Sean 'Diddy' Combs pleads not guilty to new indictment as trial nears

By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK (Reuters) -Sean 'Diddy' Combs pleaded not guilty on Friday to a new indictment, which added accusations that the hip-hop mogul forced employees to work long hours and threatened to punish those who did not assist in a two-decade sex trafficking scheme.

Combs, 55, entered his plea to the new indictment before U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian at a hearing in Manhattan federal court. A trial is set for May 5.

Combs, who has been held in a Brooklyn jail awaiting trial since his September 2024 arrest, wore baggy tan prison garb and sported gray hair and a gray beard. He blew kisses to his mother and other family members seated in the courtroom audience as he was led out at the end of the 45-minute hearing. 

Combs previously pleaded not guilty to charges of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.

Also known during his career as Puff Daddy and P. Diddy, Combs founded Bad Boy Records and is credited with helping turn rappers and R&B singers such as Mary J. Blige, Faith Evans, Notorious B.I.G. and Usher into stars in the 1990s and 2000s.

Prosecutors with the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office said Combs used his business empire, including his record label Bad Boy Entertainment, to sexually abuse women between 2004 and 2024. 

Combs' alleged abuse included having women take part in recorded sexual performances called "freak offs" with male sex workers, who were sometimes transported across state lines.

While the new indictment added no new charges, it described what prosecutors called the "forced labor" that Combs demanded in connection with the 20-year alleged racketeering conspiracy.

It said Combs and his associates "maintained control" over some employees by forcing them to work long hours with little sleep, through the use of or threats to use physical force, financial harm, psychological harm and reputational harm.

Combs' defense lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, has said his client never forced anyone to engage in sexual acts against their will. Agnifilo has said the freak offs were consensual sexual activity.

In a preview of a looming dispute over what could be a crucial piece of evidence, prosecutor Mitzi Steiner said the defense may seek to prevent them from introducing at trial a hotel surveillance video broadcast by CNN last year showing Combs striking and dragging his former girlfriend Casandra Ventura, an R&B singer known as Cassie. 

Combs apologized last May after CNN broadcast the video. Agnifilo has said the video was not evidence of sex trafficking, and said Combs and Ventura had "a toxic, loving 11-year relationship." 

In court on Friday, Agnifilo said the video was out of sequence and then parts of it had been sped up. 

"It's a misleading piece of evidence, it's a deceptive piece of evidence, it's a piece of evidence that has been changed," Agnifilo said. 

A CNN spokesperson said the outlet never altered the video.  

Subramanian suggested the two sides work together to put the video in the correct sequence and at the correct speed before showing it to the jury.

At Friday's hearing, Subramanian said prospective jurors would begin filling out questionnaires on April 28. In-person questioning of jurors will start on May 5, with opening statements on May 12, the judge said.

(Reporting by Luc Cohen; Editing by Sandra Maler, Noeleen Walder and David Gregorio)