Sean “Diddy” Combs has pleaded not guilty to an updated indictment containing new charges of forced labour.
According to the superseding indictment, the rap entrepreneur compelled employees to work excessive hours under the threat of bodily and reputational harm, and at least one worker was forced to engage in sex activities with him.
Mr. Combs’ lawyers have denied that the rap mogul has ever coerced anyone to do sex acts, claiming that the case is about consensual interactions with his women, according to the New York Times.
His attorneys have also “vehemently” refuted all of the allegations levelled against him in the federal prosecution and scores of civil cases launched against him in recent months.
“He looks forward to his day in court when it will become clear that he has never forced anyone to engage in sexual acts against their will,” his lawyer Marc Agnifilo has said.
Mr. Combs, one of the most successful rappers in the United States, is set to face trial in a federal sex trafficking and racketeering case.
The new claims outlined in the amended indictment fall under the racketeering charge.
Separately, Mr. Combs is facing scores of cases accusing him of rape and violence. His attorneys have dismissed the claims as “clear attempts to garner publicity.”
On Friday, Mr. Combs was carried into a wood-panelled courtroom in New York’s southern district federal court, dressed in a greenish-tan jail jumpsuit and with unkempt grey hair and a beard.
He elected to stand while entering his not guilty plea. When asked by a court whether he had seen and read the indictment, he replied, “Yes, sir.”
Behind him, on the public seats, his son Christian, daughter Chance, mother Janice Combs—wearing enormous sunglasses—and friend Marvet Britto (a publicist) came to support him, as did two other men who introduced themselves as members of the family’s “support system.”
Mr. Combs smiled in court, waving and kissing his family and hugging his lawyers.
In addition to the new allegations, the prosecution and defence lawyers argued in court about a video aired by CNN last year that appeared to show CCTV footage of Mr. Combs kicking his former girlfriend, Cassandra Ventura, on a hotel hallway floor in 2016.
Mr. Combs’ attorneys restated their assertions that the film was “deceptive” and that a visual expert discovered that parts of the tape were rearranged, motions accelerated, and timestamps obscured.
Prosecutors, on the other hand, hailed it as “critical” and “direct evidence” of their case, which they will present as an exhibit during the trial. The judge asked them to negotiate a settlement.
CNN and a lawyer for Ms. Ventura both refuted what Mr. Combs’ lawyers alleged about the video.
After the film was revealed in 2024, Mr. Combs apologised for his behaviour, saying, “I take full responsibility for my actions in that video. I was disgusted then when I did it. I’m disgusted now.”
On Friday, the court said that jury selection will begin on May 5 and opening statements on May 12.
