Sean “Diddy” Combs attends the 2022 Billboard Music Awards on the MGM Grand Backyard Enviornment on Could 15, 2022, in Las Vegas, Nev.
Bryan Steffy/WireImage
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Bryan Steffy/WireImage
The federal trial towards hip-hop tycoon Sean Combs is lastly getting underway, some eight months after he was arrested on prison expenses of racketeering and intercourse trafficking. Combs — additionally recognized by quite a lot of monikers, together with P. Diddy, Puff Daddy and Puff — concurrently faces dozens of civil lawsuits from women and men who allege that he drugged and sexually assaulted them.
As his trial proceeds in a Manhattan courtroom over the following a number of weeks, we’ll be conserving you updated as every stage of the trial unfolds.
Could 13, 2025: Casandra “Cassie” Ventura, Combs’ ex-girlfriend, took the stand because the star witness within the first full day of testimony. Ventura accused Combs of bodily and emotionally abusing her for years, and exerting management over nearly each facet of her life. Most of her time, she stated, was dominated by Combs’ “freak-offs” or “FOs” — drug-fueled, multi-day marathons of intercourse with prostitutes that he orchestrated and directed.
Could 12, 2025: Opening arguments start. Federal prosecutors are accusing Combs of racketeering conspiracy, intercourse trafficking and transportation to have interaction in prostitution. If he’s convicted on all counts, the hip-hop mogul may face life in jail. Combs, who has been in federal custody in Brooklyn since his arrest in September 2024, has pleaded not responsible to all the costs.
Could 5, 2025: Jury choice begins at a Southern District of New York courtroom in Manhattan, presided over by Choose Arun Subramanian. Potential jurors are questioned about their degree of pre-existing information concerning the case and about Combs, together with their familiarity with and their opinions a couple of broadly seen video, first aired by CNN, by which Combs bodily assaulted his then-girlfriend, the singer Cassie Ventura, in March 2016. Video of that incident is anticipated to be a part of the federal government’s case towards Combs.
Potential jurors are additionally requested in the event that they acknowledge the names of quite a lot of celebrities, together with actors Michael B. Jordan, Robert Downey Jr. and Mike Myers; rappers Child Cudi, Yung Miami and Kanye West; and singer Michelle Williams, previously of Future’s Youngster. It’s unclear what connections these folks could need to the Combs case.
