Jury selection in Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs sex trafficking trial begins today

Jury selection for the trial of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs will begin in New York City today. The media mogul, who’s been in custody since his arrest last September, faces criminal charges for sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transporting to engage in prostitution. Combs has pleaded not guilty on all charges.

The selection process is expected to last a week, with opening statements slated for May 12. Last month, prosecutors filed a superseding indictment in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York adding two additional counts to the existing charges. Combs’ attorneys requested for the trial to be delayed by two months, citing a need for additional time to respond to the new indictment, but the request was denied by Judge Arun Subramanian.

The federal government is accusing Combs of using his power across the music, fashion and entertainment industries to run a criminal organization that facilitated and concealed sex crimes dating back more than a decade. This includes sex trafficking, which they claim occurred when Combs would lure women into his orbit — often under the pretense of a romantic relationship — and would then coerce them into commercial sex acts.

“With these high profile cases like Harvey Weinstein and the NXIVM cult case, courts are willing to define commercial sex as an exchange of sex not just for money, but for anything of value,” says Aya Gruber, a criminal law professor at the University of South California. “It could be promises to help your career in entertainment. It could be moving up in the hierarchy in the cult. It could be various things.”

Combs is also being charged with transporting alleged victims across state and international lines to participate in commercial sex acts. The racketeering portion of the indictment alleges that Combs directed his employees to solicit victims, solicit illicit substances, clean up and conceal the alleged criminal activity, including through forced labor, bribery, arson, kidnapping and obstruction of justice.

In the lead-up to the trial, a hotel surveillance video of Combs assaulting singer and ex-partner Cassie Ventura was highly debated by both the prosecution and the defense. Ventura, who signed to Combs’ record label, Bad Boy Entertainment, in 2006, filed a lawsuit in November 2023 alleging that Combs trafficked, sexually assaulted and abused her throughout their relationship. Combs denied the allegations, but settled the lawsuit out of court within a day of its filing for an undisclosed amount.

Months later, CNN published the hotel footage from a 2016 encounter in which Combs can be seen kicking, beating and physically dragging Ventura down a hallway. After Combs’ arrest, prosecutors pointed to the video as evidence that he could be violent and should await trial in custody. Combs’ lead attorney, Marc Agnifilo, argued that the video was not evidence of trafficking, but of an isolated domestic dispute.

“It’s our defense to these charges that this was a toxic, loving 11-year relationship,” Agnifilo stated during a pre-trial hearing.

Combs’ attorneys also argued that the CNN video had been altered and should be dismissed as evidence, but their motion was denied by Judge Subramanian. The mogul has been denied bail multiple times.

Several alleged victims are expected to testify throughout the course of trial.