Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs has been dealt a crushing blow in the lead up to his sex trafficking trial.
The I’ll Be Watching You rapper is also facing racketeering charges after being arrested last September, and his trial was due to begin in New York on May 5.
His legal team recently filed a motion to delay the hearings by two months on Wednesday, requesting more time to prepare a defense over claims that the prosecution had been slow to share evidence.
Earlier today, US District Judge Arun Subramanian announced today that this had been denied, meaning the trial will go ahead as planned next month.
According to CNN, he told Combs’ attorneys: ‘It is unclear why there isn’t sufficient time to prepare.’
Judge Subramanian also ruled that the alleged victims would be allowed to testify under pseudonyms, except for possible testimony from Combs’ ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura, who previously spoke out after shocking footage emerged of him attacking her at a hotel.
It was also decided that most evidence concerning prior sexual assault allegations not charged in the indictment would not be allowed at trial, the outlet reports.
The disgraced mogul was initially charged with three offences – racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.
However, two extra counts of the latter two offences were added earlier in April, bringing the total to five.
Sky News reports that the indictment alleges he ‘led a racketeering conspiracy that engaged in sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice, among other crimes’ between 2008 and 2024.
He has pleaded not guilty to all allegations, and is currently behind bars following his arrest last year.
Combs has been denied bail multiple times since being taken into custody, if found guilty he could face a minimum sentence of 15 years in prison, with a maximum sentence of life.
The federal indictment was unsealed and includes allegations that the businessman coerced multiple alleged victims into sex acts, known as ‘freak offs’.
He allegedly organized and directed the ‘freak offs’, and is accused of ‘directing, masturbating during, and often electronically recording’ them.
An estimated 60 civil lawsuits have also been filed against Combs, including a $10million lawsuit after he allegedly dangled a woman from a 17th-floor balcony.
In January, an anonymous woman claimed she was lured into his car and assaulted after babysitting.
An unnamed man alleged in another legal filing that the musician sexually assaulted him at a hotel in New York in 2005, when he was aged just 10, during an ‘audition’.
Over 100 people were said to be suing Combs, with previous allegations stretching back to the 90s.
Combs has denied all allegations against him.
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