NEW YORK— Hip-hop impresario Sean “Diddy” Combs as soon as administered like a royal prince over his White Events in the Hamptons, drawing in A-list stars, chatter writers and professional photographers. However at a test beginning Monday, district attorneys will certainly cast the artist as a criminal sex-related deviant that manipulated his popularity to abuse ladies at events held way out of public sight.
For over 20 years, district attorneys affirm, the Bad Young boy Records creator made use of the power and status he had actually obtained in constructing a hip-hop realm to damage young lives.
He encounters a charge that consists of summaries of “Fanatic Offs,” drugged-up orgies in which ladies were required to make love with male sex employees while Combs recorded them.
Various witnesses have actually stepped forward to implicate Combs of intimidating individuals right into silence by choking, striking, kicking and dragging them, typically by the hair, district attorneys claim. As soon as, the charge affirms, he also hung a person from a veranda.
Combs’ legal representatives compete district attorneys are attempting to cops consensual sex.
And while Combs, 55, has actually recognized one episode of physical violence– the caught-on-camera pounding of his previous sweetheart, R&B vocalist Cassie– his legal representatives claim various other claims are incorrect.
Court option is set up to start Monday at a government court house in Manhattan. Statement will likely begin the complying with week.
If founded guilty on all fees, that include racketeering conspiracy theory, sex trafficking, and carrying individuals throughout state lines to participate in hooking, Combs encounters a feasible sentence of years behind bars.
Examination complied with Cassie lawsuit
Although loads of males and females have actually affirmed in claims that Combs abused them, this test will certainly highlight the cases of 4 ladies.
Among them is Cassie, that submitted a claim in late 2023 claiming Combs had actually subjected her to years of misuse, consisting of poundings and rape after they satisfied in 2005.
The Associated Press does not normally call individuals that claim they have actually been sexually mistreated unless they step forward openly, as Cassie, whose lawful name is Casandra Ventura, did.
Her suit, which provided the very first public account of the Fanatic Offs defined in the charge, was worked out in a day. 4 months later on, however, government private investigators plundered Combs homes in Los Angeles and Miami and faced him at a personal airport terminal in Florida, confiscating 96 digital gadgets. They likewise located 3 AR-15-style rifles with ruined identification numbers.
The three-time Grammy victor was prosecuted last September. He has actually given that been kept in a government prison in Brooklyn after courts ruled that he would certainly be a risk to daunt witnesses and sufferers if launched.
The 17-page charge versus Combs implicates him of utilizing workers of his service ventures– consisting of document tags, a recording workshop, a clothing line, an alcoholic spirits business, an advertising and marketing firm, a tv network and a media business– to promote his criminal offenses via acts that consisted of kidnapping, arson and bribery.
District attorneys prepare to reveal jurors take a trip documents, sms message and e-mails, resort documents and video clips to supplement statement and sustain their cases regarding what they call “Fanatic Off task.”
Jurors will certainly likewise see safety and security electronic camera video clip revealing Combs boxing, kicking and afterwards dragging Cassie in the corridor of a Los Angeles resort in 2016.
After the video clip broadcast on CNN in 2014, Combs said sorry, claiming, “I take complete duty for my activities because video clip. I was ashamed after that when I did it. I’m ashamed currently.”
Defense states Fanatic Offs were consensual
Combs’ lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, stated at a bond hearing that Combs composed “a huge check” to Cassie after she submitted her suit. The legal representative stated the payment encouraged others ahead onward with incorrect cases.
Agnifilo stated Combs was “not an ideal individual” which there had actually been substance abuse and harmful connections, yet he stated the rap artist was going through treatment prior to his apprehension.
He stated Cassie and Combs remained in a 10-year connection that was “really caring sometimes” and occasionally selected to bring a 3rd individual right into their affection.
” That was their point,” he stated. “It was a popular, unique component of their connection.”
The test is not Combs’ very first. In 2001, he was acquitted of bringing a prohibited pistol right into a congested Manhattan dancing club where 3 individuals were injured by shooting. A rap artist in Combs’ entourage, Jamal Barrow, that did under the name Shyne, was founded guilty in the capturing and offered virtually 9 years behind bars.
At a pretrial seminar Thursday, Combs verified to a court that he declined an appeal deal that would certainly have brought a lower charge than what he could deal with if he is founded guilty at his approaching test.
Right before he left the court room after the hearing, he certainly trembled his clenched fist airborne.
Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All legal rights scheduled. This product might not be released, program, reworded or rearranged without consent.
