Guilty Pleasures
By Associated Press
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs pleads not guilty to sex trafficking and racketeering charges
NEW YORK | Sean “Diddy” Combs pleaded not guilty Tuesday to charges of presiding over a sordid empire of sexual crimes, coercing and abusing women for years while using blackmail and shocking acts of violence to keep his victims in line.
Charged with racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking, the music mogul is accused of inducing female victims and male sex workers into drugged-up, sometimes dayslong sexual performances dubbed “Freak Offs.” The indictment against him also refers obliquely to an attack on his former girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie, that was captured on video.
The 54-year-old founder of Bad Boy Records is accused of striking, punching and dragging women, throwing objects and kicking them — and getting his personal assistants, security and household staff to help him hide it all.
“Not guilty,” Combs told a court, standing to speak after listening to the allegations while showing little reaction, his uncuffed hands folded in his lap.
Federal prosecutors called Combs dangerous and urged that he be jailed without bail.
“Mr. Combs physically and sexually abused victims for decades. He used the vast resources of his company to facilitate his abuse and cover up his crimes. Simply put, he is a serial abuser and a serial obstructor,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Johnson told a court. She also said he had “extensive and exhaustive history of obstruction of justice,” including alleged bribery and witness intimidation.
His lawyers, meanwhile, proposed that he be released on a $50 million bond to home detention with electronic monitoring.
“He is not a perfect person. There has been drug use. He has been in toxic relationships,” attorney Marc Agnifilo told the court. The lawyer said Combs was receiving “treatment and therapy for things that he needs treatment and therapy for.”
Agnifilo had said outside court earlier that Combs is innocent and came to New York voluntarily to “engage the court system and start the case.”
Prosecutors said in court papers that they had interviewed more than 50 victims and witnesses and expect the number to grow. They said they would use financial, travel and billing records, electronic data and communications and videos of the “Freak Offs” to prove their case.
Agnifilo, however, argued that “the evidence in this case is extremely problematic.”
He maintained that the case boiled down to one alleged victim — whom he didn’t name, but the details matched those of Combs’ decade-long relationship with Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura.
The “Freak Offs,” Agnifilo contended, were an expansion of that relationship, and not coercive.
“Is it sex trafficking? Not if everybody wants to be there,” Agnifilo said, arguing that authorities were intruding on his client’s private life.
Combs was arrested late Monday in Manhattan, roughly six months after federal authorities conducting a sex trafficking investigation raided his luxurious homes in Los Angeles and Miami.
A conviction on every charge in the indictment would require a mandatory 15 years in prison with the possibility of a life sentence.
The indictment describes Combs as the head of a criminal enterprise that engaged or attempted to engage in sex trafficking, forced labor, interstate transportation for purposes of prostitution, drug offenses, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice.
Combs and his associates wielded his “power and prestige” to intimidate and lure women into his orbit, “often under the pretense of a romantic relationship,” the indictment says.
It says he then would use force, threats and coercion to get the women to engage with male sex workers in the “Freak Offs” — “elaborate and produced sex performances” that Combs arranged, directed, masturbated during and often recorded, creating dozens of videos.
He sometimes arranged to fly the women in and ensured their participation by procuring and providing drugs, controlling their careers, leveraging his financial support and using intimidation and violence, according to the indictment.
The events could last for days, and Combs and victims would often receive IV fluids to recover from the exertion and drug use, the indictment said.
It said his employees facilitated “Freak Offs” by arranging travel, booking hotel rooms, stocking them with such supplies as drugs and baby oil, scheduling the delivery of IV fluids and cleaning the rooms afterward.
During the searches of Combs’ homes earlier this year, law enforcement seized narcotics, videos of the “Freak Offs” and more than 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant, according to prosecutors. They said agents also seized firearms and ammunition, including three AR-15s with defaced serial numbers — two of them, broken into parts, in his bedroom closet in Miami.
Combs’ lawyer said the impresario didn’t own the guns at his house, noting that he employs a security company.
The indictment portrays Combs as a violent man who choked and shoved people, hit and kicked victims and sometimes dragged them by their hair, causing injuries that often took days or weeks to heal. His employees and associates sometimes witnessed his violence and kept victims from leaving or tracked down those who tried, the indictment said.
It alleges that Combs sometimes kept videos of victims engaging in sex acts and used the recordings as “collateral” to ensure the women’s continued obedience and silence. He also exerted control over victims by promising career opportunities, providing and threatening to withhold financial support, dictating how they looked, monitoring their health records and controlling where they lived, according to the indictment.
In a court filing, prosecutors accused Combs and an unidentified co-conspirator of kidnapping someone at gunpoint a few days before Christmas in 2011 in order to facilitate a break-in at another person’s home. Two weeks later, they wrote, Combs set fire to someone’s vehicle by slicing open its convertible top and dropping in a Molotov cocktail.
All of this, prosecutors allege, was happening behind the facade of Combs’ global music, lifestyle and clothing business.
“A year ago, Sean Combs stood in Times Square and was handed a key to New York City. Today, he’s been indicted and will face justice,” Manhattan-based U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said at a news conference Tuesday.
Combs returned the key in June after Mayor Eric Adams requested it back.
Combs was recognized as one of the most influential figures in hip-hop before a flood of allegations emerged over the past year.
As the threat of criminal charges loomed, Combs and his associates pressured witnesses and victims to stay silent, offering bribes and supplying false narratives of what happened, the indictment says.
In November, Ventura filed a lawsuit saying he had beaten and raped her for years. She accused Combs of coercing her, and others, into unwanted sex in drug-fueled settings.
The suit was settled in one day, but months later, CNN aired hotel security footage showing Combs punching and kicking Ventura and throwing her on a floor. After the video aired, Combs apologized, saying, “I was disgusted when I did it.”
The indictment refers to the attack, without naming Ventura, and says Combs tried to bribe a hotel security staffer to stay mum about it.
Douglas Wigdor, a lawyer for Ventura, declined to comment Tuesday.
Combs and his attorneys denied similar allegations made by others in a string of lawsuits.
The AP does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, as Ventura did.
Radio Nikki: Haley launching a weekly SiriusXM radio
talk show at least through January
NEW YORK | Former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is launching her own radio talk show next week on SiriusXM that’s set to air once a week at least through the inauguration of a new president.
She’ll do interviews, take listener calls and talk politics on the show, which will be carried Wednesdays from 8 to 9 a.m. ET on the satellite radio system’s Triumph channel. Expect some talk mixed in about Clemson football, her passion for running and music — maybe even Taylor Swift.
The former U.N. ambassador’s own politics won’t be a secret, but she said she wanted to get away from some of the tribalism that dominates the media.
“My kids, they don’t watch the news, because they think both sides are crazy,” she told The Associated Press. “And they’re not wrong about that. I think we have to take the craziness out. I think we have to take the noise out and I think we have to break things down in a way that people feel empowered.”
Haley was former President Donald Trump’s last opponent left standing for the GOP nomination this year. She endorsed Trump and supported him at the convention, but until the last two weeks, Trump hadn’t sought her help on the general election campaign trail.
But she said Tuesday that Trump’s team had reached out to hers in the past two weeks to discuss some options for joint appearances, though none have been scheduled. Her radio show, however, “is not going to be about campaigning for a particular candidate,” she said.
She said she’d been approached by some partisan news outlets about doing some work for them but wasn’t interested. She didn’t identify them. Her campaign, she said, taught her how the media is tainted and partisan outlets are predictable.
“I think that’s what Americans are tired of,” Haley said. “They don’t want to go on and watch a news show and know exactly which candidate they’re pushing and exactly what politics are pushing. They want to know the issues. They want to know exactly how it’s going to affect their family. I want to take all of the politics out and really break it down on a policy level.”
Haley said she’s open to continuing the show past January “if Americans like what they hear.”
Asked if the show could be useful for her political future, Haley said: “I’m not thinking politics at this point. I’m thinking about what would be fun for me.” Her donors and supporters on Tuesday received an announcement about the show, along with an invitation to join a mailing list and contribute to a political action committee.
Édgar Barrera, Bad Bunny and Karol G lead the 2024 Latin Grammy nominations
NEW YORK | Édgar Barrera — the producer and songwriter known for his work with such artists as Madonna, Karol G, Peso Pluma, Shakira, Grupo Frontera and beyond — leads the Latin Grammy nominations for a second year in a row. This year, he’s up for nine awards; last year he received 13 nominations and won three.
The Latin Recording Academy announced this year’s nominees in a livestream Tuesday.
Barrera is nominated for producer, songwriter, record and album of the year. He’s also nominated twice in the best Regional Mexican song category, and three times in the song of the year category, for his work on Shakira and Grupo Frontera’s “Entre Paréntesis”, Karol G’s “Mi Ex Tenía Razón,” and Maluma and Carin León’s “Según Quién.”
Just behind Barrera are some of his collaborators, like Karol G and Bad Bunny. Those giants of reggaetón and beyond are tied with eight nominations each.
Colombian songwriter Keityn has six nods.
The 25th Annual Latin Grammy Awards will take place Nov. 14 at the Kaseya Center in Miami.
There are 10 nominees in the record of the year category: Drexler’s “Derrumbe,” Anitta’s “Mil Veces,” Karol G’’s “Mi Ex Tenía Razón,” Bad Bunny’s “Monaco,” Camilo and León’s “Una Vida Pasada,” Cimafunk and Monsieur Periné’s “Catalina,” Fonseca and Grupo Niche’s “Con Dinero y Sin Dinero,” Juan Luis Guerra 4.40’s “Mambo 23,” Mon Laferte’s “Tenochtitlán,” and Kali Uchis and Peso Pluma’s “Igual Que Un Ángel.”
The album of the year nominees are: León, Residente, Shakira, Ángela Aguilar, Camilo, Xande De Pilares, Karol G, Kany García, Juan Luis Guerra 4.40 and Mon Laferte.
Beyond Barrera’s three nominations, the rest of the song of the year nominees are: Jorge Drexler’s “Derrumbe,” Daymé Arocena featuring Vicente Garcia’s “A Fuego Lento,” Maura Nava’s “A La Mitad” from the original series “Zorro,” Gian Marco and Rubén Blades’ “Aún Me Sigo Encontrando,” Elena Rose, Danny Ocean and Jerry Di’s “Caracas En El 2000,” Kany García and León ‘s “Te Lo Agradezco” and Residente, Silvia Pérez Cruz and Penélope Cruz’s “313.” This trophy is awarded to the songwriters.
There are two new categories in 2024, best Latin electronic music performance and best contemporary Mexican music album, in addition to a new field: electronic music.
The Latin Grammys will broadcast live on Univision, Galavisión and ViX beginning at 8 p.m. Eastern.
—From AP reports
