By Luc Cohen
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Sean “Diddy” Combs will stand trial on federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges starting on May 5, 2025, a U.S. judge decided on Thursday during the hip-hop mogul’s third court appearance since his September arrest.
Combs, 54, pleaded not guilty on Sept. 17 to a three-count indictment charging him with using his business empire – including legendary record label Bad Boy Entertainment – to transport women and male sex workers across state lines to take part in recorded sexual performances called “Freak Offs.”
U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian set the trial date at a hearing in Manhattan federal court.
Wearing tan prison garb, Combs stood and blew kisses toward his family members seated in the courtroom’s audience after the hearing ended. His mother and children attended the hearing, defense lawyer Anthony Ricco said in court. Combs was then led out a side door by members of the U.S. Marshals Service.
Prosecutor Emily Johnson told the court the prosecution’s case would last at least three weeks. Combs’ defense case will last around one week, defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo said.
Combs has been jailed at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since his arrest. His appeal of another judge’s decision to deny him bail is pending.
The rapper and producer faces a sentence of up to life in prison and a minimum of 15 years if convicted of the three counts he faces: racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prosecution.
Prosecutors said Combs enticed women by giving them drugs such as ketamine and ecstasy, financial support or promises of career support or a romantic relationship.
Combs then used the surreptitious recordings of the sex acts as “collateral” to ensure that the women would remain silent, and sometimes displayed weapons to intimidate abuse victims and witnesses, prosecutors said.
The indictment contained no allegation that Combs himself directly engaged in unwanted sexual contact with women, though he was accused of physically assaulting them.
Agnifilo has called the sexual activity described by prosecutors consensual.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Editing by Daniel Wallis and Will Dunham)
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