The selection of jurors began on Monday at the highly publicized trial in New York of P. Diddy, central figure of hip-hop accused of having put his empire at the service of a violent and merciless system of sexual traffic.
On the first day of this trial, one of the most anticipated of the year in the United States, many journalists and curious matters for hours to enter the Federal Court of Manhattan, where the rapper and 55-year-old producer covered life prison if he is found guilty.
“Come on, don’t be shy,” said judge Arun Subramanian to the first group of potential jurors, who must answer a 14 -page questionnaire on their ability to calmly judge this vast matter of sexual violence.
The selection process is expected to last a week and the first accusation and defense pleadings are expected on May 12. The trial should spread over eight to ten weeks.
Holidays
P. Diddy, whose real name is Sean Combs, is judged for trafficking for sexual exploitation, transport of people for prostitution purposes, as well as acts of kidnapping, corruption and violence grouped under the indictment of criminal enterprise.
An essential figure in hip-hop since the 1990s, he is accused of having put his influence and power in the service of trafficking that forced women to have long sex with sex workers.
According to the accusation, P. Diddy forced his employees to distribute drugs to the victims during these sex marathons called ” freak-offs “, Sometimes recorded in video.
In prison since his arrest eight months ago in Manhattan, he crumbles in parallel under the accusations of sexual violence of more than a hundred women and men in civil justice.
A violent fall for those who have raised a considerable fortune since the 1990s in music, fashion and alcoholic drinks, and whose opulent celebrations attracted the gratin of the show biz.
The founder of Bad Boy Records, who had stars under his wing like the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul Mary J. Blige or the rapper The Notorious Big-murdered in 1997-claims his innocence. He refused a plea-guilty agreement proposed by the accusation, the details of which have not been revealed.
The famous rapper claims to have had only sexual relations. His lawyer Marc Agnifilo spoke of a “swingers” lifestyle.
The case is shaking the American music industry, which rather escaped the #Moiaussi wave, with the exception of the fallen star of the R&B R. Kelly, sentenced to 30 years in prison for sexual crimes in 2022.
“I hope that [le procès] will encourage other victims to manifest themselves, “said Caroline Heldman, the co -founder of the organization Sound Off Coalition, which fights against sexual violence in the world of music.
According to her, the music industry is still a world where the effects of fame and power over people are mixed. ” This gives them an empathy deficit, and the feeling that the rules do not apply to them. ”
Aura
Known for its bling-bling image, P. Diddy used to give sumptuous parties where celebrities were crowded on the Huppée coast of Hamptons, near New York. Despite a violent reputation, the native of Harlem, father of seven children, maintained his aura for a long time.
His trial opens, as a symbol, the same day as the famous Gala of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (MET) of New York, a worldly meeting par excellence where he had still climbed the steps in 2023, in the midst of dozens of other celebrities.
The singer of R&B Cassie, who was in a relationship with Diddy, will be one of the most anticipated witnesses. A video broadcast last year by CNN and captured by surveillance cameras had shown Sean Combs unleashed violently against her in 2016 in a hotel in Los Angeles.
Cassie had opened the valves against the winner of several Grammy Awards by fileing a civil complaint in 2023, saying that his former companion had submitted him to more than a decade of violence and rape in 2018.
The case had immediately settled amicably, but it paved the way for a long series of accusations of sexual assault and rape.
