Disgraced superstar rapper and producer Sean “Diddy” Combs, 54, appeared in court Thursday in his sex-trafficking and racketeering case with his six of his children and elderly mother on hand to support him.
Diddy has spent the last three weeks in a Brooklyn jail, but appeared in Manhattan court Thursday afternoon before district judge Arun Subramanian.
The embattled rapper smiled as he entered the courtroom though a side door, greeting each of his lawyers with an embrace, Inner City Press reported.
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His 84-year-old mother, Janice Combs, was heckled as she arrived to court to support her son.
“Janice, your son is a predator,” a man shouted at the Combs matriarch, who were oversized, bedazzled sunglasses and an animal print coat.
“Your son is a predator and he deserves to be locked up.”
His daughters, twins Jessie James and D'Lila Star, 17, and Chance, 18, showed up separately with their older brothers, Quincy, 33, Justin, 30, and Christian, 26, just minutes before the hearing was set to begin.
During the hearing, his legal team landed the spring 2025 trial start date that they had asked for, with the judge setting it for May 5.
The prosecution said it anticipated its case could take three weeks to present, whereas the defense said it would need only around one week.
The judge also shared his intention to issue an order preventing either side from making statements about non-public evidence from the case, and asked Combs’ team to submit a proposal for the order.
Last month, the music mogul pleaded not guilty to the charges, which stem from allegations that he forced victims to have sex with each other on camera during depraved “freak-off” parties, leaving some so beleaguered they required IV fluids.
In their indictment, prosecutors say he “abused, threatened, and coerced women and others to fulfill his sexual desires,” often drugging and hitting victims to keep them obedient.
He has been denied bail three times.
In addition to the criminal case, Diddy also faces lawsuits from over 120 accusers who allege sexual assault, misconduct, and battery. One of the purported victims says he was only nine-years-old when the sexual abuse happened.
“As Mr. Combs’ legal team has emphasized, he cannot address every meritless allegation in what has become a reckless media circus. That said, Mr. Combs emphatically and categorically denies as false and defamatory any claim that he sexually abused anyone, including minors,” Diddy’s lawyer, Erica Wolff said in response to the suits.
Diddy has found himself embroiled in deepening legal trouble since his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura filed a lawsuit last year accusing him of assault and sex trafficking during their relationship. He denied the allegations and settled for an unknown sum.
The superstar hit-maker was forced to apologize when months later a video emerged of him viciously beating Ventura in a hotel hallway in 2016. This week, Diddy’s team shockingly accused the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of leaking the footage.
“Defendant Sean Combs moves for four forms of relief related to what the defense believes was a series of unlawful government leaks, which have led to damaging, highly prejudicial pre-trial publicity that can only taint the jury pool and deprive Mr. Combs of his right to a fair trial,” they wrote in legal documents filed Wednesday.
Damian Williams, a U.S. attorney for New York, denied the claim, saying that “the government was not in possession of the video before its publication by CNN.”
Accusing the DHS of “underhanded tactics” seems to be a strategy intended to undercut the organization that led the raids on Diddy’s home last month, turning up over 1,000 bottles of baby oil.