Diddy: When does the trial take place and what are the charges selected?

Sean “Diddy” Combs, one of the most famous music rappers and magnates in the United States, will soon be tried for sex trafficking and racketeering.

He also has to face dozens of trials brought by people who claim to have been injured and exploited by the rapper due to drugs, alcohol and the physical violence he suffered from them.

Combs pleaded not guilty for criminal charges and rejected accusations of individual trials, calling them attempts “to earn quickly money”.

If he is found guilty, he risks life prison for racketeering and a minimum of 15 years for sex trafficking.

Mr. Combs – Who also called Puffy, Puff Daddy, P Diddy, Love and Brother Love – essentially rewritten the rules of hip -hop shortly after his appearance on the music scene in the 1990s.

He notably contributed to launching the careers of Mary J Blige and Christopher Wallace, alias Biggie Smalls or Notorious Big

His Label Bad Boy Records won a first victory with the Biggie Smalli Ready to Die album, which sold a platinum price. He quickly became one of the most important labels in rap and extended to Faith Evans, Ma $ e, 112, Mariah Carey and Jennifer Lopez.

Mr. Combs also had a prolific career outside of music, in particular by signing an agreement with the British drinking company Diageo in 2007 to promote the French vodka brand in the United States.

In 2023, he released his fifth album, The Love Album: Off The Grid and obtained his first nomination as a soloist at the Grammy Awards. He was also appointed global icon to MTV Awards that year.

During his decades of success, Mr. Combs was also faced with many legal problems.

In May 1999, he was arrested for suspicion of aggression. In March 2001, he was declared not guilty of accusations of possession of firearms and corruption as part of a shooting in 1999 in a New York club.

In 2003, he was prosecuted for threatening his trading partner with a baseball bat and, in 2015, he was arrested for accusations of assault against his son’s football coach.

In the federal criminal case, Mr. Combs is accused of having removed, drugged and forced women to sexual activities, sometimes using firearms or threatening them with violence.

During a descent into her Los Angeles manor, the police found supplies which, according to her, were intended for orgies known as “Freak Offs”, in particular drugs and more than 1,000 bottles of baby oil.

Furthermore, Mr. Combross is the subject of a number of legal proceedings accusing him of rape and assault.

Tony Buzbee, a Texan lawyer who takes care of some of these cases, said that more than 100 women and men from all the United States have filed a complaint against the rap magnate or are about to do so.

In December 2023, a woman known as Jane Doe said she was the victim of “collective rape” by Mr. Combs and other people in 2003, when she was 17 years old. She said that she had been administered “large amounts of drugs and alcohol” before assault.

Mr. Combs’ legal team described this wave as a “manifest attempt to advertise”.

Her current judicial problems began when he was chased by her ex-girlfriend Casandra Ventura, also known as Cassie, at the end of 2023. She accused her of having raped her and of having abused her.

This trial was settled for an undisclosed amount one day after his deposit, Mr. Combres claims his innocence.

Since then, several women have filed a complaint against Mr. Combs for sexual assault, the charges dating back to 1991. Mr. Combs denied all of these accusations.

Her controversial story with Ms. Ventura resurfaced in 2024, when video surveillance images disclosed by CNN showed Mr. Combres giving her former girlfriend when she was lying on the floor of a hotel corridor in 2016.

He apologized for his behavior shortly after, by declaring: “I assume full responsibility for my actions:” I assume the full responsibility of my actions in this video. I was disgusted at the time when I did. I’m disgusted now. “

Mr. Combs reacted to the wave of legal proceedings which followed her settlement with Ms. Ventura in a declaration on her Instagram page in December 2023, by writing: “Too much is too much”.

“Nausea allegations have been formulated against me by individuals looking for rapid gain,” he said.

“Let me be clear. I did not do any of the horrible things that are alleged. I will fight for my name, my family and the truth.”

In response to federal criminal accusations, his legal team said: “Mr. Combs and his legal team are fighting for their name, family and truth:” Mr. Combs and his legal team have fully confidence in the facts, in their legal defenses and in the integrity of the judicial process.

“Mr. Combs has never sexually assaulted anyone – adult or minor, man or woman,” said his lawyers in a statement.

Mr. Combs is detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, since his arrest on September 16, 2024.

His lawyers argued in favor of his release during the period preceding the trial, invoking the “horrible” conditions of the prison.

Critics describe prison as overcrowded and lacking in staff, and describe a generalized culture of violence.

A New York Federal Judge rejected the request for liberation on bail, saying that Mr. Combres presented a “serious risk of flight”.

The prosecutors said that Mr. Combs had violated the prison regulations by contacting potential witnesses before the sex trafficking trial.

They accuse him of having deployed “incessant efforts” to “influence in a corrupt way the testimony of the witnesses”.

The judge of the American district Arun Subramanian decided that his trial would open on May 5.

Prosecutor Emily Johnson told the judge that the government would need three weeks to present his arguments.

Defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo said that the rapper’s team would need a week to present his own.

The trial of Mr. Combs, which is to take place at the courthouse Daniel Patrick Moynihan in New York, should be public.

Until now, all of Mr. Combs’ legal proceedings have been opened to the media and the public, but have not been broadcast live.

Most federal courts do not allow the presence of cameras or electronic devices in the courtroom.

Mr. Combs risks life prison if he is found guilty of racketeering.

He risks another minimum sentence of 15 years if he is found guilty of sexual traffic.