NEW YORK (AP) — The intercourse trafficking trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs, one of many greatest music moguls and cultural figures of the previous 4 a long time, started Monday in New York with jury choice. Twelve jurors, together with six alternates, can be chosen, with opening statements anticipated to start Might 12. The trial is anticipated to final at the very least eight weeks. This is a have a look at a number of the particulars.
The fees in opposition to Diddy
Combs is charged with one depend of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of intercourse trafficking by power, fraud or coercion, and two counts of transportation to have interaction in prostitution. He has pleaded not responsible.
The alleged offenses span from about 2004 till about 2024. Two of the counts had been added a month earlier than trial.
The indictment in opposition to him says he coerced and abused girls for years with assist from a community of associates and workers whereas silencing victims by means of blackmail and violence, together with kidnapping, arson and bodily beatings.
Prosecutors allege he 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.”
Prosecutors revealed shortly earlier than trial that Combs rejected a plea settlement which may have meant a lighter sentence than a conviction may. They didn’t disclose the phrases of the proposed deal.
The witnesses and the proof in opposition to Diddy
With out figuring out them publicly, prosecutors have mentioned 4 of Combs’ accusers will testify on the trial.
The prosecution can be allowed to point out the jury safety video of Combs beating and kicking one among his accusers, the R&B singer Cassie, in a Los Angeles resort hallway in 2016.
Diddy’s attorneys are anticipated to argue at trial that the federal government is demonizing and distorting the sexual exercise of consenting adults. They’ve additionally argued that two of Combs’ longtime girlfriends willingly introduced a male intercourse employee into their relationship.
Cassie, whose authorized identify is Cassandra Ventura, was Combs’ on-again-off-again romantic companion for greater than a decade. Her 2023 lawsuit in opposition to Combs alleging years of abuse, together with rape, started the scrutiny that finally led to his prosecution.
The Related Press doesn’t sometimes identify individuals who say they’ve been sexually abused until they arrive ahead publicly, as Ventura did.
The trial’s fundamental gamers
The trial is within the courtroom of U.S. District Choose Arun Subramanian. He is a Columbia Regulation College graduate and former clerk for Supreme Court docket Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg who was appointed a federal decide by President Joe Biden in 2022.
The prosecution group consists of eight assistant U.S. attorneys, seven of them girls. They embody Maurene Ryan Comey, daughter of former FBI Director James Comey. She was among the many prosecutors within the trial of Ghislaine Maxwell, who was convicted of luring teenage ladies to be sexually abused by Jeffrey Epstein.
Combs’ group of seven protection attorneys is led by New York lawyer Marc Agnifilo, who alongside together with his spouse Karen Friedman Agnifilo, can be defending Luigi Mangione, the person accused of the homicide of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
Additionally on the protection group is Atlanta lawyer Brian Metal, who represented Younger Thug in a trial that went on for practically two years earlier than the rapper pleaded responsible to gang, drug and gun costs.
Diddy’s court docket look
Combs, 55, has been held at a federal jail in Brooklyn since his September arrest. His previously jet black hair is now virtually fully grey as a result of dye isn’t allowed at detention heart.
Combs, who had his personal trend line, has worn yellow jail uniforms in pretrial hearings.
However for the trial, the decide mentioned he can have as much as 5 button-down shirts, 5 pairs of pants, 5 sweaters, 5 pairs of socks and two pairs of footwear with out laces.
Beneath federal court docket guidelines, no photographs or video of the trial can be allowed. Courtroom sketches are permitted.
What we cannot hear on the trial
Since 2023, dozens of lady and males have been submitting lawsuits in opposition to Combs claiming that he sexually or bodily abused them. Lots of these folks mentioned they had been slipped medicine at occasions hosted by Combs and had been abused whereas they had been incapacitated.
Combs has denied all the allegations by means of his attorneys.
A few of these lawsuits have claimed that different celebrities had been both current for or participated within the abuse.
The nice majority of these allegations, nonetheless, aren’t a part of the legal case. Prosecutors have chosen to deal with a comparatively small variety of accusers and allegations the place there may be bodily proof or corroboration by witnesses.
