Sean 'Diddy' Combs pleads not guilty to sex trafficking; judge denies bail | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Latest
  • Epaper
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Monday
June 16, 2025

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Latest
  • Epaper
  • Economy
    • Banking
    • Stocks
    • Industry
    • Analysis
    • Bazaar
    • RMG
    • Corporates
    • Aviation
  • Videos
    • TBS Today
    • TBS Stories
    • TBS World
    • News of the day
    • TBS Programs
    • Podcast
    • Editor's Pick
  • World+Biz
  • Features
    • Panorama
    • The Big Picture
    • Pursuit
    • Habitat
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Mode
    • Tech
    • Explorer
    • Brands
    • In Focus
    • Book Review
    • Earth
    • Food
    • Luxury
    • Wheels
  • More
    • Sports
    • TBS Graduates
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • Gallery
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Magazine
    • Climate Change
    • Health
    • Cartoons
  • বাংলা
MONDAY, JUNE 16, 2025
Sean 'Diddy' Combs pleads not guilty to sex trafficking; judge denies bail

Splash

Reuters
18 September, 2024, 11:50 am
Last modified: 18 September, 2024, 12:03 pm

Related News

  • Ye makes surprise appearance at Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial; judge considers removing juror
  • First day of Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial begins
  • Sean 'Diddy' Combs jurors say they have seen video of alleged beating, heard baby oil jokes
  • Diddy accused of plotting Tupac’s murder
  • Diddy denied bail for 3rd time, will remain behind bars until May 2025 trial

Sean 'Diddy' Combs pleads not guilty to sex trafficking; judge denies bail

Combs, 54, pleaded not guilty in Manhattan federal court hours after the 14-page indictment was unsealed. US Magistrate Judge Robyn Tarnofsky denied bail for Combs, granting a prosecution request for continued detention before trial following the music mogul's arrest on Monday

Reuters
18 September, 2024, 11:50 am
Last modified: 18 September, 2024, 12:03 pm
Sean "Diddy" Combs stands before US Magistrate Judge Robyn Tarnofsky after prosecutors brought three criminal charges against him in federal court in the Manhattan borough of New York City, US, June 26, 2024 in this courtroom sketch. Photo: REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg
Sean "Diddy" Combs stands before US Magistrate Judge Robyn Tarnofsky after prosecutors brought three criminal charges against him in federal court in the Manhattan borough of New York City, US, June 26, 2024 in this courtroom sketch. Photo: REUTERS/Jane Rosenberg

Sean "Diddy" Combs used his fame as one of hip-hop's biggest names to coerce women into demeaning sexual acts as part of a long-running scheme of sex trafficking and racketeering, prosecutors said on Tuesday in bringing three criminal charges against him.

Combs, 54, pleaded not guilty in Manhattan federal court hours after the 14-page indictment was unsealed. US Magistrate Judge Robyn Tarnofsky denied bail for Combs, granting a prosecution request for continued detention before trial following the music mogul's arrest on Monday. 

The rapper and producer used his business empire including his record label Bad Boy Entertainment to transport women, as well as male sex workers, across state lines to take part in recorded sexual performances called "Freak Offs" in which the music mogul would watch and masturbate, prosecutors said.

The Business Standard Google News Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel

In a possible preview of defence strategy, Combs' lawyer Marc Agnifilo called the sexual activity described by prosecutors consensual.

"Does everybody have experience with being intimate this way? No. Is it sex trafficking? No. Not if everybody wants to be there," Agnifilo told the judge.

Combs faces a sentence of up to life in prison, and a minimum of 15 years, if convicted of the three felony counts: racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.

Prosecutors said Combs enticed women by giving them drugs such as ketamine and ecstasy, financial support, or promises of career support or a romantic relationship. Combs then used the surreptitious recordings of the sex acts as "collateral" to ensure that the women would remain silent, and sometimes displayed weapons to intimidate abuse victims and witnesses, prosecutors said.

The indictment did not specify how many women were alleged victims. It contained no allegation that Combs himself directly engaged in unwanted sexual contact with women, though he was accused of assaulting them by punching, kicking, dragging and throwing objects. Combs and his associates used bribery and violence such as arson and kidnapping to try to keep his conduct secret, prosecutors said. 

When Tarnofsky asked how he wished to plead, Combs - wearing a black T-shirt and grey sweatpants - stood up, pulled a thin microphone on the defence table upward, and said, "Not guilty."

"My concern is that this is a crime that happens behind closed doors," the judge said in denying bail, before Combs was led out of the courtroom by members of the US Marshals Service. 

Defence lawyer Marc Agnifilo said he will appeal his client's continued detention at a hearing on Wednesday before US District Judge Andrew Carter, who will oversee the rest of the case. 

Also known during his career as P. Diddy and Puff Daddy, Combs founded Bad Boy records and is credited with helping turn rappers and R&B singers such as Mary J. Blige, Faith Evans, Notorious B.I.G. and Usher into stars in the 1990s and 2000s.

'EXTREMELY DANGEROUS'

Prosecutors accused Combs of running a criminal enterprise to facilitate his exploitation of women, dating back at least 16 years, in a case brought by the office of Manhattan US Attorney Damian Williams. 

"The defendant Sean Combs physically and sexually abused victims for decades," prosecutor Emily Johnson, arguing for continued detention, told the judge. "He is extremely dangerous to the community."

The defence had sought to have Combs released on a $50 million bond secured by his Miami home. Agnifilo acknowledged that Combs has a history of drug use and toxic relationships, and said he was getting treatment and therapy, without going into specifics.

Combs is the highest-profile music industry figure charged with sexual misconduct since R&B singer R. Kelly was sentenced to a combined 31 years in prison after being convicted in New York in 2021 and Chicago in 2022 sex trafficking, racketeering, child sex crimes and other counts.

Hit with a series of civil lawsuits accusing him of sexual and other misconduct as well as a federal criminal investigation, Combs' career has been derailed in the past year.

Last November, his former girlfriend Casandra Ventura, an R&B singer known as Cassie, accused him in a lawsuit of serial physical abuse, sexual slavery and rape. She agreed to an undisclosed settlement one day after suing. Combs denied her allegations.

In a March 2016 incident that resembles Cassie's description of his alleged attack, prosecutors said Combs was captured on a hotel security video striking and dragging a woman trying to leave a "Freak Off." Combs then offered a stack of cash to a hotel security officer who intervened, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said Combs' employees helped arrange the "Freak Offs" by booking hotel rooms and buying controlled substances and other items used during sex, according to the indictment.

During raids of his homes in Los Angeles and Miami Beach, Florida six months ago, authorities found drugs and 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant, along with AR-15 rifles with defaced serial numbers, the indictment said.
 

Sean 'Diddy' Combs / Sex Trafficking / criminal case

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • BNP gears up for polls — preps ongoing from grassroots to top brass 
    BNP gears up for polls — preps ongoing from grassroots to top brass 
  • Non-performing loans surge by Tk74,570cr in Q1 as hidden rot exposed
    Non-performing loans surge by Tk74,570cr in Q1 as hidden rot exposed
  • Representational image of school children. File photo: Collected
    Govt issues urgent guidelines to educational institutes to curb Covid, dengue spread

MOST VIEWED

  • Vehicles were seen stuck on the Dhaka-Tangail-Jamuna Bridge highway due to a traffic jam stretching 15 kilometres on 14 June 2025. Photo: TBS
    15km traffic jam on Dhaka-Tangail-Jamuna Bridge highway as post-Eid rush continues
  • Tour operator Borsha Islam. Photo: Collected
    ‘Tour Expert’ admin Borsha Islam arrested over Bandarban tourist deaths
  • Infographic: TBS
    Chattogram Port proposes 70%-100% tariff hike
  • Fighter jet. Photo: AFP
    3 F-35 fighter jets downed, two Israeli pilots in custody, claims Iranian media
  • Bangladesh Bank Governor Ahsan H Mansur. TBS Sketch
    Merger of 5 Islamic banks at final stage: BB governor
  • Infograph: TBS
    Why 10 economic zones, including BGMEA's garment park, were cancelled

Related News

  • Ye makes surprise appearance at Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial; judge considers removing juror
  • First day of Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial begins
  • Sean 'Diddy' Combs jurors say they have seen video of alleged beating, heard baby oil jokes
  • Diddy accused of plotting Tupac’s murder
  • Diddy denied bail for 3rd time, will remain behind bars until May 2025 trial

Features

Renowned authors Imdadul Haque Milon, Mohit Kamal, and poet–children’s writer Rashed Rouf seen at Current Book Centre, alongside the store's proprietor, Shahin. Photo: Collected

From ‘Screen and Culture’ to ‘Current Book House’: Chattogram’s oldest surviving bookstore

7h | Panorama
Photos: Collected

Kurtis that make a great office wear

2d | Mode
Among pet birds in the country, lovebirds are the most common, and they are also the most numerous in the haat. Photo: Junayet Rashel

Where feathers meet fortune: How a small pigeon stall became Dhaka’s premiere bird market

4d | Panorama
Illustration: Duniya Jahan/ TBS

Forget Katy Perry, here’s Bangladesh’s Ruthba Yasmin shooting for the moon

5d | Features

More Videos from TBS

Macron to visit Greenland after Trump's annexation threat

Macron to visit Greenland after Trump's annexation threat

3h | TBS World
Important facilities including Natanz damaged in Israeli attack

Important facilities including Natanz damaged in Israeli attack

3h | Others
Iran's gas production from South Pars halted after Israeli attack

Iran's gas production from South Pars halted after Israeli attack

4h | TBS World
Why the Strait of Hormuz is a key point of discussion in the Iran-Israel conflict

Why the Strait of Hormuz is a key point of discussion in the Iran-Israel conflict

3h | Others
EMAIL US
contact@tbsnews.net
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Advertisement
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2025
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - oped.tbs@gmail.com

For advertisement- sales@tbsnews.net