Sean “Diddy” Combs appeared in a New York federal court on Friday regarding his upcoming sex trafficking trial.
NBC News reported that Combs’ lawyers have requested jury selection to commence on May 5 and 6. Combs himself appeared in court to formally enter a plea of not guilty to an updated indictment. This new indictment alleges that he was involved in an incident where he held a woman over a balcony, among other offenses dating back to 2004.
READ: Another Indictment Filed Against Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs in Sex Trafficking Case
Back on September 16, 2024, Combs was taken into custody outside a hotel in Manhattan. He faced federal charges related to activities such as racketeering, sex trafficking, and arranging for individuals to engage in prostitution. Despite his efforts, Combs has been unsuccessful in securing bail on two separate occasions. Judge Andrew L. Carter expressed concerns about potential witness interference, deeming it a significant risk in this case.
Combs’ legal team sought home detention with GPS monitoring. In exchange, they offered to post $50 million bail and to use Combs’ home as collateral.
In a clear statement, Judge Carter articulated his decision to deny Combs bail for a second time. He emphasized that the government had convincingly demonstrated that Combs poses a danger. Furthermore, he found the proposed bail conditions to be inadequate, especially in terms of addressing the potential risk of Combs fleeing the jurisdiction.
In March 2024, federal authorities raided Combs’ homes in Holmby Hills, California, and Miami. Reports indicated that the raid was connected to an ongoing sex trafficking investigation that resulted in his arrest months later.
The reported raids also occurred four months after his ex-girlfriend, R&B singer Cassie Ventura, accused him of sex trafficking and abuse. In a multimillion-dollar lawsuit, she alleged that Combs drugged her and forced her to have sex with other men. The pair settled the lawsuit a day after its filing.
However, in May, a video surfaced showing Combs assaulting Ventura at a California hotel in 2016. After the video was released, Combs put out a video expressing remorse for his behavior. That video is mentioned in the criminal charges filed this week against Combs.
Two more accusers came forward a week after Ventura’s lawsuit. One of the women claimed Combs drugged and raped her at Syracuse University in New York in 1991. Combs denied those allegations before a third accuser, Liza Gardner, levied similar allegations against him.
In that case, Gardner claimed Combs and singer-songwriter Aaron Hall drugged and raped her and a friend following an Uptown Records event in 1990. Gardner said she was 16 at the time of the incident. She also accused Combs of choking her a day after the assault
Days after footage of the 2016 assault was publicized, two more women filed lawsuits against Combs. One of those women was April Lampros, a New York Fashion Institute of Technology student who reportedly met Combs in 1994. Lampros accused Combs of sexually assaulting her on four occasions between the mid-1990s and the early 2000s.
Lampros claimed Combs promised to mentor her and connect her with executives in the fashion industry. Instead, Combs allegedly forced her to drink before raping her in a hotel room. Lampros recalled another instance in which Combs forced her to perform oral sex on her in a parking garage while a parking attendant watched.
Combs has been accused of committing or facilitating sexual abuse in at least 30 other lawsuits — including one, filed in October, which alleges he and Jay-Z raped a 13-year-old girl in New York in 2000. The accuser in that case had her lawsuit dismissed in February.
[Feature Photo: Mark Von Holden/Invision/AP, File]
