Sean (Diddy) Combs, the hip-hop entrepreneur whose wildly profitable profession has been dotted with allegations of violence, was delivered to a New York courthouse on Monday to be tried on prices that he used the affect and assets of his enterprise empire to sexually abuse ladies.
Jury choice was scheduled to start within the morning and doubtlessly take a number of days. Opening statements by the attorneys and the beginning of testimony had been anticipated subsequent week.
Decide Arun Subramanian began the proceedings shortly after 9 a.m. by making a number of rulings on what consultants can be allowed to testify about after they take the witness stand.
The 17-page indictment towards Combs accuses him of participating in intercourse trafficking and presiding over a racketeering conspiracy.
The indictment says that with the assistance of individuals in his entourage and workers from his community of companies, Combs engaged in a two-decade sample of abusive behaviour towards ladies and others.
Girls had been manipulated into collaborating in drug-fuelled sexual performances with male intercourse employees that Combs known as “freak-offs,” prosecutors say.
To maintain ladies in line, prosecutors say Combs used a mixture of affect and violence: he supplied to spice up their leisure careers in the event that they did what he requested — or lower them off in the event that they did not.
And when he wasn’t getting what he wished, the indictment says Combs and his associates resorted to violent acts, together with beatings, kidnapping and arson. As soon as, the indictment alleges, he even dangled somebody from a balcony.
Combs and his attorneys say he’s harmless.
WARNING: This video could have an effect on those that have skilled sexual violence or know somebody affected by it.
American rapper and music mogul Sean (Diddy) Combs pleaded not responsible Tuesday to prices of presiding over a sordid empire of sexual crimes, allegedly coercing and abusing ladies for years whereas utilizing blackmail and stunning acts of violence to maintain his victims in line. Combs was arrested in New York after being indicted by a U.S. federal grand jury.
Any group intercourse was consensual, they are saying. There was no effort to coerce folks into issues they did not need to do, and nothing that occurred amounted to a legal racket, they are saying.
The trial is predicted to take not less than eight weeks.
Combs, 55, has acknowledged one episode of violence that’s more likely to be featured within the trial. In 2016, a safety digicam recorded him beating up his former girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie, within the hallway of a Los Angeles resort. Cassie filed a lawsuit in late 2023 saying Combs had subjected her to years of abuse, together with beatings and rape.
The Related Press doesn’t usually title individuals who say they’ve been sexually abused until they arrive ahead publicly, as Cassie, whose authorized title is Casandra Ventura, did.
Combs ‘not an ideal particular person,’ lawyer admits, however sexual exercise consensual
Combs’s lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, has stated his consumer was “not an ideal particular person” and that there had been drug use and poisonous relationships, however stated all sexual exercise between Combs, Cassie and different folks was consensual.
The trial is the most recent and most severe in a protracted string of authorized issues for Combs. If convicted, he faces the potential of many years in jail.
In 1999, he was charged with bursting into the workplaces of an Interscope Data government along with his bodyguards and beating him with a champagne bottle and a chair. The manager, Steve Stoute, later requested prosecutors to go straightforward on Combs, who pleaded responsible to a lesser cost and took an anger administration class.
Later that very same yr, Combs was stopped by police after he and his then-girlfriend, Jennifer Lopez, fled a nightclub the place three folks had been wounded by gunfire. Combs was acquitted of all prices associated to the episode at a 2001 trial, however a rapper in his entourage, Jamal (Shyne) Barrow, was convicted within the taking pictures and served almost 9 years in jail.
In 2015, Combs was charged with assaulting somebody with a weight-room kettlebell on the College of California, Los Angeles, the place certainly one of his sons performed soccer. Combs stated he was defending himself and prosecutors dropped the case.
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