Sean “Diddy” Combs used his fame as one of hip-hop’s biggest names to coerce women into demeaning sexual acts as part of a long-running scheme of sex trafficking and racketeering, prosecutors said on Tuesday in bringing three criminal charges against him.
Combs (54) pleaded not guilty in Manhattan court hours after the 14-page indictment was unsealed. Judge Robyn Tarnofsky denied bail for Combs, granting a prosecution request for continued detention before trial following the music mogul’s arrest on Monday.
The rapper and producer used his business empire including his record label Bad Boy Entertainment to transport women, as well as male sex workers, across state lines to take part in recorded sexual performances, prosecutors said.
Combs’s lawyer Marc Agnifilo called the sexual activity described by prosecutors as consensual.
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Combs faces a sentence of up to life in prison, and a minimum of 15 years, if convicted of the three felony counts: racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.
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 did not specify how many women were alleged victims. It contained no allegation that Combs himself directly engaged in unwanted sexual contact with women, though he was accused of assaulting them by punching, kicking, dragging and throwing objects. Combs and his associates used bribery and violence such as arson and kidnapping to try to keep his conduct secret, prosecutors said.
Mr Agnifilo said he will appeal his client’s continued detention at a hearing on Wednesday.
Also known during his career as P. Diddy and Puff Daddy, 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 accused Combs of running a criminal enterprise to facilitate his exploitation of women, dating back at least 16 years.
The defence had sought to have Combs released on $50 million bond secured by his Miami home.
Combs is the highest-profile music industry figure charged with sexual misconduct since R&B singer R. Kelly was sentenced to a combined 31 years in prison after being convicted in New York in 2021 and Chicago in 2022 sex trafficking, racketeering, child sex crimes and other counts.
Hit with a series of civil lawsuits accusing him of sexual and other misconduct as well as a federal criminal investigation, Combs' career has been derailed in the past year.
Last November, his former girlfriend Casandra Ventura, an R&B singer known as Cassie, accused him in a lawsuit of serial physical abuse, sexual slavery and rape. She agreed to an undisclosed settlement one day after suing. Combs denied her allegations.
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