Embattled music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs has entered a not responsible plea to a broadened federal indictment that now consists of 5 prison fees, amongst them racketeering and intercourse trafficking.
On Monday, April 14, 2025, the 55-year-old rapper appeared earlier than U.S. District Decide Arun Subramanian in Manhattan, the place he formally responded to the up to date fees. He had already pleaded not responsible to an earlier three-count indictment tied to the identical case.
In a beforehand issued assertion from Combs’ media workforce, his attorneys maintained his innocence, asserting, “These are usually not new allegations or new accusers. These are the identical people, former long-term girlfriends, who had been concerned in consensual relationships.”
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Regardless of the heightened fees, the trial continues to be slated to proceed on its unique schedule, with jury choice set to start on Could 5 and opening arguments scheduled for Could 12.
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Protection legal professional Marc Agnifilo informed the court docket the authorized workforce could request a two-week delay for opening statements to permit time to overview emails they’re in search of from one of many alleged victims.
Decide Subramanian acknowledged the chance however warned the method wouldn’t decelerate calmly. “We’re a freight prepare shifting in direction of trial,” he stated, requiring that any request for a delay be submitted inside 48 hours.
Based on federal prosecutors from the U.S. Legal professional’s Workplace in Manhattan, Combs allegedly used the facility and attain of his leisure empire to use and sexually abuse girls from 2004 to 2024.
The accusations embrace coercing girls into collaborating in orchestrated sexual acts—known as “freak offs”—which had been usually recorded and generally concerned male intercourse staff transported throughout state traces.
Combs, who has been held at a detention facility in Brooklyn since September, additionally faces quite a few civil lawsuits introduced by each men and women alleging sexual abuse.
READ ALSO: New fees added to Sean “Diddy” Combs’ federal indictment
His protection workforce continues to disclaim all wrongdoing, sustaining that any sexual encounters had been consensual. Agnifilo has particularly pushed again towards the trafficking fees, asserting that Combs “by no means compelled anybody to interact in sexual acts towards their will,” and reiterating that the so-called “freak offs” had been voluntary.
Identified variously all through his profession as Puff Daddy and P. Diddy, Combs rose to fame because the founding father of Dangerous Boy Data, a label instrumental in launching the careers of music icons corresponding to Mary J. Blige, Religion Evans, Infamous B.I.G., and Usher throughout the Nineteen Nineties and 2000s.
Prosecutors, nevertheless, argue that Combs’ public picture masked a much more sinister actuality. They cited a 2016 incident during which he was caught on surveillance footage allegedly kicking, dragging, and hurling a vase at a lady trying to go away a Los Angeles lodge room.
A separate and broadly broadcast CNN video from final 12 months captured Combs putting and dragging singer Casandra Ventura, higher referred to as Cassie, who was as soon as his girlfriend.
Sean “Diddy” Combs issued a public apology following the video’s launch. Agnifilo, in response, acknowledged the connection’s volatility however denied the incident amounted to trafficking. He characterised their connection as “a poisonous, loving 11-year relationship.”
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