Prosecutors filed an updated indictment against hip hoper Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs late on Thursday, accusing him of forcing two more women into sex acts and of once threatening to drop a woman off an apartment balcony.
Combs, 55, has been in a Brooklyn jail, US, since his first arrest in September, when he was charged with sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy. He has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyers claim he is innocent.
New charges against Sean ‘Diddy’
The new charges are part of an updated indictment from a grand jury, filed in the US District Court in Manhattan.
The indictment accuses Combs of sex trafficking at least three women and once dangling a person off a hotel balcony during a two-decade-long racketeering conspiracy. The updated charges were filed in Manhattan federal court. Combs is set to go to trial in May.
Combs has pleaded not guilty to the charges from his September arrest. He is still in jail without bail and is awaiting his trial on May 5.
The new indictment adds four years to the length of the alleged conspiracy, which prosecutors say ran from around 2004 to 2024. The original indictment had said it began by 2008.
Indictment adds ‘Victim-2’ and ‘victim-3’
The indictment names at least three women, referred to as “Victim-1,” “Victim-2,” and “Victim-3.” The original indictment referred only to a “Victim-1”.
Prosecutors say Combs used his power and fame to intimidate, threaten, and lure women, often claiming to want a romantic relationship with them.
It is said that Combs then used force, threats, and pressure to make the women participate in sex acts for money.
The indictment mentions that Combs used violence, threats of violence, financial harm, reputation damage, and verbal abuse against the women.
“On multiple occasions, Combs threw both objects and people, as well as hit, dragged, choked and shoved others,” the indictment says. “On one occasion, Combs dangled a victim over an apartment balcony.”
Combs’ lawyers said earlier this month that the charges were a “sexist and puritanical” response by prosecutors to consensual sex acts between adults. They argued that the government’s view depends on the idea that sex acts between consenting adults are inherently wrong, and that they assume a woman’s willing participation must have been forced.
Prosecutors have also accused Combs of giving drugs to the victims to keep them “obedient and compliant” and of recording the sexual encounters and keeping the recordings, sometimes unbeknown to the victims.
“In connection with the commercial sex acts, Combs provided the victims with, among other things, monetary payments, career opportunities, and payment of rent and housing expenses,” the indictment says.
