Sean “Diddy” Combs and his protection lawyer Marc Agnifilo stand earlier than U.S. Justice of the Peace Decide Robyn Tarnofsky after prosecutors introduced three felony prices towards him in federal court docket within the Manhattan borough of New York Metropolis, U.S., September 17, 2024 on this courtroom sketch.
Jane Rosenberg | Reuters
Sean “Diddy” Combs used his fame as one of many greatest names in hip-hop to coerce ladies into partaking in demeaning intercourse acts as a part of a long-running scheme of intercourse trafficking and racketeering, in keeping with a three-count federal indictment unsealed on Tuesday.
Combs, 54, used the enterprise empire he managed, together with his document label Dangerous Boy Leisure, to move ladies, in addition to male intercourse employees, throughout state strains to participate in recorded sexual performances referred to as “Freak Offs” by which the music mogul would watch and masturbate, prosecutors mentioned.
Carrying a black T-shirt and grey sweatpants, Combs pleaded not responsible earlier than U.S. Justice of the Peace Decide Robyn Tarnofsky in Manhattan. The choose is anticipated to determine whether or not Combs, who was arrested on Monday, ought to stay in custody pending trial.
The rapper and producer faces a compulsory minimal 15-year jail sentence and as much as life behind bars if convicted of the three felony counts: racketeering conspiracy, intercourse trafficking and transportation to interact in prostitution.
Combs was led into the courtroom by members of the U.S. marshals service. Sitting on the protection desk, Combs spoke briefly with lawyer Marc Agnifilo and nodded. Combs regarded to his proper, the place the Midtown Manhattan skyline was seen by means of an open window from the twenty sixth flooring courtroom, then sighed and regarded down.
Additionally identified throughout his profession as P. Diddy and Puff Daddy, Combs based Dangerous Boy data and is credited with serving to flip rappers and R&B singers comparable to Mary J. Blige, Religion Evans, Infamous B.I.G. and Usher into stars within the Nineteen Nineties and 2000s.
U.S. Legal professional Damian Williams factors at a chart, throughout a press convention to announce the unsealing of an indictment charging music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs in Manhattan after Combs was arrested by federal brokers in New York Metropolis, New York, U.S., September 17, 2024.
Shannon Stapleton | Reuters
Prosecutors accused Combs of working a felony enterprise to facilitate his exploitation of ladies, courting again not less than 16 years, in a case introduced by the workplace of Manhattan U.S. Legal professional Damian Williams.
Protection legal professionals are searching for Combs’ launch on $50 million bond secured by his Miami house.
Agnifilo acknowledged that Combs has a historical past of drug use and poisonous relationships, and mentioned he was getting therapy and remedy for “issues he wants therapy and remedy for,” with out going into specifics.
Prosecutor Christy Slavik, arguing for continued detention, informed the choose that 12 witnesses had both seen Combs have interaction in violence towards ladies or had seen ladies’s accidents attributable to him.
“The defendant Sean Combs bodily and sexually abused victims for many years,” Slavik mentioned in making an attempt to influence the choose to maintain him detained. “He’s extraordinarily harmful to the group.”
Slavik mentioned Combs posed a danger of obstructing justice if launched, saying he had contacted witnesses who acquired grand jury subpoenas, together with one sufferer.
Sean “Diddy” Combs stands earlier than U.S. Justice of the Peace Decide Robyn Tarnofsky after prosecutors introduced three felony prices towards him in federal court docket within the Manhattan borough of New York Metropolis, U.S., September 17, 2024 on this courtroom sketch.
Jane Rosenberg | Reuters
Engaging victims
In line with the indictment, Combs enticed ladies by giving them medication comparable to ketamine and ecstasy, monetary assist, or guarantees of profession assist or a romantic relationship. Combs then used surreptitious recordings of the intercourse acts as “collateral” to make sure that the ladies would stay silent, and generally displayed weapons to intimidate abuse victims and witnesses, prosecutors mentioned.
Williams informed a press convention that his workplace “is set to analyze and prosecute anybody who engages in intercourse trafficking, irrespective of how highly effective or rich or well-known chances are you’ll be.”
The indictment didn’t specify what number of ladies had been alleged victims. It contained no allegation that Combs himself immediately engaged in undesirable sexual contact with ladies, although he was accused of assaulting them by punching, kicking, dragging and throwing objects.
Combs is the highest-profile music trade determine charged with sexual misconduct since R&B singer R. Kelly was sentenced to a mixed 31 years in jail after being convicted in New York in 2021 and Chicago in 2022 intercourse trafficking, racketeering, little one intercourse crimes and different counts.
His profession and repute have been marred over the previous yr. Final November, his former girlfriend Casandra Ventura, an R&B singer often called Cassie, accused him in a lawsuit of serial bodily abuse, sexual slavery and rape. She agreed to an undisclosed settlement someday after suing. Combs denied her allegations.
Lawyer for Sean Combs, Marc Agnifilo, speaks exterior U.S. District Court docket on September 17, 2024 in New York Metropolis.
John Lamparski | Getty Photographs
Prosecutors mentioned Combs and his associates used bribery and violence comparable to arson and kidnapping to attempt to preserve his conduct secret.
In a March 2016 incident that resembles Cassie’s description of his alleged assault, prosecutors mentioned Combs was captured on a lodge safety video hanging and dragging a girl making an attempt to depart a “Freak Off.” Combs then supplied a stack of money to a lodge safety officer who intervened, prosecutors mentioned.
In 2011, Combs and a co-conspirator kidnapped an individual at gun level to facilitate a break in, prosecutors mentioned. Two weeks later, Combs’ co-conspirators set a automobile on hearth, and he later bragged about his position within the arson, prosecutors mentioned.
Prosecutors mentioned Combs’ workers helped prepare the “Freak Offs” by reserving lodge rooms and shopping for managed substances and different objects used throughout intercourse, in keeping with the indictment.
Throughout raids of his properties in Los Angeles and Miami Seashore, Florida six months in the past, authorities discovered medication and 1,000 bottles of child oil and lubricant, together with AR-15 rifles with defaced serial numbers, the indictment mentioned.
The following listening to within the case was set for Sept. 24.
Homeland Safety Investigation brokers load a field right into a automobile on the entrance of US producer and musician Sean “Diddy” Combs’s house at Star Island in Miami Seashore on March 25, 2024.
Giorgio Viera | Afp | Getty Photographs
