Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs appears in court as judge sets May 2025 trial date
Sean "Diddy" Combs is being held in pre-trial detention. (Photo by Shareif Ziyadat/Getty Images for Sean "Diddy" Combs)
NEW YORK—Sean “Diddy” Combs appeared in Manhattan federal court Thursday afternoon as a judge set a May 5 trial date in the music mogul’s racketeering and sex trafficking case.
The judge also gave prosecutors an end-of-the-year deadline to turn evidence over to the defense. Prosecutor Emily Johnson said during the hearing that the U.S. attorney’s office is in the process of trying to decrypt 100 electronic devices seized at Combs’s residences in Miami and Los Angeles. Other devices of his were obtained at the airport and at a hotel room he stayed at in New York.
Combs, 54, was accused in September of leading a criminal enterprise to sexually abuse and exploit women, commit other violent crimes and obstruct justice. He has pleaded not guilty to charges of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, and transportation to engage in prostitution. He could be imprisoned for life if found guilty.
The hip-hop impresario grinned widely as he greeted his defense team in court ahead of the hearing. As it wrapped up, Combs looked toward the gallery at his family members, holding up his hands in a praying gesture and bowing several times in their direction.
U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian—who last week replaced the case’s previous judge, Andrew L. Carter Jr.—also took up allegations from Combs’s legal team that government agents are trying to sabotage his right to a fair trial.
In a Wednesday court filing, attorneys for Combs said they believe that one or more Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents unlawfully leaked information and evidence to the media—including a 2016 video obtained by CNN of Combs viciously beating Cassie Ventura in a Los Angeles hotel—in an attempt to “savage Mr. Combs’ reputation before trial.”
The video, which was released in May and matched incidents that Ventura described in her settled November 2023 lawsuit against Combs, prompted an apology video from the rap mogul and a statement from Ventura thanking supporters. Ventura’s complaint was the first of 12 sexual assault lawsuits that have been filed against Combs in the past year. A team of lawyers recently announced that it would be filing 120 more beginning in the next month.
Defense lawyers also accused DHS of using excessive force during its raids of Combs’s homes in California and Florida to “garner further press attention, sensationalize the case, and portray Mr. Combs as dangerous.”
They believe one or more DHS agents, not the U.S. attorney’s office, planned the leaks to “taint the jury pool and deprive Mr. Combs of his right to a fair trial,” the defense team said in the filing, calling for a hearing to investigate the alleged misconduct and for the video to be suppressed. Prosecutors told the defense that the video wasn’t obtained through the grand jury process and that DHS did not have possession of the videotape before CNN’s publication of it, according to the filing.
During Thursday’s hearing, Johnson told Subramanian that Combs’s lawyer Marc Agnifilo “baselessly accused the government of engaging in a racist prosecution” in a recent TMZ interview.
The judge is expected to issue an order limiting both sides from discussing aspects of the case that aren’t public.
The music producer has remained in federal custody in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center since his arrest and grand jury indictment last month. He was denied bail and unsuccessfully appealed the decision. His lawyers are trying once again for his pretrial release, and an appeals court will reconsider it in a separate proceeding.
Agnifilo did not make a bail request in front of the new judge, even though Subramanian said he was open to hearing one. The lawyer suggested that Combs’s jail facility has been accommodating to the defendant and his team.
“We’re making a go of the MDC. The MDC has been very responsive to us,” Agnifilo told the judge.
The trial’s start date could move from May 5 if prosecutors file additional charges or other factors cause a delay. Lawyers estimated that the bulk of the trial could last about a month—with three weeks dedicated to prosecution witnesses and an additional week for the defense. But the timing could also change depending on how the matter proceeds.
