Sean “Diddy” Combs was accused in a new criminal indictment of trafficking at least three women in a 20-year-long sexual abuse scheme.
Prosecutors said on Thursday that the rapper – also known as P Diddy and Puff Daddy – transported three female victims along with commercial sex workers across state lines and internationally.
One of the victims is Combs‘ former girlfriend Casandra Ventura – also known as Cassie.
The newly filed New York indictment charges him with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution. There are no additional charges in the new indictment.
Combs, 55, is set to go on trial from 5 May. He denies all charges and pleaded not guilty to the first indictment – which referenced just one female victim – filed against him last year.
The mogul has been detained at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center since his arrest in September and was denied bail at $50m (£37.8m).
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Combs is alleged to have used his business empire – including his record label Bad Boy Entertainment – to sexually abuse women.
As part of the alleged abuse, women were made to take part in recorded sexual performances called “freak offs” with male sex workers who were sometimes transported across state lines.
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Last year, CNN broadcast a video of Combs kicking, shoving and dragging Cassie in a hotel hallway. He then apologised.
Marc Agnifilo, Combs’ lawyer, has said the rapper never denied assaulting Cassie but said that the video was not evidence of sex trafficking.
The lawyer has also argued that the “freak offs” described by prosecutors were consensual sexual activity.
