Sean “Diddy” Comink declared himself innocent on Friday of an accusation of replacement that accuses him of forcing one of his employees to sexual acts.
Combs, whose hair and beard were remarkably more gray, entered the Court of New York without annoying in a two -piece jail uniform. He smiled when he saw his family members, including his mother, sitting in the courtroom.
“Good afternoon,” Combs told Judge Arun Subramanian when he was received in a similar way.
One of the new accusations expands the time frame of alleged criminal conduct and adds two alleged victims. The second new accusation said that combs forced employees to work long hours under threat of physical and reputational damage and forced at least one employee to participate in sexual acts with him.
Combs was arrested last year after being accused in an accusation of expanding sex trafficking. He has denied all the accusations and has already declared himself innocent of positions of conspiracy of extortion, sex trafficking and transport to participate in prostitution.
In this archive photo of October 20, 2023, Sean “Diddy” combs is shown in Washington, DC
SHAREIF ZIYADAT/GETTY IMAGES FOR SEA COMBS, FILE
Opening statements for the combs trial are scheduled to begin on May 12.
The judge decided that the members of the potential jury will begin to complete questionnaires on April 28 before the jury selection begins in person on May 5. The objective is to question 300 potential juries per day until a jury is sitting.
Federal prosecutors said they have up to 20 potential witnesses, apart from the three alleged main victims, who could testify about combs’ behavior.
Many of them are “incredibly scared” of being publicly known or known by the combs legal team, said prosecutor Mitzi Steiner.
The judge said his identities must be disclosed to defense in the next few days.
Before the trial, federal prosecutors said they would make a “strong argument” to include a video that represents the combs kicking and dragging their ex -girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, in a Los Angeles hotel in 2016.
“Are you not trying to use a video that is somehow misleading?” Subramanian asked.
“Of course not, your honor,” Steiner.
The defense has insisted that the video, which was first obtained by CNN, is “misleading” and said they would try to exclude it from the test.
“It is misleading evidence. It is misleading evidence,” said comb lawyer Marc Agnifilo.
“The Defense has confirmed, Through a Forensic Video Analysis of the CNN Fotage That The Government Provided to This Court and of the Fotage Provided by CNN IN RESPONSIBLE TO THE DEFENSE Subpoen The Changing the Video Sequence.
In a statement, a CNN spokesman denied the statement that the video was altered.
“CNN never altered the video and did not destroy the original copy of the images, which was retained by the source,” said the spokesman. “CNN issued the story about the video several months before ComBs was arrested.”
After the hotel video was released last May, Comink published a video on Instagram by apologizing for the incident.
“My behavior in that video is inexcusable. I assume all the responsibility of my actions in that video,” he said in the video. “I was disgusted then when I did. Now I’m disgusted.”
