Sean Combs’ federal trial on costs of intercourse trafficking and racketeering conspiracy will start in New York subsequent week. What’s he accused of, and what’s going to the trial imply for the mogul and for hip-hop?
SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
The intercourse trafficking trial of hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs begins in New York Metropolis subsequent week. Combs has been in custody since his arrest final September. He has pleaded not responsible to all costs, and the music business will probably be watching the trial carefully. It wasn’t way back that Combs was being celebrated for his lengthy and influential profession. NPR’s Isabella Gomez Sarmiento has been following the allegations in opposition to him – and a warning that this story comprises descriptions of sexual assault. Hello, Isabella.
ISABELLA GOMEZ SARMIENTO, BYLINE: Hello, Sasha.
PFEIFFER: What precisely is Combs being accused of?
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: So to reply that, we now have to return a few years when Combs was at an actual profession excessive. And chances are you’ll recall his profession dates all the way in which again to the Nineteen Nineties, so some listeners would possibly know him higher as Puff Daddy or P Diddy. But when we fast-forward to 2022, he’d gotten a lifetime achievement award from BET. The subsequent yr, New York Metropolis mayor Eric Adams awarded Combs a key to the town. I imply, he was simply actually on high of his recreation and getting all of those recognitions for his many years not simply as an artist however as a key participant within the music and media business. In November 2023, he will get nominated for a Grammy after which in a short time, his fame takes an enormous hit. Combs’ ex companion, the singer Cassie Ventura, information a civil lawsuit claiming that Combs trafficked, raped and violently beat her all through their relationship. She alleges that the abuse went on for over a decade and that Combs workers helped him cowl it up. Now, Combs denies all of Ventura’s allegations, however the subsequent day, they settle that lawsuit out of court docket for an undisclosed quantity, and the accusations are so stunning that Combs’ fame simply does not actually bounce again.
PFEIFFER: Isabella, you stated that Ventura filed a civil lawsuit. So clarify how Combs has ended up in jail going through prison costs.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Yeah, that is proper. After Ventura comes ahead, many, many extra individuals file civil lawsuits in opposition to Combs, alleging very related sorts of abuse, and Combs retains denying the allegations. However such as you stated, these aren’t prison costs. Then, in March of 2024, federal legislation enforcement brokers raid a number of properties linked to Combs. They confiscate weapons, they confiscate electronics, all types of issues. And two months later in Might, CNN obtains and releases a resort surveillance video that exhibits Combs violently kicking and hitting Ventura. It was an incident from 2016, and Combs posts this on-line.
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SEAN COMBS: My conduct on that video is inexcusable. I take full duty for my actions in that video. I am disgusted.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: In September of 2024, Combs is arrested in New York Metropolis. The federal authorities costs him with intercourse trafficking, transportation to have interaction in prostitution and racketeering conspiracy, principally alleging that he used his companies to facilitate and conceal intercourse crimes courting again greater than a decade. There is a description of that resort incident within the prison indictment, although it does not confer with Ventura by identify, and prosecutors level to that video to argue that Combs shouldn’t be launched on bail as a result of he might behave violently. A choose in the end sides with them, and Combs stays in custody awaiting this trial.
PFEIFFER: As soon as his trial begins subsequent week, give us a way the way it’s prone to play out.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Yeah. There are a number of alleged victims anticipated to testify in opposition to Combs, and people might very nicely embrace individuals who filed some civil lawsuits in opposition to Combs. The CNN video will probably be admitted as proof. And, you understand, Combs’ attorneys keep his innocence. They are saying that each one of those encounters have been consensual. But when he’s convicted, if the jury finds him responsible of all the costs, he might spend the rest of his life behind bars.
PFEIFFER: That is NPR’s Isabella Gomez Sarmiento. Thanks.
GOMEZ SARMIENTO: Thanks.
(SOUNDBITE OF BADBADNOTGOOD & GHOSTFACE KILLAH SONG, “STREET KNOWLEDGE”)
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