P. Diddy case: The rapper appears in court before his trial

Rapper and hip-hop producer P. Diddy, incarcerated in New York in a major sex trafficking case, briefly appeared Wednesday in federal court where he is due to be tried in the spring of 2025.

Influential figure in hip-hop and the music industry, Sean Combs — his real name –, 55, appeared dressed in wrinkled inmate pants and shirt and greeted with big smiles some of his children present in the courtroom of Manhattan Federal Court.

P. Diddy, also called Diddy or Puff Daddy, must be tried there from May 5, 2025 during a trial for trafficking for the purposes of sexual exploitation, extortion and transportation of people for the purposes of prostitution, all charges to which he pleaded not guilty, saying he was innocent. He faces life imprisonment.

More than 120 alleged victims

Also targeted by civil complaints from more than 120 alleged victims, the rapper is accused by the courts of having put his “empire” at the service of a violent sex trafficking system.

A bling-bling artist, known for giving large parties in the 90s and 2000s, he is today described by his alleged victims as a sexually violent predator, who used alcohol and drugs to obtain their submission.

On Wednesday, at the end of a brief hearing where the prosecution and defense mainly discussed the procedure before Judge Arun Subramanian, the accused embraced his lawyers one by one and wished them “happy holidays” before to go back to prison. A new procedural hearing has been set for March 17, 2025.

Jay-Z accused in civil complaint

With his label Bad Boy Records, founded in 1993, Sean Combs launched the careers of Notorious BIG, a rap icon murdered in 1997, and singer Mary J. Blige.

Ten days ago, the case rebounded when Jay-Z, another hip-hop star and producer who now heads an entertainment empire, was accused in a civil complaint of raping a 13-year-old girl with P. Diddy, in 2000.

Jay-Z denied the accusations and counterattacked by assuring that the victim’s lawyer had sought to extort funds from him before filing a complaint.

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