Diddy’s trial date set as rapper’s kids and mom show up to court to support him at hearing over sex trafficking charges
SEAN 'Diddy' Combs' sex trafficking trial will begin May 5, a judge has ruled.
The rapper, who is also facing racketeering charges, appeared before Judge Arun Subramanian in Manhattan federal court on Thursday.
After entering the courtroom, the music mogul, 54, hugged his lawyers and waved to his relatives in the gallery.
During the hearing, which was attended by Diddy's mom and daughters, Judge Subramanian also set deadlines for lawyers on each side to submit their arguments in the case.
Combs has pleaded not guilty to the charges lodged against him last month.
These include racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking based on allegations that go back to 2008.
The number of allegations against Combs began to spiral when a video showing the rapper beating his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura in a hotel in 2016 was made public.
A number of accusers, including one woman who alleges she was violently raped by Combs in his recording studio in 2001, have come forward since.
On Wednesday, lawyers for Combs submitted court papers blaming the government’s Department of Homeland Security for leaking the video to the media.
After the video was made public, the disgraced star groveled on social media that he was "was disgusted when I did it” and “I’m disgusted now.”
Combs' mom, Janice Smalls Combs, last week slammed her son's "public lynching," speaking "as a mother that is devastated and profoundly saddened by the allegations made against my son."
"It is heartbreaking to see my son judged not for the truth, but for a narrative created out of lies," she told The Daily Mail.
"To bear witness what seems to be like a public lynching of my son before he has had the opportunity to prove his innocence is a pain too unbearable to put into words."
While she admitted her son is "not perfect" she said that "not being entirely straightforward" does not mean Diddy is guilty of the "repulsive allegations."
An indictment alleges Combs coerced and abused women for years with the help of a network of associates who helped him silence the victims though violence including kidnapping and physical beating.
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