NEW YORK (AP) — Federal prosecutors on Friday added two fees to Sean “Diddy” Combs ‘ indictment and stated they anticipate 4 accusers to testify in opposition to him, increasing on allegations that the jailed hip-hop mogul engaged in intercourse trafficking with a number of ladies and as not too long ago as final 12 months.
A superseding indictment accuses Combs of utilizing pressure, fraud, or coercion to compel a lady to have interaction in business intercourse acts from at the least 2021 to 2024.
The indictment, returned by a federal grand jury in Manhattan, additionally alleges Combs was concerned in transporting the lady — recognized solely as “Victim-2” — and different individuals, together with business intercourse staff, to have interaction in prostitution throughout the identical timeframe.
The brand new fees are along with racketeering conspiracy and intercourse trafficking fees filed in opposition to Combs when he was arrested in September. They enhance the whole variety of fees in opposition to him from three to 5.
In a courtroom submitting, federal prosecutors stated the racketeering conspiracy cost includes allegations that Combs intercourse trafficked three victims and compelled a fourth, one in all his workers, into sexual exercise with him.
Within the submitting, which was closely redacted, prosecutors stated three of the 4 accusers who’re anticipated to testify have requested that their identities not be revealed to the press or the general public and that they as a substitute be referred to by at trial utilizing solely pseudonyms.
The accuser known as “Victim-1” in Combs’ charging paperwork is ready to testify below her personal identify, prosecutors stated.
Combs, 55, is scheduled to face trial Could 5. He stays locked up at a federal jail in Brooklyn. A message searching for touch upon the brand new fees was left together with his representatives.
Friday’s superseding indictment is the third filed in opposition to Combs.
Within the first, in January, federal prosecutors disclosed that their case concerned at the least three ladies whom they stated Combs compelled to have interaction in business intercourse acts. In addition they alleged Combs confirmed a firearm to a feminine sufferer throughout a kidnapping and as soon as dangled a lady over an residence balcony.
Combs’ January indictment did not embody further fees however modified some particulars of the present ones, together with including 4 years to the alleged racketeering conspiracy. Prosecutors now say it began in 2004, not 2008 as the unique indictment had alleged. A superseding indictment in March contained minimal adjustments.
Combs denies committing any crimes and has pleaded not responsible to the primary set of fees, which allege that he coerced and abused ladies for years with assist from a community of associates and workers whereas silencing victims by way of blackmail and violence, together with kidnapping, arson and bodily beatings.
His arraignment on the brand new fees has not been scheduled. Prosecutors requested Friday that or not it’s held at his closing pretrial convention on April 25.
Federal prosecutors allege the “I’ll Be Missing You” singer and Unhealthy Boy Data founder used his “power and prestige” as a music star to induce feminine victims into drugged-up, elaborately produced sexual performances with male intercourse staff in occasions dubbed “Freak Offs.”
Central to the case is a March 2016 video exhibiting Combs hitting and kicking his then-girlfriend, R&B singer Cassie, in a Los Angeles resort hallway. Prosecutors contend the assault occurred throughout a “Freak Off.” Combs lawyers argue the footage was nothing more than a “glimpse into a complex but decade-long consensual relationship” between the 2.
Combs’ legal professionals contend the case ought to by no means have been introduced and are combating to dismiss a cost involving allegations he transported a male escort throughout state traces.
“The government has concocted a criminal case based primarily on allegations that Mr. Combs and two of his longtime girlfriends sometimes brought a third party — a male escort — into their sexual relationship,” Combs lawyer Alexandra A.E. Shapiro wrote in a February courtroom submitting.
“Each of the three charges in the case are premised on the theory that this type of sexual activity is a federal crime,” Shapiro added.
