Sean “Diddy” Combs’s sex-trafficking trial is scheduled to start on 5 May, the judge presiding over his case decided during a proceeding on Thursday.
Combs’s appearance in Manhattan federal court this afternoon marks his first in front of Judge Arun Subramanian. The jurist was assigned to the case after another judge recused himself over past associations with attorneys on Combs’s case.
Prosecutors revealed on Thursday that authorities seized 96 electronic devices in raids of Combs’s Miami and Los Angeles homes, as well as a private airport in South Florida. Four more devices were taken into custody when Combs was arrested on 16 September.
They also said that Combs might face additional charges. Prosecutors had previously floated the possibility of more counts during prior court proceedings.
The Bad Boy Records founder, 54, previously pleaded not guilty to racketeering conspiracy and sex-trafficking counts following his indictment in September. The charges relate to accusations dating to 2008.
The indictment claims that Combs “abused, threatened and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation and conceal his conduct”.
Federal prosecutors accuse Combs of verbally, emotionally, physically and sexually abusing women – and even “manipulated women to participate in highly orchestrated performance of sexual activity with male commercial sex workers”.
Combs, prosecutors allege, did this by giving out drugs, controlling the accusers’ careers and using his financial power to further manipulate them. Federal authorities said the coercive sexual performances were called “freak-off” parties, or “freak-offs”.
Prosecutors alleged that Combs would draw women into his orbit, frequently under the false guise of a romantic relationship, and then force them to perform in the “freak-offs”. These parties were “elaborate and produced sex performances that Combs arranged, directed, masturbated during and often electronically recorded”, charging papers said.
“Freak-offs” were frequently electronically recorded and would occasionally last multiple days. After these encounters ended, Combs and participants “typically received IV fluids to recover from the physical exertion and drug use”, prosecutors said.
Combs’s lawyers have pushed unsuccessfully to get him freed on bail since his 16 September arrest.
Two judges have determined that Combs posed a danger to the community if he were released before trial. During a bail hearing following his arrest, the judge rebuffed Combs’s $50m bail proposal, finding that he could potentially interfere with potential witnesses and an ongoing investigation.
Combs’s legal team has appealed his pre-trial detention. They asked a panel of the second US circuit court of appeals to reverse prior judge’s rulings on detention, arguing the proposed bail package “would plainly stop him from posing a danger to anyone or contacting any witnesses”.
In asking the appeals court to reverse a lower-court judge, Combs’s team said the jurist had ““endorsed the government’s exaggerated rhetoric and ordered Mr Combs detained”.
Combs’s lawyers also filed paperwork on Wednesday claiming that the Department of Homeland Security – among the agencies which investigated the fallen music mogul – leaked video of him beating his ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, in a hotel hallway about eight years ago.
His legal team said that this video, which was broadcast by CNN in May, has “led to damaging, highly prejudicial pre-trial publicity that can only taint the jury pool and deprive Mr Combs of his right to a fair trial”. Prosecutors have insisted that authorities did not have a copy of this video before it was published by CNN.
After the video was published, Combs responded to the footage, stating in a social media video: “I was disgusted when I did it” and “I’m disgusted now”.
The Associated Press contributed reporting