U.S. federal prosecutors will start making an attempt to show Monday that Sean (Diddy) Combs turned his hip-hop conglomerate right into a racketeering enterprise that pressured ladies to fulfill his sexual wishes for twenty years.
Jury choice concluded within the morning, which was to be adopted by attorneys’ opening statements. Testimony within the New York Trial — going down at Federal District Courtroom in Manhattan — may start as quickly as Monday afternoon.
Combs, sporting a white sweater, entered the courtroom shortly earlier than 9 a.m. ET, hugged attorneys and gave a thumbs as much as supporters seated within the benches behind him. Earlier, the road to get into the courthouse stretched down the block. Combs’s mom and a few of his youngsters had been escorted previous the gang and introduced straight into the constructing.
Combs, 55, pleaded not responsible to a five-count indictment that might land him in jail for not less than 15 years if he’s convicted on all costs. He has been imprisoned at a federal jail in Brooklyn since his arrest in September.
Attorneys for the three-time Grammy winner say prosecutors are wrongly making an attempt to make a criminal offense out of a party-loving life-style which will have been indulgent, however was not unlawful.
Prosecutors say Combs coerced ladies into drugged-up group sexual encounters, then saved them in line via violence. He’s accused of choking, hitting, kicking and dragging ladies, typically by the hair.
Combs’s former girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie, is predicted to be among the many trial’s early witnesses.
She filed a lawsuit in 2023 saying Combs had subjected her to years of abuse, together with beatings and rape. The lawsuit was settled inside hours of its submitting, however it touched off a regulation enforcement investigation and was adopted by dozens of lawsuits from individuals making comparable claims.
Video of lodge assault for use in trial
Prosecutors plan to point out jurors a safety digicam video of Combs beating Cassie within the hallway of a Los Angeles lodge in 2016.
Jurors might also see recordings of occasions known as “freak offs,” the place prosecutors say ladies had intercourse with male intercourse employees whereas Combs filmed them. The indictment stated the occasions typically lasted days and individuals required IV-drips to get better.
Combs’s lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, has stated that the Unhealthy Boy Data founder was “not an ideal individual” and was present process remedy, together with for drug use, earlier than his arrest.
However he and different attorneys for Combs have argued that any group intercourse was consensual and any violence was an aberration.
After the video of Combs assaulting Cassie within the lodge aired on CNN final yr, Combs apologized and stated he took “full duty” for his actions. “I used to be disgusted then once I did it. I am disgusted now.”
The Related Press would not usually determine individuals who say they’re victims of sexual abuse until they arrive ahead publicly, as Cassie, whose authorized title is Casandra Ventura, has executed.
The trial is predicted to final not less than eight weeks.
Help is accessible for anybody who has been sexually assaulted. You’ll be able to entry disaster strains and native assist providers via this Government of Canada website or the Ending Violence Association of Canada database. Should you’re in instant hazard or worry in your security or that of others round you, please name 911.
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