Diddy Combs sex trafficking trial set to begin in May 2025
Music mogul, Sean “Diddy” Combs will stand trial on federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges starting on May 5, 2025, a U.S. judge decided on Thursday, October 10.
Combs appeared in Manhattan federal court Thursday in front of Judge Arun Subramanian. His family, including his mother and six of his children, were in attendance.
Combs, wearing an all-tan prison outfit, smiled and waved at family as he walked in and hugged his attorneys.
Combs, 54, pleaded not guilty on Sept. 17 to a three-count indictment charging him with using his business empire including legendary record label Bad Boy Entertainment – to transport women and male sex workers across state lines to take part in recorded sexual performances called “Freak Offs.”
U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian set the trial date at a hearing in Manhattan federal court.
Prosecutor Emily Johnson told the court the prosecution’s case would last at least three weeks. Combs’ defense case will last around one week, defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo said.
Combs has been jailed at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since his arrest. His appeal of another judge’s decision to deny him bail is pending.
The rapper and producer faces a sentence of up to life in prison and a minimum of 15 years if convicted of the three counts he faces: racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prosecution.
Prosecutors said Combs enticed women by giving them drugs such as ketamine and ecstasy, financial support or promises of career support or a romantic relationship.
Combs then used the surreptitious recordings of the sex acts as “collateral” to ensure that the women would remain silent, and sometimes displayed weapons to intimidate abuse victims and witnesses, prosecutors said.
The indictment contained no allegation that Combs himself directly engaged in unwanted sexual contact with women, though he was accused of physically assaulting them.