Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial live updates: Opening statements begin in federal sex trafficking case
Opening statements in the trial of Sean 'Diddy' Combs began Monday in federal court in Manhattan, where the 55-year-old hip-hop mogul is facing charges of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution.
According to the indictment, Combs 'abused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct.'
It contains a litany of shocking allegations. Federal prosecutors say that Combs used his business empire for decades to conduct 'freak offs,' drug-fueled sex performances in which women were allegedly coerced to participate.
The indictment also alleges that Combs used guns, kidnapping and arson to control his victims.
He has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, Combs could face life in prison. He is being held without bail in a Brooklyn jail.
A jury of 12 New Yorkers and six alternates will decide his fate.
The trial is expected to last at least eight weeks.
Follow the live blog below for the latest updates on the trial.
The newly empaneled jury has received its instructions from Judge Arun Subramanian, and opening statements in the federal sex trafficking trial of Sean "Diddy" Combs are now underway.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Johnson is delivering the opening statement for the prosecution.
'This is Sean Combs,' Johnson says, gesturing to Combs at the defense table. 'To the public, he was Puff Daddy or Diddy. A cultural icon. A businessman. Larger than life. But there was another side to him. A side that ran a criminal enterprise.'
Combs's sprawling legal team is led by veteran criminal defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo, who has experience in high-profile cases, having previously represented NXIVM cult leader Keith Raniere and 'Pharma Bro' Martin Shkreli, among others.
Combs's other lawyers include Teny Geragos, Alexandra Shapiro and Brian Steel, who represented rapper Young Thug in a racketeering case in Georgia and was the subject of a recent New Yorker profile.
Also of note: Marc Agnifilo's wife, Karen Friedman Agnifilo, is lead counsel for Luigi Mangione, the 26-year-old accused of killing UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson last year.
She was spotted in the courtroom Monday to hear opening statements in the Combs case.
A team of eight U.S. attorneys are arguing the case for the government, including Emily Johnson, Madison Smyser, Mary Slavik, Meredith Foster and Mitzi Steiner, who are listed as the lead lawyers on the docket.
The prosecution team also features Maurene Ryan Comey, daughter of former FBI Director James Comey. In 2022, she helped secure a conviction against British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell for conspiring with Jeffrey Epstein to sexually abuse underage girls. Maxwell was sentenced to 20 years in prison.
The judge overseeing the trial is Arun Subramanian, who was nominated to the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York by then-President Joe Biden in 2022 and confirmed by the Senate in 2023.
He is the first judge of South Asian descent to serve on the court's bench.
Subramanian, a Columbia Law School graduate who clerked for the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, was previously a partner at the Manhattan law firm Susman Godfrey, where he specialized in commercial and bankruptcy law.
The Diddy case is believed to be his highest-profile trial yet.
The jury that will hear Sean "Diddy" Combs's sex trafficking case has been selected.
Lawyers for both sides were allowed to issue peremptory strikes — excluding without any reason or explanation — to a pool of 43 prospective jurors on Monday morning before the panel of 12 jurors and six alternates was finalized.
The jury will be sworn in by Judge Arun Subramanian before opening statements.
The Sean "Diddy" Combs federal sex-trafficking trial will not be televised, because broadcasting of federal court proceedings is generally prohibited under a rule adopted by U.S. judges in the 1940s.
That means that the only images you'll see from inside the courtroom will be from sketch artists (like this one by Jane Rosenberg), and updates will be delivered via reporters in the courtroom.
Relatives of Sean "Diddy" Combs arrived early at federal court in Manhattan Monday. His mother, Janice, and six of his children were among them.
Last week, the prosecution and defense narrowed the pool of potential jurors to 45 and were expected to make their final selections on Friday. But two potential jurors were dismissed at the last minute — one for personal reasons, the other for not disclosing an ongoing lawsuit they were involved in — forcing Judge Arun Subramanian to delay the process of finalizing the jury until Monday.
After jury selection is complete, the panel of 12 jurors and six alternates to be sworn in, followed by opening statements from both sides and testimony from the first witnesses called by the prosecution.
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