P Diddy: Everything you need to know about the Sean Combs trial | Ents & Arts News

Seven months after his high-profile arrest, the trial of hip-hop-mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs is underway on Monday.

A three-time Grammy winner and one of the most influential hip-hop producers of the past thirty years also known as Puff Daddy, p Deny And ‘love’ in the years since he gained fame in the 1990s – the rapper and founder of Bad Boy Records now faces serious criminal charges in the US, as well as several civil lawsuits.

He has pleaded not guilty to criminal complaintsaid that his sexual relationships are consensual, and that all allegations of offenses are strictly denied.

Combs, 55, was arrested and charged in September 2024, six months after attacks by federal agents on two of his Properties in Los Angeles and Miami. He has been detained in New York since his arrest for being denied bail when he waited for trial.

Choosing the jury will begin on Monday morning and it may take a few days.

The opening statements by advocates and the start of the evidence are expected to begin next week.

Here is everything you need to know.

What are combs up for?

Combs is facing five charges of crimes:

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• Two charges of sex trafficking with violence, fraud or coercion
• Two charges of transport to participate in prostitution

The rapper was initially charged with three offenses – rocket, sex trafficking and transportation to participate in prostitution. Two extra charges – one of the sex trade and transport of sex to participate in prostitution – were added earlier in April.

Combs pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Broadly, it means to engage in an illegal scheme or business, and the charge falls under the Influable and Corrupt Organizations Act (Rico) in the USA.

According to the US Department of Justice of the Rico Statute, it is also illegal to “conflict” the laws.

The indictment against Combs claims to have led a conspiracy between 2008 and 2024 that has sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery and justice impediment, including crimes’, the US attorney office for the southern district of New York, after his September arrest.

Who are the accusers?

Prosecutors expect four accusers to testify against Combs during the criminal trial.

Three requested that their identities not be revealed to the press or the public, and that they were referred to only pseudonyms.

One accused, referred to in court documents as a victim 1, is willing to testify under her own name, prosecutors said.

When did allegations start?

In November 2023, Combs’s former girlfriend, R’n’B star Cassie – full of name Casandra Ventura – filed a civil case in which he claimed to be in many opportunities in many opportunities, raped, with drugs.

The lawsuit was established the next day. The provisions of the agreement were not made public, but there was no recognition of wrong acts of Combs, and he issued a statement stating that he had firmly denied the ‘offensive and outrageous’ allegations.

Six months later, footage recorded in a Los Angeles hotel in 2016 appeared, which allegedly showed Combs and hit Cassie in a corridor and kicked.

Shortly thereafter, he released a video apartment, saying that his behavior in the video was at a time when he beat “rock bottom” but nevertheless “inexcusable” and that he was “disgusted” with himself.

Rapper’s advocates claim that the footage was nothing more than a “look at a complex but a decade of consensual relationship”.

Details of ‘Freak Offs’

The charges contain details of alleged ‘freak rash’ – described as ‘extensive and produced sex actions that arranged, directed, directed, masturbated during and often electronically recorded’.

According to the indictment, he allegedly fueled female victims and male sex workers in drugs.

Prosecutors claim that the victims got controlled substances during the sometimes days -long events to ‘obey and meet’ them, and combs have subjected them to ‘physical, emotional and verbal abuse’ to engage them.

The indictment also claims that combs “are involved in violence, threats of violence, threats of financial and reputation damage and oral abuse”, including kidnapping and arson when witnesses of his alleged abuse have threatened his authority or reputation.

What happens first?

The trial will begin on Monday, May 5 at the US District Court in the Southern District of New York in Lower Manhattan.

After the two additional charges were added, Combs’s legal team requested a two -month delay and said they needed more time to prepare his defense. Judge Arun Subramanian, who will hear the trial, have refused the requestand said that it was made too close to the start date.

The hearing will therefore continue as planned, starting with the selection of the jury. It is currently scheduled to last a week, but as a high-profile case, this process may be complicated and take time.

As the jury’s selection plans, the opening statements of the prosecution and the defense will begin on Monday, May 12.

Advocates for Combs requested that potential jurors be asked about their views on sex, drugs, alcohol and violence in a questionnaire.

In a letter submitted to the right, the Rapper’s legal team said: “Because this trial involves content that is sensitive and private in nature, many individuals are uncomfortable about these issues before others and would be more candid in a questionnaire.”

Examples of areas “investigated” are potential connections with “drug or alcohol abuse … domestic violence, their willingness to watch videos with physical assault and videos that are sexually explicit, and their views towards people with multiple sexual partners,” they said.

They also want potential jurors to say whether their documentary films have been released on Combs since the charges have been announced.

Prosecutors criticized the proposed defense questionnaire – with 72 questions – as too long and touched on topics that would be better asked by the judge, if at all,.

What did Combs say?

The rapper strongly denied all the allegations against him.

After his initial court appearance in September, one of his lawyers, Marc Agnifilo, said the rapper would “fight to the end”, that he was “not afraid” of the charges, and that he was “looking forward to cleaning his name”.

“Finally, he is shown to be innocent,” Mr. Agnifilo said.

In a document submitted in February, Coms legal team argued that the transport complaint should be rejected, and said he is subject to a ‘racist’ persecution ‘For action that regularly goes unpunished’, and that he is ‘singled out’ as ‘a powerful black man’ about the use of escorts.

They argued that “no white person” was ever the target of a distance similar prosecution “and said that although the rapper” had complicated relationships with important other as well as alcohol and drugs … which does not make him a racket or a sex trader “.

Is the criminal complaint separate from the lawsuits?

Yes. Combs was also hit with dozens of civil claims – a few filed before the criminal complaint was announced, but the majority thereafter.

This includes accusations of sexual abuse by men and women, from suspected victims who were as young as 10 at the time of the alleged incidents.

Many of these have been submitted by Texas lawyer Tony Buzbee, who accused Combs’s team of sought publicity.

A particularly high-profile lawsuit, involving rapper Jay-Z as well as Combs, was voluntarily dropped by prejudice, which means that it cannot be brought by the accused again in February.

Another lawsuit accuses Combs of raping a woman as an alleged repayment for her and said she believes he was involved in the murder of rapper Tupac Shakur. Combs sues the lawyer involved in this case for defamation, about other allegations made against him.

What sentence coming in?

The US Attorney Office For the southern district of New York, details of possible sentences announced when Combs was charged, but said the ruling would eventually be determined by the judge.

The conspiracy of a maximum life imprisonment imposed a maximum life in prison, the lawyer said, just like sex trafficking with violence, fraud or coercion – which also imposed a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison.

The charge of transport for the purposes of prostitution imposed a maximum sentence of ten years imprisonment.