Nearly a month since Sean “Diddy” Combs was arrested and charged with sex trafficking and racketeering, a judge has set a trial date for May 5, 2025.
Southern District of New York prosecutors told U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian on Thursday that they expected they would need three weeks to present their case, but emphasized their investigation was ongoing, noting that a superseding indictment was “very much a possibility.”
Combs has been held without bail since his Sept. 16 arrest, with prosecutors accusing Combs in a three-count indictment of using his billion dollar empire as a “criminal enterprise” to commit a range of offenses, including “sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice.”
The 54-year-old has maintained his innocence and pleaded not guilty to the charges. If convicted, he stands to face up to 15 years to life in prison.
The once formidable Bad Boy Entertainment founder looked slightly grayed, wearing beige jail clothes when he appeared in federal criminal court on Thursday afternoon. But Combs immediately perked up and flashed a smile upon seeing members of his family in the packed courtroom, including his mother Janice and his brood of children, sons Quincy Brown, Justin and Christian, his daughters Chance and twins Jessie and D’Lila. At one point, he blew them kisses.
The hearing was primarily to hash out how SDNY prosecutors and the defense would handle sharing the “voluminous” amount of discovery in the case. Prosecutors say they have “several terabytes” of data that came from 96 electronic devices that were seized during the March raids on Combs’ homes. They also indicated they have collected electronic material from third parties, obtained business and law enforcement records, as well as possessing documents obtained through search warrants.
Combs’ attorney Marc Agnifilo also requested for an evidentiary hearing to address what he described as “leaks” to the press from federal agents, taking issue with anonymous statements made to the media about prosecutors’ investigation. Agnifilo highlighted CNN obtaining hotel surveillance footage of Combs attacking his ex-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura in 2016, saying it has “led to damaging, highly prejudicial pretrial publicity that can only taint the jury pool and deprive Mr. Combs of his right to a fair trial.”
While the trial is still months away, Combs is desperate to be released from the Metropolitan Detention Center. He is currently being held in a special housing unit, where he bunked with crypto fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried who was sentenced to 25 years in prison in March.
Two judges have already denied Combs’ release, siding with SDNY prosecutors who argued that he presented a danger to the community amid significant concerns that Combs or his associates would contact victims and witnesses.
Agnifilo and co-attorney Teny Geragos filed an appeal to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Tuesday night, highlighting the lengths Combs went prior to his arrest to demonstrate that he was willing to cooperate with the government, such as turning over his passport and coming to New York City to voluntarily surrender.
They laid out the terms of Combs’ sizable $50 million bail package, which includes GPS monitoring at his Miami mansion and no access to the internet or a phone. They also emphasized that Combs would have no contact with women, his employees or anyone who could be a witness in the trial.
On Thursday, a judge denied Combs’ request for immediate release while the matter was being decided by a three-judge panel.
The indictment closely mirrored the November 2023 civil complaint filed by Ventura, who claimed that throughout their decade-long relationship, Combs physically beat her and forced her to have sex with male sex workers. (Combs vehemently denied her accusations, only admitting to one instance of physical abuse in May when a hotel surveillance showed him kicking and dragging Ventura in 2016.)
Although Ventura’s suit was settled within 24 hours, it sparked a domino effect, with more than a dozen other lawsuits filed against Combs and his alleged associates in the past 11 months. The lawsuits come from former Bad Boy artist, Danity Kane member Dawn Richard, music producer Rodney “Lil Rod” Jones, and women who met Combs in the 1990s and as recently as 2020. Combs has maintained his innocence and denied their allegations.
Still, there could be more civil lawsuits on the horizon. Prominent Houston attorney Tony Buzbee announced earlier this month that he was representing more than 120 clients with claims against Combs and his associates, including accusers who were minors at the time of the alleged encounters.
From Rolling Stone US
