Looking at life in prison if found guilty in his sex trafficking criminal trial, the much accused Sean “Diddy” Combs may be facing even more charges, prosecutors admitted today.
Currently already behind bars and repeatedly denied bail, the heavily lawyered up Combs’ trial is set to start May 5 next year.
While Combs denied everything, some of which he walked back when the 2016 video became public, he very quickly settled with Ventura for around $30 million, according to well-placed sources.
On Monday, the judge denied a defense motion for an evidentiary hearing on alleged government leaks and for additional discovery.
Even the terms of Combs’ jailhouse access to a laptop containing defense case materials have been in dispute.
Prosecutors acknowledged today that Sean “Diddy” Combs, who is heavily accused, may face additional charges for sex trafficking, which carries a life sentence if convicted.
During a quick hearing on a number of discovery-related matters before federal judge Arun Subramanian, Assistant U. S. Lawyer Emily Johnson informed the judge that she was unable to comment on the federal government’s ongoing investigation. Johnson stated that “any additional charges will have little discovery information,” but the government also stated that it had no plans to change the established trial date. “”.
The almost casual way a superseding indictment was brought up today suggests that more charges are almost certain, even though prosecutors in the office run by Damian Williams, who recently resigned, have hinted that additional indictments may be forthcoming. Otherwise, AUSA Johnson assured the government that more material would be sent to the defense as soon as possible, pointing out that “technology is fickle.”. Johnson stated that the rapper’s legal team has already received all correspondence and materials exchanged between “Victim 1” and Combs.
Combs was charged with sex trafficking, racketeering, and transportation to engage in prostitution after being apprehended by the NYPD on September 16 in a hotel lobby in the Big Apple. The highly represented Combs’ trial is scheduled to begin on May 5 of next year, despite the fact that he is already in jail and has been repeatedly denied bail.
Combs was in the courtroom Wednesday, as he has been for every session in this case, and greeting the judge briefly before the hearing, which lasted 19 minutes, started. In contrast to previous hearings, Combs’ mother was not shown, but a number of his kids were.
Combs is going to remain confined in the harsh Metropolitan Detention Center for at least three more months, with the next hearing in the toxic matter set for 17.
Combs and his associates allegedly forced both men and women into lengthy sexual encounters with male prostitutes, known as “freak offs.” The women were allegedly drugged, threatened with violence, and physically prevented from leaving the hotel rooms where the “freak offs” were staged and captured on camera. Combs has been the target of dozens of civil cases in recent months, alleging that the performer has raped and assaulted children as young as 13.
Combs has consistently refuted all of the accusations and charges made against him.
Following three failed attempts at pre-trial release, including an offer to post a $50 million bond and lock himself in a rented Manhattan apartment with private security guards acting as monitors, the founder of Bad Boy Records has formally given up on bail. His attorneys, however, are still putting up a fierce defense for him, claiming that the government’s case is tainted by a biased leak of CNN footage that showed Combs assaulting Cassie Ventura, his then-girlfriend, in a hotel hallway in Los Angeles in 2016.
Ventura is referred to as “Victim 1” in the criminal case against Combs. In fact, she brought her ex into the public eye by suing him for rape and abuse in November 2023. Despite his denials, some of which he later recanted after the 2016 video was made public, Combs swiftly reached a settlement with Ventura for about $30 million, according to reliable sources.
In sworn declarations to Judge Subramanian, the case’s investigators and prosecutors claim not to have disclosed any information. The judge turned down a defense motion on Monday for more discovery and an evidentiary hearing on alleged government leaks.
The “All About the Benjamins” rapper has been detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn since his arrest earlier this fall, and Combs’ attorneys also objected to prosecutors obtaining defense documents from a search of Combs’ storage locker there. The raid at MDC, according to the prosecution, was a regular, prearranged security sweep of the jail by agents of the Federal Bureau of Prisons, and Combs was not the target.
However, in a victory for Combs, Judge Subramanian insisted that prosecutors destroy all copies of nearly 20 pages of material from the sweep. The judge has also mandated that jail staff not give the government access to Combs’ lawyer visit forms.
Helper U. A. The documents, according to attorney Christy Slavik, contained evidence of Combs’ “continued obstruction,” including information about attempts to bribe or find dirt on government witnesses, but nothing in them was privileged. The defense refuted the government’s allegation that Combs tried to use other prisoners’ phone time at one point in order to avoid having his calls recorded.
There has even been disagreement over Combs’ jailhouse access to a laptop that contained defense case materials. Last week, the judge decided that Combs could view the laptop every day between 8 a.m. M. and 3:30 p.m. m. both the video teleconference room and the visiting room of his jail house.
In other news, Combs associate Brendan Paul, who was caught during the widely publicized spring raids on the “Love” singer’s L, received a charge drop today. A. . and homes in Miami by the FBI, local police, and Homeland Security. Paul signed a plea deal and was put in a drug treatment program, which he has since finished.
Nevertheless, Combs, the former hitmaker-turned-mogul whose media, fashion, and rap empire was in ruins in recent years, is still facing dozens and dozens of civil lawsuits, the majority of which were brought by Texas attorney Tony Buzbee. In a recently refiled lawsuit with Combs, Jay-Z, another New York hip-hop artist, was accused of raping a 13-year-old girl in 2000 at a party held in New York following the MTV Video Music Awards. The flurry of litigation has also ensnared him.
