What Happened with Sean “Diddy” Combs Sex-Trafficking Case Today

When Sean “Diddy” Combs walked into a Manhattan federal courtroom just after 2 p.m. on Friday for an arraignment on revamped charges in his sex-trafficking case, the rapper looked dramatically different from his prior court proceedings. His hair and beard were silvery gray, and he appeared to have gained weight since his arrest last summer. Despite the change in appearance, Combs carried himself with the nonchalance of a man who was not staring down decades behind bars. When Judge Arun Subramanian asked Combs whether he wanted the new indictment to be read aloud in court, the rapper responded, “I’m fine.” He pleaded not guilty to the new indictment against him.

In the revamped indictment released on March 6, Combs was accused of controlling some employees by forcing them to work grueling hours with minimal sleep and using threats to keep them in check. Back in late January, prosecutors listed two more accusers, identified as “Victim-2” and “Victim-3,” who claim to have been lured into sex acts by the disgraced music mogul. They also said that “on one occasion, Combs dangled a victim over an apartment balcony.” With the help of his staff, Combs allegedly used his powerful business empire to create a “criminal enterprise” that enabled his alleged manipulation of women into sexual performances with male sex workers. Civil lawsuits against Combs also accuse him of sexual abuse against boys and men.

Combs, 55, was arrested on September 16, 2024, amid numerous accusations of sexual abuse and trafficking. In court papers and proceedings, prosecutors have detailed what they describe as a decadeslong history of alleged misconduct. They claim the Bad Boy Records founder “abused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct.” Prosecutors allege that Combs kept women under his thumb with drugs and threats, enabled by his vast financial resources. After these women fell into his deceptive orbit — frequently under the belief that their interactions with him constituted a romantic relationship — Combs purportedly forced them to partake in events called “freak offs,” prosecutors said. These freak offs amounted to “elaborate and produced sex performances that Combs arranged, directed, masturbated during, and often electronically recorded.” Cassie Ventura — whose now-settled November 2023 lawsuit against Combs, her former partner, set the stage for others to take legal action against him and, ultimately, the criminal case — is known as “Victim-1” in the federal proceedings. Combs, who has been jailed since his arrest, maintains his innocence.

With a trial fast approaching — openings are scheduled to start on May 12 — Combs’s attorneys are fighting a key piece of prosecution evidence in Ventura’s allegations: a video of Combs attacking her in a hotel hallway. Defense attorney Marc Agnifilo claimed that CNN, which first published the footage, had sped up and spliced it in a misleading manner. “It’s a piece of evidence that is deceptive, that is not in accordance with the actions that took place,” Agnifilo said. “It’s a deceptive piece of evidence; it’s a piece of evidence that might have changed.” Agnifilo also claimed CNN had deleted the original footage, though the network has denied these claims. Subramanian suggested the defense and prosecution discuss their concerns surrounding the video.

If Agnifilo did show prosecutors that the recording had been sped up, the judge suggested, “a possible solution would [be] to slow it down and put it in the right sequence … such that what went in before the jury would be, in your view, an accurate portrayal of what the video was.” The judge also remarked, “I’m hearing an openness to coming to a compromise to avoid some of the issues that you’ve raised.”

The afternoon’s proceeding wrapped in a little less than an hour and, aside from the not-guilty plea, was largely confined to housekeeping matters such as filings. Combs stood by in court for the remainder of his arraignment and blew kisses to his family as he left.

Related

• A Guide to the Many Lawsuits Against Diddy
• Diddy Now Accused of ‘Forced Labor’ in Sex-Trafficking Scheme