Cliff Notes
- Prosecutors accuse Sean “Diddy” Combs of operating a criminal enterprise involving sex trafficking, racketeering, and threatening former girlfriend Cassie with the release of personal videos to maintain control over her.
- Combs, who has pleaded not guilty, maintains that all sexual encounters were consensual, asserting that the case revolves around his private sexual preferences rather than illegal activities.
- Testimonies from witnesses, including a former hotel security guard and a male escort, have begun to outline incidents of violence and exploitation, with video evidence presented in court.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs forced women into ‘freak offs’, jurors told – as hotel CCTV is played in court | Ents & Arts News
Sean “Diddy” Combs’s public persona was that of a “charismatic” hip-hop mogul – but behind the scenes he forced women into “freak off” sexual encounters with escorts and blackmailed them with videos, prosecutors alleged during the first day of his trial.
In the courtroom in Manhattan, New York, Combs blew a kiss to his mother and family members supporting him, before listening intently as opening statements from the prosecution and defence outlined the details of the high-profile case.
The hip-hop mogul, 55, has pleaded not guilty to charges of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution, and strenuously denied all allegations of sexual abuse.