Sean 'Diddy' Combs Appears in Court, Judge Says He Doesn't Want 'Last-Minute Surprise' Before Trial

Mar. 15, 2025

Sean “Diddy” Combs.Photo:Shareif Ziyadat/Getty

Shareif Ziyadat/Getty

Sean “Diddy” Combsreturned to court in Manhattan on Wednesday, Dec. 18, where a federal judge implored the rap mogul’s defense team to avoid any “surprises.”

Combs, donning a khaki prison jumpsuit, appeared in federal court in Manhattan in front of Judge Arun Subramanian for a status conference in the government’s case accusing him of sex trafficking.

Combs has sincewithdrawn his appeal for bailandwill spend the holiday season behind bars.

Combs has been incarcerated at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklynsince his arrest in September. He wasindicted on chargesof sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution and has pleaded not guilty.

The indictment centers around alleged “freak offs,” which prosecutors claim were elaborate sex performances involving male sex workers and women who were forced or coerced into participating.

A judge previously allowed Combs to appear in courtwithout shackles, in which he had been bound during his earlier court hearings. The Bad Boy Records founder’s attorneys had argued that shackles could potentially create “juror bias.”

Two days before Combs' latest court appearance, Subramanian denied an evidentiary hearing into defense claims the the prosecution had leaked evidence to the press, including surveillance footage of an alleged assault of singerCassie Venturaat a Los Angeles hotel in 2016.

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“As to the Intercontinental Hotel video, Combs has not carried his burden to show that the government leaked it to CNN,”Subramanian wrotein his decision. “Combs argues that ‘the most likely source of the leak is the government’ but he doesn’t point to any sound basis for this conclusion.”

Subramanian ruled last week that Combs could have access to a laptop in jail that would only allow him to review discovery materials as he prepares for trial.

source: people.com