Sean (Diddy) Combs pleaded not responsible on Friday to a brand new indictment, which added accusations that the hip-hop mogul pressured workers to work lengthy hours and threatened to punish those that didn’t help in his two-decade intercourse trafficking scheme.
Combs, 55, entered his plea to the brand new indictment earlier than U.S. District Decide Arun Subramanian at a listening to in Manhattan federal courtroom. A trial stays scheduled for Might 5.
With a number of of his relations wanting 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 responsible to fees of racketeering conspiracy, intercourse trafficking and transportation to interact in prostitution. Whereas the brand new indictment added no new fees, it described what prosecutors known as the “pressured labour” that Combs demanded in reference to the 20-year alleged racketeering conspiracy.
It stated Combs and his associates “maintained management” over some workers by forcing them to work lengthy hours with little sleep, by the usage of or threats to make use of bodily power, monetary hurt, psychological hurt and reputational hurt.
Combs’s defence lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, has stated his shopper 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. Lawyer’s Workplace stated 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 had been typically transported throughout state strains.
Agnifilo has stated the freak-offs had been consensual sexual exercise.
Combs additionally faces dozens of civil lawsuits by men and women who accuse him of sexual assault and different misconduct. He has denied all wrongdoing.
Friday’s listening to can also be anticipated to debate jury choice, together with the potential problem to find an neutral jury, given Combs’s fame and the substantial media protection of his felony case.
At Friday’s listening to, Subarmanian stated potential jurors would start filling out questionnaires on April 28. In-person questioning of jurors will begin on Might 5, with opening statements on Might 12, the choose stated.
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 Data and is credited with serving to flip rappers and R&B singers reminiscent of Mary J. Blige, Religion Evans, Infamous B.I.G. and Usher into stars within the Nineties and 2000s.
His profession has been derailed since federal brokers raided his Los Angeles and Miami Seashore, Fla., properties in early 2024 as a part of the intercourse trafficking investigation that led to his indictment.
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