Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs s3x crimes trial to begin on Monday May

Jury selection is set to begin Monday in New York for the highly anticipated federal trial of music mogul Sean Diddy Combs, who faces serious charges including sex trafficking and racketeering.Combs, 55, is accused of leading a criminal enterprise that allegedly coerced victims into drug-fueled sex acts through threats, violence, and manipulation. He has pleaded not guilty to all charges, maintaining that all sexual encounters were consensual.During a recent hearing, Combss attorney, Marc Agnifilo, previewed the defences strategy by characterising his client’s behaviour as part of a consensual, swinger lifestyle.Prosecutors said a plea deal had been offered, though the terms remain undisclosed. Combs rejected the offer.If convicted, the former rap icon and business mogul, credited with helping bring hip-hop into the cultural mainstream, could face life in prison.Once a fixture on red carpets and at celebrity galas, Combs now awaits trial from behind bars at Brooklyns Metropolitan Detention Centre, a facility notorious for overcrowding, vermin, and poor conditions. He has been in custody since his arrest in September 2024 and has been denied bail on multiple occasions.Jury selection is expected to take approximately one week, with opening statements scheduled to begin on May 12.The timing is symbolic: while the first Monday in May usually sees celebrities grace the Met Gala, Combs will instead face a jury pool downtown in federal court.The trial centres heavily on Combss former girlfriend, singer Casandra Cassie Ventura, who is expected to testify.A 2016 surveillance video showing Combs physically assaulting Ventura at a hotel, released by CNN, is set to be shown in part to the jury. Prosecutors say the incident followed one of several coercive sexual gatherings they describe as freak-offsdrug-fueled sex parties that allegedly involved sex workers and were sometimes filmed.Judge Arun Subramanian ruled that portions of the video will be admissible as evidence, despite debates between legal teams over its quality and relevance.The federal indictment includes a racketeering conspiracy charge under the RICO statute, typically used in organised crime prosecutions. RICO allows prosecutors to connect individual crimes as part of a broader criminal pattern, rather than as isolated incidents.Combs has long denied any criminal behaviour, but his career has been shadowed by allegations of physical and sexual abuse dating back to the 1990s. The current case gained momentum after Ventura filed a civil lawsuit in 2023 accusing Combs of over a decade of abuse and rape. Though that suit was settled out of court, it prompted a wave of additional accusations from other alleged victims, both women and men, and led to federal raids on Combss luxury homes in Miami and Los Angeles. The post Sean Diddy Combs s3x crimes trial to begin on Monday May appeared first on Linda Ikeji Blog.