure, to sexually abuse girls between 2004 and 2024.
Combs’s alleged abuse included having girls participate in recorded sexual performances known as “freak-offs” with male intercourse staff, who have been typically transported throughout state traces.
Agnifilo has mentioned the freak-offs have been consensual sexual exercise.
Combs additionally faces dozens of civil lawsuits by ladies and men who accuse him of sexual assault and different misconduct. He has denied all wrongdoing.
Friday’s listening to can be anticipated to talk about jury choice, together with the potential problem to find an neutral jury, given Combs’s fame and the substantial media protection of his legal case.
At Friday’s listening to, Subarmanian mentioned potential jurors would start filling out questionnaires on April 28. In-person questioning of jurors will begin on Could 5, with opening statements on Could 12, the decide mentioned.
Combs has been held in a Brooklyn jail awaiting trial since his September 2024 arrest.
Combs recognized for star-making energy
Additionally recognized throughout his profession as Puff Daddy and P. Diddy, Combs based Dangerous Boy Information and is credited with serving to flip rappers and R&B singers equivalent to Mary J. Blige, Religion Evans, Infamous B.I.G. and Usher into stars within the Nineteen Nineties and 2000s.
His profession has been derailed since federal brokers raided his Los Angeles and Miami Seaside, Fla., properties in early 2024 as a part of the intercourse trafficking investigation that led to his indictment.
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