Sean “Diddy” comb pleaded not guilty to the expanded federal indictment, accusing him of five counts of crimes including extortion and sexual trafficking.
The 55-year-old pleaded guilty at a hearing of U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian in Manhattan. He had previously pleaded not guilty to three earlier charges.
Combs’ legal team insists that the allegations stem from a consensus relationship. “These are not new allegations or new accusers,” his attorney said in a statement earlier this month. “These are the same people, former long-term girlfriends, who are involved in a consensus relationship.”
Jury selection is scheduled to begin on May 5 and statements are expected to open on May 12. However, Marc Agnifilo, a Combs attorney, said the defense could seek a two-week delay to review the emails requested by one of the victims. Judge Subramanian said any request for delay must be formally submitted within two days.
“We are a freight train,” the judge said.
Federal prosecutors claim Combs used his business empire to sexually exploit women between 2004 and 2024. They claimed that abuse included planning and documenting intercourse among women and male sex workers (taking “freaks” as “freaks”), some of whom were allegedly transported across state lines.
The comb has been held in Brooklyn Detention Center since September. He also faces multiple civil lawsuits accusing him of sexual abuse of the man and woman.
His legal team firmly denied the allegations. Agnifilo said the comb never forced anyone to participate in sexual behavior, emphasizing that “freaks” are one.
Known as Puff Daddy and P. Diddy throughout his career, Combs founded Bad Boy Records and helped launch careers as artists like Mary J. Blige, Faith Evans, the infamous Big and Usher.
Prosecutors believe his public success concealed an unsettling private life. They cite multiple incidents, including one in 2016, where surveillance footage allegedly showed a comb kicking, dragging and throwing a vase at a woman trying to leave a hotel in Los Angeles.
Last year, CNN broadcasted the surveillance footage of the comb and dragged his ex-girlfriend, Casandra Ventura, also known as Cassie. Combs later apologized for the incident. Agnifilo believes the video did not prove sexual trafficking, describing the relationship between the comb and Ventura as “toxic but loving” and lasted for 11 years.
