It is an extraordinary trial. Eight months after his arrestSean Combs, also known as Puff Daddy and P. Diddy, appears before the Federal Court of Manhattan, in new York, from Monday, May 5. The rapper notably faces accusations of sexual traffic, corruption, kidnappings and intimidation, reveals American justice in a document shared by NBC News. The trial must last for several weeks.
Since November 2023, more than 120 people filed a complaint against the artist. Whoever was one of the most influential figures in American rap of the 1990s and 2000s faces life prison. P. Diddy pleaded not guilty of all charges, ensuring that all sexual relations were granted. Franceinfo returns to this business that shakes The American music industry.
Five charges selected
Arrested on September 16, 2024 in New York, Sean Combs is charged with traffic for sexual exploitation, transport of people for prostitution purposes, as well as for acts of kidnapping, corruption and violence grouped under the indictment of “criminal enterprise”. A criminal qualification often used against mafia organizations. Federal prosecutors accuse him of having used his musical empire for Set up a sexual exploitation systemand this, for more than twenty years, from 2004 to 2024.
These proceedings followed several searches led by the FBI and the federal agents in its residences in Los Angeles (California) and Miami (Florida) in March 2024. Weapons and drugs were discovered there. The artist is accused of organized Orgies where women and men were drugged and then forced to filmed sex, sometimes under threat and violence. The Federal Prosecutor’s Office of Manhattan evokes accomplices without naming them, but Sean Combs will be the only accused.
P. Diddy is also accused of having intimidated witnesses and tried to silence his victims, prosecutors revealed in the indictment shared by NBC News. Defense lawyers, led by Marc Agnifilo, intend to present Sean Combs as a man leading a “Swingist lifestyle”but not criminal, according to AFP.
These accusations are added to a series of civil proceedings, some of which dates back to 1990. They were iNTENDED by old companions, ex-collaborators, as well as anonymous, sometimes minor. These files will not be judged in the criminal trial of May 5, but will follow separate procedures.
-The testimony of Cassie, ex-P.Diddy partner, eagerly awaited
The trial will start with the selection of the jury, which should last a week. The list of witnesses has not yet been revealed, but several media, including the American channel CNN, claim that qUatre of the complainants are expected. Three of them asked that their identity will not be revealed, specifies NBC News.
The singer of R&B Cassie, who was in a relationship with Sean Combs, is one of the most anticipated witnesses. A video broadcast by CNN in May 2024, captured by surveillance cameras, shows the rapper engaged in a real unleashing of violence against her, in a hotel in Los Angeles, En 2016.
Previously, Cassie had Take up a civil complaint in 2023, declaring that his former companion had submitted him to more than a decade of violence and rape in 2018. The case had quickly settled amicably.
The rapper risks life imprisonment
Sean Combs faces life prison, especially for the charges of sexual traffic by force or constraint. The minimum sentence for this last chef is 15 years. Transport for prostitution purposes can lead to up to 10 years of incarceration, says Sky News.
So far, The 55 -year -old artist has always proclaimed his innocence And rejects all the accusations. During his arrest in September, his lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, said that his client was the subject of“Unjust prosecution” And assured that the rapper would wash his name, reports NBC News. They denounced accusations “racists” against a “Powerful black man”reported in February the ABC channel.
On April 18, a New York judge rejected the accused’s lawyers to postpone the trial, saying that he had not had enough time to prepare for their defense after adding new charges in April.
