Diddy trial jury selection starts as twelve New York residents will determine disgraced mogul’s fate in sex abuse case: Live updates

Combs, 55, has acknoledged one episode of violence that is likely to be featured in the trial.

In 2016, a security camera recorded him beating up his former girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie, in the hallway of a Los Angeles hotel.

Cassie, real name Cassandra Ventura, filed a lawsuit in late 2023 saying Combs had subjected her to years of abuse, including beatings and rape.

Combs’ attorney, Marc Agnifilo has said Combs was ‘not a perfect person’ and that there had been drug use and toxic relationships, but said that all sexual activity between Combs, Cassie and other people was consensual.

The rapper’s appearance has changed now that he has no access to the luxurious of the outside like hair dye.

Since being locked up at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center following his arrest in September, Combs has grown noticeably grayer and scruffier, and on Thursday appeared in court wearing eyeglasses.

He was holding a black folder filled with documents and hugged his lawyers, fist bumping with one female attorney, Teny Geragos, and exchanging smiles with her.

He waved to a man in the public gallery but nobody from his family was present, unlike previous hearings.

Jury selection is scheduled to begin in the morning and potentially take several days. Opening statements by the lawyers and the start of testimony is expected next week.

The 17-page indictment against Combs reads like a charging document filed against a Mafia leader or the head of a drug gang, accusing him of en engaging in sex trafficking and presising over a racketeering conspiracy.

The indictment says that with the help of people in his entourage and employees from his network of businesses, Combs engaged in a two-decade pattern of abusive behavior against women and others.

The disgraced hip hop mogul confirmed that he did not accept the offer during his pretrial hearing in New York on Thursday.

The specific terms of the deal were not disclosed, but prosecutors said the Bad Boy founder would have faced less prison time if he had accepted it and been found guilty.

His lawyer Marc Agnifilo told the court that the two had discussed the agreement last week and ‘came to a decision’ together.

Bespectacled Diddy was asked to stand by Judge Arun Subramanian who asked him if he had read the plea deal offer.

‘I have, your honor’, he said.

When the judge asked if he had ‘rejected the plea offer’. Diddy replied: ‘Yes I did, your honor’.

Read the full story here.

Diddy has been granted permission to wear his own clothes at his upcoming sex trafficking trial following a judge’s ruling.

The disgraced hip hop mogul can ditch the prison issue, tan colored top and pants when jury selection begins and for the remainder of the case.

But certain conditions on Diddy, who has designed his own clothing range and once won a prestigious fashion industry award.

Diddy’s lawyers made the application for him to wear clothes other than those from the grim Metropolitan Detention Center, where he is being held, to Judge Arun Subramanian.

In his ruling, the judge said:

The defendant Sean Combs, Inmate # 37452-054, will be permitted to receive non-prison clothing at the MDC to wear for his trial scheduled to begin on May 5, 2025.

He is permitted to have up to five button down shirts, up to five pairs of pants, up to five sweaters, up to five pairs of socks, and up to two pairs of shoes without laces to wear to court.

Before his fall from grace Diddy was considered one of the most fashionable men on the planet with his own fashion line winning the Council of Fashion Designers of America award in 2004.

The jurors selected to decide Diddy’s fate in his high-profile sex trafficking trial will be asked a series of unusual questions – including about their views on sex with multiple partners, drugs and hip-hop.

Rapper Sean Combs, 55, is facing myriad civil lawsuits alleging he sexually abused several anonymous complainants between 1990 and 2023 at star-studded events including VMA’s afterparties and his notorious ‘White Party’ functions in New York.

The sordid accusations range from gang-raping minors as young as 13 alongside celebrities including Jay-Z, to drugging women in order to sexually assault them.

Read the full story by Laura Parnaby here:

Diddy will be driven across the East River by U.S. Marshals to the federal courthouse in Lower Manhattan, where he is due to arrive at 8:30am EST.

Once there, District Judge Arun Subramanian is expected to begin questioning prospective jurors one-by-one in a bid to seat a panel of 12 jurors and six alternates.

Hundreds of prospective jurors have already filled out questionnaires designed to elicit any bias they may have about the case.

Combs’ defense lawyers and prosecutors with the Manhattan U.S. Attorney’s office agreed on about 150 who could proceed to in-person questioning by the judge, known as voir dire.

Subramanian said in a May 1 hearing that the goal will be to choose 45 potential jurors who are qualified to serve, and lawyers for both sides will then have the opportunity to dismiss jurors without stating a reason, known as peremptory strikes.

The jury will be anonymous, which is frequently the case in high-profile trials in which jurors could face threats or harassment if their identities are known

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs attends The 2023 Met Gala

Two years ago, Diddy was one of the stars of New York’s Met Gala, one of the world’s most glamorous fashion events.

Speaking to reporters outside the Gala, which traditionally takes place on the first Monday in May, two years ago wearing his own Sean John fashion label, he told reporters:

This is Sean John’s [Met Gala] debut, as you can see. First time I designed in 10 years, and we’re feeling good.

But since then he’s swapped The Metropolitan Museum of Art for Brooklyn’s notorious Metropolitan Detention Center.

Once a mainstay at the Met Gala, the 55-year-old’s downfall is particularly apparent today as jurors are selected for his sex trafficking trial.

Diddy and Cassie pictured together in Los Angeles in 2017

Core to the case against Diddy is his relationship with his former girlfriend, the singer Casandra ‘Cassie’ Ventura, who is expected to be a key trial witness.

A disturbing surveillance video from 2016, which was aired by CNN last year, shows Combs physically assaulting Ventura at a hotel.

Prosecutors say the encounter occurred following one of the ‘freak-offs’ they argue were a feature of his pattern of abuse.

The so-called ‘freak-offs’ were coercive, drug-fueled sexual marathons including sex workers that were sometimes filmed, according to the indictment.

The floodgates opened after Ventura filed a civil suit alleging Combs subjected her to more than a decade of coercion by physical force and drugs as well as a 2018 rape.

That 2023 suit was quickly settled out of court, but a string of similarly lurid sexual assault claims against the Grammy winner from both women and men followed.

Diddy is facing five felony charges, namely:

• Racketeering conspiracy
• Two counts of sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion
• Two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution

The charge of racketeering conspiracy, the federal statute known by its acronym RICO that was once primarily used to target the mafia but in recent years has been wielded in cases of sexual abuse, including against the fallen R&B star R. Kelly.

It allows government attorneys to project a long view of criminal activity rather than prosecuting isolated sex crimes.

If convicted, the one-time rap producer and global superstar, who is often credited for his role in ushering hip-hop into the mainstream, could spend the rest of his life in prison.

Hello and welcome to Dailymail.com’s live coverage as jury selection gets under way in the blockbuster federal sex trafficking trial of music mogul Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, who stands accused of years of harrowing abuse.

Combs, 55, has been held in detention in New York since September last year and is facing five felony charges

Prosecutors allege the influential hip-hop producer drugged and coerced women into sexual activities with male prostitutes.

Investigators said they found drugs and more than 1,000 bottles of baby oil that were intended to be used for orgies known as ‘freak offs’.

Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty on all counts, insisting that any sex acts were consensual.

Jury selection is expected to wrap up in about a week, with the trial’s opening statements scheduled for May 12. The proceedings are estimated to last eight to 10 weeks.

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