The federal sex trafficking trial of the United States rapper and music mogul Sean ‘Diddy ‘Combs is scheduled to start on 5 May 2025, a judge in New York declared on Thursday.
Diddy will remain incarcerated until then according to federal judge Arun Subramanian.
Diddy was arrested on September 16 on three criminal counts that alleged he sexually abused women and coerced them into drug-fueled sex parties using threats and violence.
Subramanian was assigned to the case after another judge recused himself based on his past associations with lawyers in the case.
US magistrate judge Robyn Tarnofsky ordered that Diddy be jailed while awaiting trial after pleading not guilty to the 14-page federal indictment against him.
Combs’ lawyers have unsuccessfully tried to get him freed on bail but two separate judges denied him bail twice, with one arguing that Combs was a “serious flight risk.”
At the recent hearing, Marc Agnifilo, Combs’ lawyer, expressed concerns about what he termed improper leaks by federal agents about the case.
He also asked the judge to exclude a video of the 54-year-old rap star assaulting a former girlfriend Cassie in 2016 from being used in the trial.
Prosecutor Emily Johnson, however, called the claim baseless. The assistant US attorney said the claim was “simply a means to try to exclude a damning piece of evidence”.
“Not a single one of those alleged leaks are from members of the prosecution team,” Johnson stated.
