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2 days ago
- Entertainment
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Diddy Pardon: Donald Trump 'Certainly' Would Consider Clemency For Sean Combs As Old Pal Faces Sex-Trafficking Trial & Life Behind Bars
Sean 'Diddy' Combs is facing life behind bars if found guilty in his sex-trafficking trial, but old pal Donald Trump today hinted he could prove the 'All About the Benjamins' performer's pardoning guardian angel – maybe. 'I would certainly look at the facts if I think somebody was mistreated, whether they like me or don't like me,' Trump said in the Oval Office when asked if he would pardon the currently under trial Diddy. 'It wouldn't have any impact on me,' Trump added, teasing the situation out as he loves to do. More from Deadline Artificial Intelligence Influencers To Get D.C.'s Acclaim At The AI Honors Ceremony "I Didn't Want To Die Or Get Hurt" Sean "Diddy" Combs' Ex-Aide Says Of Not Telling Anyone About Rapes By Bad Boy Records Founder Donald Trump Urges Judge Not To Dismiss CBS '60 Minutes' Lawsuit As Paramount And POTUS Teams Talk Settlement Listening to his defense lawyer Brian Steel cross-exam his former personal assistant 'Mia,' Combs was in court in New York City today as he has been at almost every hearing since being arrested last fall and since this criminal trial started on May 12. Facing off against the tumultuous but powerful U.S. Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York, the much-accused Combs is up against on racketeering, sex trafficking, transportation to engage in prostitution and more, charges. Just a few feet away from Combs himself and the jury of eight men and four women, 'Mia' told the lower Manhattan courtroom that she was raped multiple times by the Bad Boy Records founder. That testimony is very similar to that of previous witness and ex-Combs girlfriend Cassie Ventura, who spoke at grueling length on the violence and filmed sex marathon 'freak-offs' she says she was forced to participate in over the couple's decade long relationship. Like other witness in the trial, 'Mia' also spoke of watching Combs beat, abuse and manipulate Ventura, as he did to many of the people in his orbit. Insisting that 'no one has asked' for a pardon for Combs yet, Trump went on to say 'I know people are thinking about it.' With a nod to the increasing rumors of outreach from Combs' crew to Trump's team, the former Apprentice host added: 'I know they're thinking about it. I think people have been very close to asking.' Always one to reward friends, armed supporters and donors, Trump recently gave pardons to Todd and Julie Chrisley, the reality show stars who were sentenced in 2022 after fraud and tax evasion convictions. 'I'd look at what's happening, and I haven't been watching it too closely, although it's certainly getting a lot of coverage,' Trump stated Friday at the White House of the intensively profiled Diddy trial. 'I haven't seen him. I haven't seen him. I haven't spoken to him in years. He used to really like me a lot, but I think when I ran for politics, sort of that relationship busted up.' Other than the Combs question, facing a just published New York Times expose of Elon Musk's ketamine and other drug use, Trump's Oval Office farewell to his top donor and Department of Government Efficiency chief became another freewheeling exercise in deflection and softballs. To put that exercise in perspective, when querried about the Gray Lady's story that last year on the campaign trail stumping for Trump, the world's richest man had been 'using drugs far more intensely than previously known,' Musk flipped the question to an attack on the NYT. Mocking the paper over its investigative coverage of Vladimir Putin and Russia's interference in the 2016 Presidential election and more and a recent court ruling over their Pulitzer Prize on the topic. Musk quipped: 'That New York Times? Let's move on.' And the press corp did, with no one asking a follow up question. With questions about martial advice for French President Emmanuel Macron and Joe Biden's mental state from a carefully curated press pool, the softballs represented a clear example the squeeze the media has gotten from this White House and the injection of MAGA supporting outlets. The few serious questions about tariffs, banning foreign students in Ivy League universities, the war in Ukraine, and a Middle East ceasefire got short shrift from Trump and Musk and more partisan rhetoric. Covered live by all the cable news networks and streamed on multiple feeds on multiple platforms, Trump and Musk's mutual admiration club saw POTUS seated at the Resolute desk reading in great part from a binder in front of him while the SpaceX boss loomed over Trump in his traditional all-black uniform with 'Dogefather' t-shirt and a MAGA ballcap uniform. Starting a bit later than its scheduled 1:30 p.m. ET time, the bulk of the presser was more a meandering Trump monologue of half-truths, outright lies and falsehoods, the 'rigged' 2020 election, Biden autopen and the usual greatest hits, with some Oval Office redecoration praise tossed in from a fast and loose with the facts Musk. About to hit the deadline on his time as an official advisor to Trump, Musk announced earlier this week he would leave his controversial role in the administration to refocus on his stock market and sales huritng businesses. Under regulations around financial disclosure and more, an individual like Musk can only serve as special government employees a period not exceeding 130 days per year. Perceived to be crossing the line ethically with benefits to his companies from his administration position and close proximity to Trump, Musk's chainsaw approach became the opposite of an exercise in cost saving and a clown show in execution. Promising to save the taxpayers up to $2 trillion dollars, Musk and his DOGE crew claimed in the end to bring in around $175 billion. More than a few analysts actually pegged the number at closer to $16 billion. Not chump change on any level, but a number dwarfed by the estimated expenditures of Trump and Project 2025 to add up to $5 trillion to the already ballooning federal deficit Even today, Musk swore that DOGE would cut and save $1 trillion from the federal government. Combs' trial is expected to last another four weeks. Working on a 9 a.m. – 3 p.m. ET daily schedule, with wiggle room to go an hour longer here and there if required, Judge Arun Subramanian has promised the jury they will be done by July 4 – exactly when a round of Independence Day pardons could be coming from Trump. Best of Deadline 2025-26 Awards Season Calendar: Dates For Tonys, Emmys, Oscars & More Everything We Know About Netflix's 'The Thursday Murder Club' So Far 2025 TV Series Renewals: Photo Gallery
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Kid Cudi To Testify Thursday In Sean 'Diddy' Combs' Sex-Trafficking Trial About Threats Against Him & Cassie Ventura
It's not exactly the rap battle anyone ever likely envisioned, but May 22 will see Sean 'Diddy' Combs and Kid Cudi going head-to-head as the Happy Gilmore 2 star gives testimony in the Bad Boy Records founder's sex-trafficking trial. Kid Cudi (a.k.a. Scott Mescudi) will take the stand in Judge Arun Subramanian's lower Manhattan courtroom on Thursday, prosecutors confirmed today. More from Deadline Violent & Jealous Sean 'Diddy' Combs Demanded $20K 'Recoup', Cassie Ventura's Mother Testifies In Sex-Trafficking Trial; Family Had To Take Out Home Loan To Pay Multi-Millionaire Sean 'Diddy' Combs Sex-Trafficking Trial Updates: Cassie Ventura's Testimony, $10M Hotel Settlement, Drugs, Violence, & The Feds "Disingenuous Charade": Blake Lively Mocks Justin Baldoni's Long Delayed HR Probe Of Her Sexual Harassment Claims Starting off Wednesday's hearing before the jury was in the room by informing the judge and defense team that the 'Man on the Moon' rap star would not be testifying today, the feds unveiled at the end of the day, after the jurors had exited, that Kid Cudi would now be in the witness box on Thursday. According to Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey (Yes, as we've noted before, daughter of former FBI Director, U.S. Attorney and Trump foe James Comey), the feds expect Kid Cudi to be a brief witness. Along with the Grammy winner, the prosecution intends to call a total of five witnesses on Thursday – all to be dealt with quite quickly, they insist. RELATED: Joining the likes of Cassie Ventura, a couple of male escorts who were paid to have filmed sex with Ventura in the much-discussed 'freak-offs,' Ventura's mother and some law enforcement officials, Mescudi will be the 13th witness for the U.S. Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York in Combs' criminal case. Like every day of the trial, jury selection and pre-trial hearings, Combs was in court today, and will be tomorrow. Predicted to last eight weeks, the criminal trial of the much-accused Diddy follows his arrest last September on charges of racketeering, sex trafficking, transportation to engage in prostitution and more. Incarcerated at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since his arrest, after a trio of failed $50 million bail attempts, Diddy has always insisted he is innocent. He has taken the same position in the dozens of civil suits of abuse and assault that have been filed in the court dockets over the past several months. Rejecting a plea deal from the government, Combs could face life behind bars if found guilty in this criminal trial. RELATED: From the moment Cassie Ventura filed her very quickly settled ($20 million) abuse and assault suit against ex-boyfriend Combs in late 2023, the name of Kid Cudi has been connected to the self-described 'toxic relationship' between the 'Me & U' singer and the 'All About the Benjamins' performer. As various filings, plus testimony from Ventura and her mother have stated, the singer and Mescudi had a short romantic relationship in 2012. Along with various threats against the duo, a jealous Combs promised to blow up Kid Cudi's car in his own driveway to keep him away from Ventura. As Ventura's 2023 filing bluntly said: 'Around that time, Kid Cudi's car exploded in his driveway.' At the time, reps for Kid Cudi confirmed the car destruction from a decade before. Cudi will testify right after the jury has heard more from former Diddy executive assistant George Kaplan. In court Wednesday under the duress of a subpoena, like fellow Combs ex-EA David James who testified earlier this week, Kaplan entered the witness box around 11:45 a.m. PT. Detailing his gofer duties today to the court, Kaplan is known to have left Combs' employ after a year, in some part due to the violence he is said to have seen. Before Kaplan, this third day of the second week of Combs' May 12-starting trial heard testimony from psychologist Dawn Hughes and Homeland Security Investigations special agent Gerard Gannon. The latter was involved in the raid on Combs' Miami residence in the spring of 2024. Along with the Combs' trial, Kid Cudi will be back in lower Manhattan next month in a completely unrelated manner. Co-starring Kiernan Shipka, Brittany Snow, Haley Joel Osment, Cary Elwes and Brandon Scott, the rapper's short vampire themed film Neverland is set to have its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 7. Directed by Ti West and produced by Jordan Peele, the short is connected to Kid Cudi's latest single of the same name. Best of Deadline Everything We Know About 'Jurassic World: Rebirth' So Far 'Nine Perfect Strangers' Season 2 Release Schedule: When Do New Episodes Come Out? Everything We Know About The 'Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping' Movie So Far
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
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'There's A Lot More To That': Cassie Ventura Disputes Defense Assertion She Agreed To 'Freak-Offs' Just To Make Sean 'Diddy' Combs 'Happy'
'You and Sean Combs were in love for 11 years, right?' defense lawyer Anna Estevao poignantly asked Cassie Ventura today at the beginning of her cross-examination of the former longterm girlfriend of the 'All About the Benjamins' performer in Combs' sex-trafficking trial. After the heavily pregnant Ventura responded in the affirmative, Estevao gently added, 'You knew the Sean that he didn't want anybody else to see but you?' Ventura admitted that even though she found Combs' charismatic big personality to be'scary' when they first met, she felt she discovered the so-called 'real' Sean Combs underneath his public perpetual hypeman persona . He was 'very sweet' and 'attentive,' Ventura said, in many ways reiterating testimony she gave while under questioning from the prosecution earlier this week. More from Deadline Taylor Swift Blackmailed? Blake Lively's Lawyer Decries "Scandalous" Claims By Justin Baldoni's Team Cassie Ventura Got $20M From Sean Combs In 2023 Settlement, She Reveals In Trial Testimony - Update Cassie Ventura Breaks Down In Tears At Trial Detailing Sex Sessions & How Sean "Diddy" Combs Controlled Every Aspect Of Her Life - Update It should be noted that the feds want to paint a portrait of Combs as upstanding in the first months he and Ventura were together to illustrate how he always intended to bend the then 19-year-old singer to his will and desires. For the defense, the reasoning is clearly the opposite. Their goal is to convince the jurors that as distasteful as it could sometimes be, Ventura and Combs had a genuine relationship between complicated people with non-traditional desires and turn-ons, but with no coercive undercurrents 'To make him happy, you told him that you wanted to do 'freak-offs,'' the defense attorney queried, going to the escort and chemically enhanced sex sessions that Combs asked the often jealous Ventura to participate in about a year into their relationship that is at the core of the feds' case. 'There's a lot more to that,' Ventura said. At that point, Ventura directly asked Judge Arun Subramanian for a break in the proceedings. At the time the witness requested the pause, the court was looking at a series of explicit correspondence between Combs and Ventura. Less than 24 hours after Ventura tearfully told the jury in the high-profile trial about being raped in 2018 by Diddy after they broke up, the singer Wednesday faced what is sure to be in-depth grilling from the defense team. Setting the stage, Ventura was asked earlier Thursday if she felt that she was 'special' to the much-accused Bad Boy Records founder during the years they were together. The witness very quietly replied: 'No, I don't think I always knew.' The intricacy of Combs and Ventura's 2007 – 2018 relationship became evident when Estevao stated: 'So when he cheated on you, it really hurt?' Looking out into the packed lower Manhattan federal courtroom, the eight-months pregnant Ventura responded: 'I would say not every time.' On the fourth day of the trial, Ventura's questioning by ex-prosecutor Estevao follows a grueling day of testimony Tuesday that found the 'Me & U' singer frequently in tears, especially as she described an alleged 2018 rape by Diddy months after the couple had broken up. The assault occurred on the living room floor of Ventura's LA apartment. Combs had driven the singer home after the duo had gone for what the witness called a 'closure conversation' and pleasant dinner in Malibu. Barely holding on to her composure and asking for a break in the proceedings soon afterwards, Ventura detailed how she was screaming 'No!' and crying, but the 'eyes black' Combs didn't stop or seem to care. 'It's like someone taking something from you,' Ventura stated, while also admitting to Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Johnson that she later consensually had sex with Combs one more time after the alleged rape. In that vein, the defense Thursday quickly leaned into their primary argument that Combs and Ventura were always consenting adults and Ventura was never forced to do anything she didn't agree to, no matter how kinky or out of control their relationship was. Tho establish that stance, this morning, defense lawyer Estevao pulled up warm, gushing and also lurid emails from both Combs and Ventura from the early days of the couple's time together. Kindly in nature from the start, because there really is no other way to question Ventura right now with all she has testified so far, the cross-examination by the Marc Agnifilo, Teny Geragos and Brian Steel-led defense of Ventura is expected to continue Friday and maybe even into early next week. Probably the most important witness of the prosecution's case, Ventura was called as to testify right from the near start of the trial in part because of the advanced stage of her pregnancy. This criminal trial of Combs began in great part with his arrest last September on charges of racketeering, sex trafficking, transportation to engage in prostitution and more. If found guilty by the 12-person jury in court now, that since amended indictment could see the 55-year-old 'I'll Be Missing You' performer behind bars for the rest of his life. At the same time, with his much mentioned allegedly enabling inner circle not defendants in this case, Combs faces dozens of civil case, including one filed earlier this week that mocks the Grammy winner's genitals as it accuses him of raping a woman in his NYC apartment in July 2001. Repeatedly denied bail and incarcerated in Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center since last fall in this criminal case, Combs has also asserted he is not guilty of anything more than an unconventional lifestyle with other consenting adults, regardless of what the police, the Department of Justice, some ex-staffers, or any of his accusers say. In so many ways, with cameos of sorts by Death Row Records founder and Combs rival Suge Knight, Prince, and Ventura's short term boyfriend Kid Cudi, it was the complexity of star witness Ventura's second day of testimony on Wednesday that was so powerful. Yes, with a sweater wearing Combs, his mother and other members of his family just a few feet away in Judge Subramanian's courtroom, she revealed the $20 million settlement she received from Combs after suing him in late 2023 for abuse and assault. Yes, Ventura revealed her own infidelities and drug use in the relationship and how she entered a rehab and trauma therapy program a couple of years ago after 'spinning out' and contemplating suicide. Yes, she revealed Combs extensive threats (some of which may have borne fruition) against Cudi when Ventura was with the latter. However, devolving into what Ventura herself called 'degradation,' and injuries physical and psychological she experienced during the 11-year relationship, time and time again she still expressed the love she had for Combs despite the horrors, 'freak-offs' and relentless violence and manipulation he seemingly subjected her to. Explaining her decision to have sex with her now-ex Combs after he raped her, Ventura said in a steady but quiet voice, 'We'd been together for 10 years and you just don't turn that off.' Having already acquiesced to their client being a domestic violence perpetrator and not great guy, the defense made it clear even before this trial began this week that is exactly that sentiment of the deep ties of the relationship they plan to focus on. Specifically, as the court saw in the beginning of cross-examination, that the self-described 'toxic relationship' Combs and Ventura had was a two-way street and, even with Combs strong personality, to put it mildly, Ventura made her own choices and was a consenting adult to all and everything that went on, as sordid as it sometimes became. To that, even as pregnant as current married mother of two Ventura is now, her words of love to Combs, her admitted agreement, as least initially, with the male escorts of 'freak-offs,' the video footage of those marathon drug juiced session and the numerous text exchanges between the two organizing those session and the aftermath, even if it was all just to keep Combs happy, tell a tale of their own if you adopt a certain POV. It is those words, those actions that could prove the high-priced defense's best path to a not guilty verdict for their not guilty pleading and plea deal rejecting client by the end of this eight to 10 week-long trial. That strategy is reliant, however, on the jurors to some degree not believing their eyes. Yesterday saw the panel shown a series of photographs from the 'freak-offs. Photographs, not revealed to the public or media in the courtroom, that clearly shocked or surprised a number of jurors. Even before that prosecution carefully planned by the jarring display on Wednesday there was the repeated viewings in court of 2026 hotel security footage of a freak-off in action, to some degree. The stark nine-year old video from L.A.'s InterContinental Hotel, which, CNN obtained and broadcast last spring, shows a half-naked Combs beating and kicking his then-girlfriend in the hall and dragging her back to their room. Once hotel security arrive, Combs tries unsuccessful to convince Ventura not to leave, which, in possession of her phone and other essentials, she eventually does. Last year, Combs, who bought for over $50,000 what he thought was the only copy of the footage, took to social media to apologize for what he did in 2016, Yet, in the past few months that apology has been deleted, and the defense disputed the feds reading of the events on the video. In her May 12 opening statement, the defense's Geragos took a different tone, and used the video as an example of Combs committing domestic violence, but not the criminal charges the government have gone with. Even with former employees of Combs and other women who say the one-time mini-mogul abused and assaulted them expected as witnesses (though Victim-3 has still not be located by the U.S. Attorney's office), the judge has promised to wrap the matter up for the non-sequestered jury before the July 4th holiday. To meet that goal, starting next week, the court will go to a 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. ET schedule shorter breaks. 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Yahoo
01-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Sean 'Diddy' Combs Admits Rejecting Feds' Sex Trafficking Plea Deal Just Before Trial; Jury Selection Begins Next Week
Days before jury selection is set to start in Sean 'Diddy' Combs' sex trafficking trial, a federal judge today sought confirmation from the Bad Boys Records founder that prosecutors put forth a plea deal and that he rebuffed it 'Yes, I did,' a glasses wearing Combs said in court in Manhattan Thursday before Judge Arun Subramanian. Offering a reduction in time served if Combs took the deal and entered a guilty plea, the agreement put before the 'All About the Benjamins' performer seems to have been on the table in the last few weeks More from Deadline As Sean Combs Faces Trial, 'The Fall Of Diddy' Uncovers Alleged Shocking Pattern Of Abuse - Contenders TV: Documentary, Unscripted & Variety Sean "Diddy" Combs Fails To Have Cassie Ventura 2016 Hotel Beating Footage Excluded From Sex Trafficking Trial; Rejected Plea Deal Revealed Shannon Sharpe To Be Benched By ESPN's 'First Take' Amid Rape Lawsuit, $10M Settlement Offer Beyond that, no details are known about the written offer. Unsurprisingly, the U.S. Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York are keeping it that way. In the legal ether for months, the plea deal was made public in an almost casual manner by an assistant U.S. attorney at an April 25 hearing. Looking at likely life behind bars if found guilty on the racketeering, sex trafficking, transportation to engage in prostitution and more, the not guiltily pleading 55-year-old Combs (a.k.a .inmate 37452-054) has been held in one of the more low-key units of Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center since he was arrest last September. A defendant not just in this criminal case, but in dozens and dozens of civil cases alleging assaults and abuse, Diddy has always sworn he is innocent, and all the interactions were consensual. A major element in Combs' rejection of the plea deal appears to be he truly wants his day in court to prove his innocence and beat the charges, well-placed sources tell us. The rest of today's hearing dealt with jury selection questionnaires and procedure, including what will and will not happen in open court Determined to keep the sometimes-wayward case on track, Judge Subramanian once again made it clear to Combs, prosecutors and the defense Thursday that he wants jury selection to begin on May 5. A panel needs to be seated for opening statements on May 12 in the Manhattan courtroom, the judge has insisted. At the end of the less than one hour hearing Judge Subramanian told everyone he looked forward to seeing them on Monday morning. Of course, a spanner in the works of that could be the quickly settled ($30 million) assault and abuse suit and more from Victim-1, a.k.a former Combs girlfriend Cassie Ventura Unlike many such high-profile cases and the other accusations against Combs, there is visual evidence of the violence and attacks Ventura says she endure from Diddy for years. Judge Subramanian ruled last week that 2016 LA hotel security footage of the couple, that CNN aired last spring, will be shown to the jury. The video, which Combs apologized for on social media when it became public, shows a half-naked Combs chasing an escaping Ventura down a corridor hitting and kicking her and dragging her back to his room where allegedly one of his so-called freak offs was happening. Having deleted his seemingly forced Instagram apology now, Combs and his lawyers have tried almost every trick in the book to undermine or dispute the footage – footage that Combs almost immediately bought for $50,000 the day after the apparent attack occurred Add to that, among four victims id'd by the feds, Ventura has said she will testify in open court in this trial under her own name. Prosecutors allege that Combs and his aides coerced Ventura, other women and men into marathon debauched sexual encounters called 'freak-offs.' The sessions included male and female prostitutes, drug use, threats of violence and imprisonment in the hotel rooms where the acts were staged and videotaped. At asserted today, direct questioning of about 150 jury candidates starts on Monday morning. Judge Subramanian intends to bring each prospect into his courtroom, one at a time, to ask them about their backgrounds and potential biases, with none of the other jury candidates present. The judge called it 'sequestered questioning,' designed to protect juror privacy around sensitive personal matters in a case dealing with sex trafficking. Prospective jurors will also be allowed to answer some questions in sidebar conferences with the judge and lawyers, out of earshot of reporters, if they consider the information to be too personal to discuss in open court, the judge said. If all goes as scheduled, it will take three days of sequestered questioning to whittle the field down to 45 jury and alternate candidates, who will then undergo voir dire questioning on bias, etc by the lawyers for both sides. The aim is to seat the 12 jurors and handful of alternates who will hear the case beginning the following week. Emphasizing that 'time is of the essence,' Judge Subramanian today wondered aloud whether they can stay on schedule if sequestered questioning leads to a lot of breaks in the action for privacy sidebars. No one in court Thursday could promise him it wouldn't be an issue. In what will likely be major tenet of the soon to expand Marc Agnifilo- and Teny Geragos-led legal team's approach against SDNY, the defense has repeatedly complained the feds are using 'racist' laws against Combs and seeking to 'police non-conforming sexual activity.' Back on February 24, the defense took a swipe at 'unconstitutionally broad' search warrants that had been used on Combs as part of spring 2024 raids of his Los Angeles and Miami homes, devices, digital storage and more. After coming up short over and over in bail and keeping certain evidence out of the case, this week saw a small but significant notch in the defense's belt. One time mini-mogul Combs received permission on Wednesday from the court to wear 'non-prison clothing' during his six-week estimated trial. To that, the April 30 order say that starting next week, the past and present Sean John owner is allowed 'up to five button down shirts, up to five pairs of pants, up to five sweaters, up to five pairs of socks, and up to two pairs of shoes without laces to wear to court.' No mention of hair dye, so the prospective jurors will see Combs with the white hair he has had since being arrested last September. Unlike almost all the past hearings in this case, no blood members of Combs' family appeared to be in court Thursday offering their support. A self-declared 'godbrother' was there and Combs waved to him from the defense table. Best of Deadline Everything We Know About 'Nine Perfect Strangers' Season 2 So Far 2025-26 Awards Season Calendar: Dates For Tonys, Emmys, Oscars & More 'Ginny & Georgia' Season 3: Everything We Know So Far
Yahoo
14-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Diddy's Sex Trafficking Trial Pushed Back; New Criminal Indictment Hits Imprisoned Bad Boy Records Founder
Sean 'Diddy' Combs' trial for sex trafficking and more has been pushed back a week. Originally set to start on May 5, Sean Combs' criminal matter in federal court in New York City will now begin on May 12. More from Deadline Sean 'Diddy' Combs: An Updated Timeline Of Charges, Allegations & Consequences The Rap Mogul Faces Diddy Slams CNN For Allegedly Altering Cassie Ventura Beating Footage; Cable Newser Destroyed Original Video, Rapper Claims Feds Hit Diddy With Forced Labor Claims In Sex Trafficking Case; Reject Move By Rapper To Suppress Digital Evidence The change in the opening date came Friday in a hearing on the superseding indictment against Combs that prosecutors brought down last week. Now with forced labor added to the racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution claims facing the Bad Boy Records founder. Present in Judge Arun Subramanian's courtroom, as he has been for every hearing in the case since his arrest last fall, Combs entered a plea of 'not guilty' this morning — just like the 'All About the Benjamins' performer has before. Lasting about an hour, Friday's hearing saw the U.S. Attorney's office and defense lawyers combative over potential witnesses for the trial and 2016 video footage broadcasted last spring of half-naked Combs beating then long-time girlfriend Cassie Ventura in a LA hotel hallway. Mitzi Steiner from the SDNY revealed the feds have another 20 potential witnesses – as yet unidentified – who are 'incredibly frightened' at the thought of having their names disclosed to defense. Intimidation and fears of possible violent retribution from Combs and associates have come up numerous times before in the case. Yet, today, Judge Subramanian nevertheless ordered Steiner to turn over the potential witnesses IDs next week to the defense on a lawyers-eyes-only basis. The revised indictment (read it here) says Combs coerced employees into 'forced labor,' including sex through intimidation, withheld pay, sleep deprivation and threats of firing. Employees were led to believe 'they would be harmed — including by losing their jobs — if they did not comply with his demands,' the indictment states. 'With respect to one employee, Combs used physical force, psychological harm, financial harm and reputational harm, and/or threats of the same to cause the employee to engage in sex acts with Combs.' Arrested in a Manhattan hotel lobby in September, the Bad Boy Records founder is facing life in prison if found guilty in a trial previously set to start May 5.. The government alleges that Combs and his aides coerced women into marathon sexual encounters called 'freak-offs' with male and female prostitutes, drug use, threats of violence and imprisonment in the hotel rooms where the were staged and videotaped. RELATED: Prosecutors allege that Combs' business empire — which has fallen on hard times since the flood of allegations against him began in late 2023 — and the 'racketeering enterprise' at the heart of their case against the one-time rap hitmaker-turned-mogul were intertwined. The 'Combs Enterprise,' according to the indictment, served two purposes: operating 'a global business in the media, entertainment, and lifestyle industries,' and enabling its CEO, his deputies and associates 'to engage in unlawful acts' including sex trafficking and narcotics distribution. Combs has denied the charges and, through his lawyers, has said all of the sexual encounters described in the indictment were consensual. Months before he was first indicted, Combs already was scrambling to limit the damage from an assault video aired by CNN in May. The footage from 2016 showed Combs hitting his then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura — who is the 'Victim 1' in the federal indictment — and dragging her through a Los Angeles hotel hallway. Combs apologized via Instagram two days after CNN aired the hotel surveillance clip, saying he was 'disgusted' by his behavior. With Ventura sued Combs for abuse and assault in November 2023 and been met with an alleged $30 million settlement within 24 hours, the May 2024 apology was met with distain by the singer's attorneys at the time. RELATED: Subjecting that 2016 footage to near constant undermining since the criminal case began, Combs' lawyers on March 14 formally accused CNN of doctoring the clip by editing and speeding up footage for broadcast and then destroying the original video. 'This includes covering the timestamp and then changing the video sequence,' the lawyers wrote, adding that 'the CNN videos do not fairly and accurately depict the events in question.' Speaking to Deadline on March 13, a CNN spokesperson denied the cable newser altered or destroyed the video. Combs, who repeatedly has been denied bail, is being held in Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center as he awaits trial. As well as the criminal case, Combs is accused in more than 25 other cases of assault, abuse, rape and more, with even more allegations and filings coming in week after week. Losing one of his key lawyers in the criminal case earlier this year, Combs also on February 12, sued NBCUniversal for $100 million in a defamation action over what he calls out as 'outrageous set of fresh lies and conspiracy theories' in the Peacock documentary Diddy: Making of a Bad Boy. Best of Deadline 2025 TV Series Renewals: Photo Gallery 'The White Lotus' Season 3 Release Schedule: When Do New Episodes Arrive On Max? How Jon Gries' Return To 'The White Lotus' Could Shape Season 3
