Sean “Diddy” Combs appeared in court Friday to plead not guilty to two new superseding indictments that were unveiled against him in January and earlier this month.
The 55-year-old’s normally dark hair was fully grey alongside a greying cropped beard he had grown since his arrest last September. As he entered the Manhattan federal courtroom, Combs smiled at his son Christian and daughter Chance, later giving a small wave to his mother Janice, who turned up halfway through the hour-long hearing.
Combs spoke confidently as he addressed U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian, marking the first time he directly spoke to the court after he was arraigned in September on sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution charges. He pleaded not guilty.
The Bad Boy Entertainment founder acknowledged he had read and was briefed on the two new indictments, which expanded the alleged offenses committed under the racketeering conspiracy charge. Prosecutors added two more alleged female victims to the case and accused Combs of forced labor and abusive treatment of his employees.
Friday’s court hearing largely hashed out scheduling issues ahead of the May 5 trial. Subramanian ruled that jury questionnaires would begin to be administered on April 28, voir dire process — a major part of jury selection — on May 5, and opening statements would take place on Monday, May 12.
Prosecutors wanted to begin the jury selection process early on Monday, April 21, in the goal that opening arguments can begin on the trial’s slated start date of May 5. Anticipating roughly an eight-week trial — six weeks for prosecutors and two for defense — prosecutors noted their concern that any delay to their proposed schedule would cause the trial to stretch past the July 4th holiday weekend, which in turn could impact the potential jury pool.
Meanwhile, Combs’ defense team wanted the jury selection to start May 5th and to tentatively have opening arguments on May 13. They recommended that two sets of 300 potential jurors — 600 in total — complete written questionnaires over the course of two days. Those responses would be collected and reviewed as both parties whittle the enormous pool of people down to just 12 jurors and a handful of alternates.
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Combs’ defense team also brought up their issue of hotel security footage that shows Combs physically attacking his ex-girlfriend Casandra “Cassie” Ventura in a hotel in 2016. The footage was aired by CNN last May.
Prosecutors admitted they were planning to use the footage as an exhibit at trial, with multiple witnesses speaking about the event. But Combs’ team claimed CNN had “substantially altered [the footage] in significant respects” and had “destroyed the original footage.” (A spokesperson for CNN denied the original footage was destroyed to TMZ. “CNN never altered the video and did not destroy the original copy of the footage, which was retained by the source. CNN aired the story about the video several months before Combs was arrested.”) Judge Subramanian did not make a ruling on the use of the footage at trial.
Prosecutors have accused Combs of using his billion-dollar empire as a “criminal enterprise” to commit a range of offenses, according to the indictments, including “sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice” from 2004 to 2024. Painting a picture of a dangerous and abusive man, prosecutors claim Combs forced romantic partners to submit to his will and engage in freak-offs with hired male sex workers through manipulation, coercion, threats and violence.
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“Mr. Combs has said it before and will say it again: he vehemently denies the accusations made by the SDNY,” Combs’ lead defense attorney Marc Agnifilo said in a previous statement to Rolling Stone. “He looks forward to his day in court when it will become clear that he has never forced anyone to engage in sexual acts against their will.”
Although the government has not named any of the victims or witnesses in the case, it is clear Ventura is considered Victim-1 in the case. The original September indictment closely followed the accusations that Ventura leveled against Combs in her explosive sexual abuse lawsuit from November 2023. The R&B singer alleged that throughout her decade-long relationship with her Bad Boy label boss, she was physically beaten and forced to consume narcotics while having sex with male sex workers. Combs denied her allegations and the lawsuit was settled within 24 hours.
The two superseding indictments broadened the scope of prosecutors’ investigation, dating the timeframe of the alleged conspiracy back to at least 2004. (The prior start date was 2008.) Prosecutors added a Victim-2 and Victim-3 to the case, alleging Combs forced an additional two women into commercial sex acts with male sex workers. “The government has added the ridiculous theory that two of Mr. Combs’ former girlfriends were not girlfriends at all but were prostitutes,” Agnifilo previously said.
Prosecutors also claim Combs once “dangled a victim over a hotel balcony,” seemingly a reference to designer Bryana “Bana” Bongolan, a creative who sued Combs in November. In her lawsuit, Bongolan — who was close friends with Ventura —claims an irate Combs dangled her over Ventura’s 17th-floor balcony in September 2016 while screaming at her.
The government also included Combs’ alleged forced labor and abusive treatment of employees who worked across his multiple businesses. He is accused of maintaining control over certain employees’ lives by leading them to “believe they would be harmed.” With respect to one staffer, Combs “used physical force, physiological harm, financial harm, reputational harm and/or threats of the same to cause the employee to engage in sex acts with Combs,” a March indictment alleges.
Agnifilo said there were plenty of former employees who would vouch for their boss. “Many former employees stand by his side, prepared to attest to the dedication, hard work, and inspiration they experienced while helping build groundbreaking, award-winning businesses,” he said.
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As Combs prepares for trial, his defense attorneys have declared that he is coming to court a changed man. They claimed he’d sought professional help and gone to rehab years prior to address his substance-use issues. However, a Rolling Stone investigation from January found Combs was still volatile, still taking mood-altering substances, and was still allegedly sexually abusive. More than a dozen people have claimed that Combs physically attacked, drugged, and/or sexually assaulted them between 2016 and 2024. Combs’ former executive assistant, Phil Pines, detailed how he was forced to work constantly, which deteriorated his mental health.
“It’s bullshit,” said Nathan, a sex worker who claimed he was hired for several of Combs’ “freak-offs.” “He’s not reformed. He just wanted to get out of jail. He’s the same person.”
