For decades, Sean “Diddy” Combs reigned as the music world’s most boisterous showman. But now the 55-year-old beleaguered mogul — worth as much as $1 billion just three years ago — spends his days moving with little fanfare through the maze of hallways and rooms that make up the federal justice system, his once-black hair and beard faded to gray.
Eight months after being arrested in the lobby of a five-star Manhattan hotel, the man now known as inmate 37452-054 is going on trial in the Southern District of New York courtroom on racketeering, sex trafficking and other charges on accusations he abused numerous people throughout his lifetime. Jury selection is set to begin on May 5, and the proceedings are expected to last eight weeks.
Combs, however, has remained defiant, denying all wrongdoing. “[It’s] sad. . . . I’m Puff Daddy in jail,” he told Kanye West in a leaked call from behind bars in March. Long famous for his high-flying, champagne-popping lifestyle, Combs has been confined to 4 North — a fourth-floor dormitory-style unit in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn that he shares with about 20 other men.
Inside, Combs keeps a low profile. He meets regularly with his legal team and pores over evidence from prosecutors on a prison-issued laptop with no Wi-Fi access. After unsuccessfully trying to delay the trial by two months, Combs will soon face a jury. If they convict him on the most serious charges, he could go to prison for 15 years or even life, though the maximum sentence would be unlikely.
“This is a very strong case for the prosecution,” says attorney and former federal prosecutor Neama Rahmani, who is not involved in the case. “The sheer number of victims, years and pattern of abuse and the electronic evidence implicating Combs make this a challenging case to defend,” Rahmani adds.
Since the first wave of shocking criminal counts was unsealed against Combs in September 2024, federal prosecutors have updated the indictment against him three separate times. He currently faces five felony charges, including sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution, and has pleaded not guilty.
“I expect a long battle with a good result,” his lawyer Marc Agnifilo previously said, telling PEOPLE that Combs is “an imperfect person but … not a criminal.”
Prosecutors paint a darker portrait of the music impresario who became as well-known for his rap career as for his A-list parties and his many brands, from Ciroc to Sean John. Authorities depict him as the ringleader of a violent enterprise tied to suspected kidnapping, arson, drug crimes and widespread sexual abuse. According to the indictment, Combs and his associates are accused of luring victims with promises of romance, then using force, threats and coercion to compel them into sex acts at so-called “freak off” parties.
The government’s lead witness and Combs’s ex-partner, Cassie Ventura, 38, identified in court documents as Victim 1, is preparing to take the stand and testify by name about what she endured during their on-and-off relationship from 2007 to 2018.
In November 2023, she filed a bombshell sexual assault lawsuit against Combs that was settled out of court in just one day—but kicked off an ever-growing list of public accusers. Six months later, in May 2024, CNN published footage from a security camera at the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles showing Ventura fleeing a room, only to be attacked by Combs, who is seen wearing a white towel around his waist and socks. He then grabs her by the neck, throws her to the floor and violently kicks her and grabs her purse and suitcase, the video shows.
As Ventura lies motionless, Combs kicks her again and briefly drags her back toward the room before letting go and walking away. Moments later, the footage shows, he sits down in a chair, grabs an object from a table and forcefully throws it toward her.
He apologized after the video was released, saying, “I was disgusted then when I did it, I’m disgusted now.” On Sunday, May 19, 2024, Combs shared the statement via an Instagram video, captioned with the words: “I’m truly sorry.”
“It’s so difficult to reflect on the darkest times in your life,” the rapper said in the Instagram video. “Sometimes you gotta do that. I was f—
ed up. I mean I hit rock bottom but I make no excuses. My behavior on that video is inexcusable.”
His attorneys tried and failed to have the clip excluded from trial, claiming it was “substantially” edited, which CNN denied.
At least two other people will testify for the prosecution under pseudonyms and will allege abuse by Combs, court documents show.
As for whether Combs will testify, his attorney has said it’s possible. “I don’t know that I could keep him off the stand,” Agnifilo said in the documentary The Downfall of Diddy. “He is very eager to tell his story.”
Legal analyst Rahmani says that would be a dangerous move. Testifying would subject Combs to cross-examination and make his words admissible in more than 60 pending civil cases. More broadly, Rahmani expects that Combs’s defense will argue his accusers are motivated by “fame, money or revenge” and challenge their credibility.
But “when multiple victims are testifying Combs physically and sexually assaulted them,” Rahmani says, “It will be hard for the defense to argue it was all consensual. Adults can consent to sexual activity no matter how freaky it is, but the victims may have been coerced by force or were unable to consent because they were under the influence of drugs.”
Whatever unfolds inside the Manhattan courtroom, Rahmani believes the odds are stacked against Combs. “I expect him to be convicted,” he says, “and spend decades in prison.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, please contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673) or go to rainn.org.
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