Hip-hop mogul Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs has pleaded not responsible to intercourse trafficking and different costs in a New York federal courtroom on Tuesday.
He has been accused of operating a legal enterprise that relied on medication and violence to power ladies to “fulfill his sexual wishes”, in response to prosecutors.
Mr Combs appeared in courtroom after he was arrested on Monday night in New York, roughly six months after federal brokers raided his residences in Miami and Los Angeles.
The 14-page indictment, launched on Tuesday morning, charged Mr Combs with racketeering, intercourse trafficking by power, and transportation to have interaction in prostitution.
Prosecutors have requested the decide to maintain Mr Combs in custody till trial begins, arguing that he might be “a critical” flight threat.
Mr Combs’s lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, mentioned outdoors courtroom on Tuesday that he was “disillusioned” with the indictment. He mentioned Mr Combs is the goal of “an unjust prosecution”.
“His spirits are good. He’s assured,” Mr Agnifilo mentioned.
In courtroom paperwork, federal prosecutors mentioned that Mr Combs “abused, threatened, and coerced ladies and others round him to meet his sexual wishes, shield his popularity, and conceal his conduct”.
Prosecutors accused Mr Combs of “making a legal enterprise” whose members – underneath his route – engaged in intercourse trafficking, compelled labor, kidnapping, arson and bribery.
“On quite a few occassions”, the paperwork mentioned, Mr Combs assaulted ladies by “hanging, punching, dragging, throwing objects at, and kicking them”.
Mr Combs has confronted most of the accusations earlier than.
In late December, Mr Combs’s then-girlfriend, singer Casandra Elizabeth Ventura, filed a civil lawsuit in opposition to Combs that included graphic descriptions of violent abuse. He denied the accusations and settled the case a day after go well with was filed.
Nevertheless, in Could, Combs launched a public apology after video footage from a Los Angeles lodge appeared to indicate him beating Ms Ventura within the hallway.
The latest indictment in opposition to Mr Combs accuses him of comparable violence with extra particulars about his intimate behaviours and relationships.
Ms Ventura’s lawyer, Douglas Wigdor, declined to touch upon Mr Combs’s arrest.
In response to courtroom paperwork, Combs “wielded the facility” of his standing to “lure feminine victims… to have interaction in prolonged intercourse acts” known as “Freak Offs”.
“Throughout Freak Offs, Combs distributed quite a lot of managed substances to victims, partially to maintain the victims obedient and compliant,” the indictment mentioned.
In a press briefing after the indictment was unsealed, US prosecutor Damian Williams mentioned officers discovered firearms, ammunition and greater than 1,000 bottles of lubricant throughout the raids on Mr Combs’s properties.
Mr Williams mentioned federal brokers additionally discovered three semi-automatic rifles with defaced serial numbers, and a drum journal.
Mr Williams advised reporters that additional costs weren’t off the desk, however he didn’t supply particular particulars.
The costs observe a string of sexual assault allegations in opposition to Mr Combs, one of the crucial profitable music moguls within the historical past of rap.
4 ladies, together with Ms Ventura, have filed lawsuits accusing him of sexual and bodily abuse.
In an announcement issued final December, Mr Combs defended himself in opposition to what he described as “sickening allegations” made by “people in search of a fast payday”.
His popularity has taken successful, nevertheless.
In June, Mr Combs returned a ceremonial “Key to the Metropolis of New York”, given to him by Mayor Eric Adams simply 9 months prior.
Days later, Howard College introduced it was revoking Mr Combs’s 2014 honorary diploma.
