A May 5, 2025 trial date was set for Sean “Diddy” Combs on charges of sex trafficking and racketeering.
While the May 5 trial date was set, prosecutors said their investigation is “very much ongoing” and that it’s possible a superseding indictment will be filed, which could prolong the trial and discovery dates.
Driven from a Brooklyn jail, the rapper and mogul appeared in Manhattan federal court Thursday in front of Judge Arun Subramanian. His family, including his mother and six of his children, were in attendance. Combs, wearing an all-tan prison outfit, smiled and waved at family as he walked in and hugged his attorneys.
As it stands, prosecutors estimate their case will take three weeks to present at trial, while the defense estimated theirs would take one week. All discovery is scheduled to be completed by Dec. 31, 2024.
Federal prosecutors arrested Combs in mid-September on charges of directing a vast criminal enterprise through which he is alleged to have assaulted and trafficked women with the help of his various businesses from at least 2008. The indictment against him refers, in part, to a series of events called “Freak Offs,” in which commercial sex workers were allegedly brought in by Combs, who then “used force, threats of force, and coercion to cause victims to engage in extended sex acts” that were recorded and could last for days. Combs has pleaded not guilty.
Public backlash against the hip-hop mogul has been swift and severe, intensifying after he was accused by the government of various sex crimes stemming from a decades-long pattern of physical and sexual violence against women in his orbit since at least 2008.
As Combs’ mother walked into the courthouse, an onlooker yelled toward her, “Your son is a predator.” She did not respond, but issued a statement on Sunday through her attorney denouncing the “public lynching” of her son “before he’s had the opportunity to prove his innocence.”
Potential discovery in the case is vast, spanning electronics belonging to Combs and various associates accused of helping him, business records and physical evidence seized in searches of his home, among other things.
He faces a sentence of up to life in prison and a minimum of 15 years if convicted on the counts of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prosecution.
The government has been in daily discussions with lawyers for Combs regarding discovery, prioritizing the production of information stored on his phones, laptops and cloud accounts, with 96 electronic devices in total. Evidence has already changed hands. The defense has turned over Combs’ hard drives while prosecutors have turned over search warrants in the case and his phone, which was seized in March. The U.S. Attorney’s Office is expected to surrender copies of subpoenas to potential witnesses and materials from searches of the hip-hop mogul’s homes and hotel room.
“The Government’s investigation is ongoing and it will continue to review and produce discovery on a rolling basis,” prosecutors wrote in a court filing, “or as technology advancements allow the Government to access electronically stored information that has not yet been extracted.”
Information leaked to media before charges were brought by prosecutors have been leveraged by Combs’ lawyers, including lead counsel Marc Agnifilo, to attack the prosecution. On Wednesday, they accused the government of vast misconduct for disclosing evidence, including hotel surveillance footage of Combs violently assaulting the singer Cassie, to news organizations. They seek a court order that would keep a potential jury from considering such evidence or the dismissal of all charges if it’s proven that law enforcement agents were the source of the leak.
Prosecutors pushed back against the motion Thursday, calling it “baseless” and arguing in court that the defense was using it as a “means to exclude a damning piece of evidence.” In turn, Assistant ADA accused Agniflio of misconduct for an interview given to TMZ in which he accused the government of pursuing racist prosecution against a successful, Black businessman. As interim relief, both parties potential reciprocal gag order.
The defense’s motion was filed on the heels of Combs appealing for a second time an order by the court denying him bail. He’s currently incarcerated at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. The issue of bail did not come up Thursday, as its being considered by a different court.
The next hearing date for the trial has been set for Dec. 18.
Source: Hollywoodreporter
