Diddy's sex trafficking trial begins with jury selection: What to know

FILE-Sean Combs attends the "Killing Them Softly" premiere during 65th Annual Cannes Film Festival at Palais des Festivals on May 22, 2012 in Cannes, France. (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)

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Sean "Diddy" Combs’ sex trafficking trial starts with jury selection as the entertainer and entrepreneur faces charges that he used his influence and resources to sexually abuse women.

Here’s what you need to know.

Diddy jury selection

Local perspective:

Jury selection started on Monday and several dozen prospective jurors got a brief description of the sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges against Sean "Diddy" Combs from the judge, Arun Subramanian, who reminded them that the entertainer had pleaded not guilty and was presumed innocent.

The Associated Press reported that some jurors indicated they had seen news reports featuring a key piece of evidence in the case: a video of the hip-hop mogul hitting and kicking one of his accusers in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in 2016. One prospective juror described a still image she saw from the video as "damning evidence." That woman was rejected from consideration.

After another juror was dismissed, Combs asked for a bathroom break, telling the judge, "I’m sorry your honor I’m a little nervous today.

Opening statements by the lawyers and the start of testimony are expected next week, the AP noted.

Jury selection to begin in Sean "Diddy" Combs trial

Sean "Diddy" Combs, the hip-hop entrepreneur whose wildly successful career has been dotted by allegations of violence, will be brought to a New York courthouse Monday to be tried on charges that he used the influence and resources of his business empire to sexually abuse women. Jury selection is scheduled to begin in the morning and potentially take several days. Opening statements by the lawyers and the start of testimony is expected next week.

Combs sat with his lawyers during the beginning of jury selection. The entertainer wore a sweater over a white collared shirt and gray slacks, which the judge had allowed rather than jail clothing. The 55-year-old has been held in a federal lockup in Brooklyn since his arrest in September 2024.

The hip-hop mogul’s trial is expected to take at least eight weeks, and if convicted, he faces the possibility of decades in prison.

Diddy indictment

Dig deeper:

A 17-page indictment against Sean "Diddy" Combs accuses him of engaging in sex trafficking and presiding over a racketeering conspiracy.

Citing the indictment, the Associated Press notes that with the help of people in his entourage and employees from his network of businesses, the hip-hop mogul engaged in a two-decade pattern of abusive behavior against women and others.

When Combs didn’t get what he wanted, the indictment states that the Bad Boy Records founder and his associates engaged in violent acts like beatings, kidnapping and arson. The indictment also accuses Combs of even dangling a person from a balcony.

According to prosecutors, women were manipulated into taking part in drug-fueled sexual performances with male sex workers that Combs called "Freak Offs." The AP noted that Diddy and his lawyers say he is innocent.

Diddy’s legal troubles through the years

The backstory:

Sean "Diddy" Combs’ trial is the latest and most serious in a long pattern of legal problems he’s endured.

The 55-year-old admitted one episode of violence that is likely to be featured in his upcoming trial. In 2016, a security camera recorded him beating up his former girlfriend Cassie, an R&B singer, in the hallway of a Los Angeles hotel. In 2023, Cassie filed a lawsuit in late alleging that Combs had subjected her to years of abuse, including beatings and rape.

According to the Associated Press, Combs was charged in 2015 with attacking someone with a weight-room kettlebell at the University of California, Los Angeles, where one of his sons played football. Combs said he was defending himself and prosecutors dropped the case.

Years earlier in 1999, the entertainer was charged with bursting into the offices of an Interscope Records executive with his bodyguards and beating him with a champagne bottle and a chair. The AP reported that Steve Stoute, the record executive, asked prosecutors to show leniency for Combs, who pleaded guilty to a lesser charge and took an anger management class.

Later that same year, police stopped Combs after he and his then-girlfriend, Jennifer Lopez left a nightclub where three people were wounded by gunshots.

The mogul was acquitted of all charges related to the incident at a 2001 trial, but a rapper in his entourage, Jamal "Shyne" Barrow, was convicted in the shooting and served almost nine years in prison.

The Source: Information for this story was provided by the Associated Press, which cites prosecutors and shares details about the indictment and Diddy’s past legal issues. This story was reported from Washington, D.C.

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