From Hollywood to Residence: Black Voices in Leisure
NEW YORK — Sean “Diddy” Combs, the hip-hop entrepreneur whose wildly profitable profession has been dotted by allegations of violence, will likely be dropped at a New York courthouse Monday to be tried on expenses that he used the affect and assets of his enterprise empire to sexually abuse ladies. Jury choice is scheduled to start within the morning and doubtlessly take a number of days. Opening statements by the attorneys and the beginning of testimony is predicted subsequent week.
The 17-page indictment in opposition to Combs reads like a charging doc filed in opposition to a Mafia chief or the pinnacle of a drug gang, accusing him of partaking in intercourse trafficking and presiding over a racketeering conspiracy.
The indictment says that with the assistance of individuals in his entourage and staff from his community of companies, Combs engaged in a two-decade sample of abusive habits in opposition to ladies and others.
Girls have been manipulated into taking part in drug-fueled sexual performances with male intercourse employees that Combs known as “Freak Offs,” prosecutors say.
To maintain ladies in line, prosecutors say Combs used a mixture of affect and violence: He supplied to spice up their leisure careers in the event that they did what he requested — or reduce them off in the event that they did not.
And when he wasn’t getting what he wished, the indictment says Combs and his associates resorted to violent acts together with beatings, kidnapping and arson. As soon as, the indictment alleges, he even dangled somebody from a balcony.
Combs and his attorneys say he’s harmless.
Any group intercourse was consensual, they are saying. There was no effort to coerce individuals into issues they did not wish to do, and nothing that occurred amounted to a felony racket, they stated.
The trial is predicted to take at the least eight weeks.
Combs, 55, has acknowledged one episode of violence that’s more likely to be featured within the trial. In 2016, a safety digital camera recorded him beating up his former girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie, within the hallway of a Los Angeles resort. Cassie filed a lawsuit in late 2023 saying Combs had subjected her to years of abuse, together with beatings and rape.
The Related Press doesn’t sometimes identify individuals who say they’ve been sexually abused except they arrive ahead publicly, as Cassie, whose authorized identify is Casandra Ventura, did.
Combs’ legal professional, Marc Agnifilo has stated Combs was “not an ideal particular person” and that there had been drug use and poisonous relationships, however stated that every one sexual exercise between Combs, Cassie and different individuals was consensual.
The trial is the newest and most critical in an extended string of authorized issues for Combs.
In 1999 he was charged with bursting into the places of work of an Interscope Data govt along with his bodyguards and beating him with a champagne bottle and a chair. The chief, Steve Stoute, later requested prosecutors to go simple on Combs, who pleaded responsible to a lesser cost and took an anger administration class.
Later that very same 12 months, Combs was stopped by police after he and his then-girlfriend, Jennifer Lopez, fled a nightclub the place three individuals have been wounded by gunfire. Combs was acquitted of all expenses associated to the incident at a 2001 trial, however a rapper in his entourage, Jamal “Shyne” Barrow, was convicted within the taking pictures and served almost 9 years in jail.
Then in 2015, Combs was charged with assaulting somebody with a weight-room kettlebell on the the College of California, Los Angeles, the place one in all his sons performed soccer. Combs stated he was defending himself and prosecutors dropped the case.
Now, Combs faces his most critical case but.
If convicted, he faces the potential of many years in jail.
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