Diddy sex trafficking trial starts with jury selection

Sean "Diddy" Combs, the hip-hop entrepreneur whose career has been plagued by allegations of violence, will appear in a New York courthouse to face charges he used his business empire to sexually abuse women.

Jury selection is scheduled to begin on Monday and potentially take several days.

Opening statements by the lawyers and the start of testimony is expected next week.

The 17-page indictment against Combs reads like a charging document filed against a Mafia leader or the head of a drug gang, accusing him of engaging in sex trafficking and presiding over a racketeering conspiracy.

The indictment says that with the help of people in his entourage and employees from his network of businesses, Combs engaged in a two-decade pattern of abusive behaviour against women and others.

Women were manipulated into participating in drug-fuelled sexual performances with male sex workers that Combs called "Freak Offs", prosecutors say.

To keep women in line, prosecutors say Combs used a mix of influence and violence, offering to boost their entertainment careers if they did what he asked — or cut them off if they didn't.

And when he wasn't getting what he wanted, the indictment says Combs and his associates resorted to violent acts including beatings, kidnapping and arson. Once, the indictment alleges, he even dangled someone from a balcony.

Combs and his lawyers say he is innocent.

Any group sex was consensual, they say. There was no effort to coerce people into things they didn't want to do, and nothing that happened amounted to a criminal racket, they said.

The trial is expected to take at least eight weeks.

Combs, 55, has acknowledged one episode of violence that is likely to be featured in the trial.

In 2016, a security camera recorded him beating up his former girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie, in the hallway of a Los Angeles hotel.

Cassie filed a lawsuit in late 2023 saying Combs had subjected her to years of abuse, including beatings and rape.

Combs' lawyer Marc Agnifilo has said Combs was "not a perfect person" and that there had been drug use and toxic relationships, but said that all sexual activity between Combs, Cassie and other people was consensual.

If convicted, he faces the possibility of decades in prison.