By MICHAEL R. SISAK and LARRY NEUMEISTER, Related Press
NEW YORK (AP) — 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 needs for 20 years.
Testimony in Combs’ New York trial might start as quickly because the afternoon following a ultimate section of jury choice within the morning and opening statements from the legal professionals.
Combs, 55, has pleaded not responsible to a five-count indictment that might land him in jail for at the very least 15 years if he’s convicted on all expenses. 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 against the law 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 stored them in line via violence. He’s accused of choking, hitting, kicking and dragging ladies, usually by the hair.
Combs’ former girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie, is anticipated 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 folks making related claims.
Prosecutors plan to indicate jurors video a safety digicam video of Combs beating Cassie within the hallway of a Los Angeles lodge in 2016.
Jurors may additionally 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 generally lasted days and members required IV-drips to get better.
Combs’ legal professional, Marc Agnifilo, has stated that the Dangerous Boy Information founder was “not a perfect person” and was present process remedy, together with for drug use, earlier than his arrest.
However he and different legal professionals 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 12 months, Combs apologized and stated he took “full responsibility” for his actions. “I was disgusted then when I did it. I’m disgusted now.”
The Related Press doesn’t typically establish individuals who say they’re victims of sexual abuse except they arrive ahead publicly, as Cassie, whose authorized identify is Casandra Ventura, has achieved.
The trial is anticipated to final at the very least eight weeks.
Initially Revealed: Could 12, 2025 at 8:42 AM EDT
