Sawt Falasteen - Jury selection begins in Sean 'Diddy' Combs sex crimes trial

Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty on all counts, insisting that any sex acts were consensual -- but prosecutors say for years he coerced victims into drug-fueled sex parties using threats and violence.

At a recent hearing, his attorney Marc Agnifilo offered a preview of his team's defense by describing the artist's free-wheeling "swinger" lifestyle.

The prosecution said it had offered Combs a plea deal -- the specifics were not disclosed -- but that he had rejected it.

The high-profile trial attracted a long line of media and other court watchers early Monday hoping to get inside for jury selection, which is expected to wrap up in about a week.

Opening statements are tentatively scheduled for May 12, and the proceedings will last an estimated eight to 10 weeks.

Combs faces one charge of racketeering conspiracy, the federal statute known by its acronym RICO that was once primarily used to target the mafia but in recent years has been wielded in cases of sexual abuse, including against the fallen R&B star R. Kelly.

It allows government attorneys to project a long view of criminal activity rather than prosecuting isolated sex crimes.

If convicted, the one-time rap producer and global superstar, who is often credited for his role in ushering hip-hop into the mainstream, could spend the rest of his life in prison.

Over the decades, Combs -- who has gone by various stage names including Puff Daddy and P. Diddy -- amassed enormous wealth for his work in music but also his ventures in the liquor industry.

He was arrested by federal agents in New York in September 2024 and denied bail multiple times.

Combs is being held at Brooklyn's notorious Metropolitan Detention Center, a facility plagued by complaints of vermin and decay as well as violence.

High-profile inmates there have included Jeffrey Epstein associate Ghislaine Maxwell and Sam Bankman-Fried, the cryptocurrency entrepreneur convicted of fraud.

Combs has appeared in pre-trial hearings looking remarkably aged, his once jet-black, styled coif now overgrown and gray.

The jury selection start date is notably the first Monday in May -- which annually marks New York's Met Gala, a glittering celebrity charity bash where Combs was once a red carpet mainstay.

Just two years ago, he posed for the cameras at that event uptown -- but on Monday, he will be downtown as the panel of citizens tasked with determining his fate face a barrage of questions from lawyers on both sides.

- 'Freak-offs' -

Core to the case is Combs's relationship with his former girlfriend, the singer Casandra "Cassie" Ventura, who is expected to be a key trial witness.

A disturbing surveillance video from 2016, which was aired by CNN last year, shows Combs physically assaulting Ventura at a hotel.

Prosecutors say the encounter occurred following one of the "freak-offs" they argue were a feature of his pattern of abuse.

The so-called "freak-offs" were coercive, drug-fueled sexual marathons including sex workers that were sometimes filmed, according to the indictment.

It is unclear how much of the CNN video will be shown to jurors as evidence in court -- the footage's quality has been a sticking point between the opposing legal teams -- but Judge Arun Subramanian has ruled that at least some of it will be admissible.

The floodgates opened after Ventura filed a civil suit alleging Combs subjected her to more than a decade of coercion by physical force and drugs as well as a 2018 rape.

That 2023 suit was quickly settled out of court, but a string of similarly lurid sexual assault claims against the Grammy winner from both women and men followed.

- 'Perfect storm' -

Industry watchers are monitoring Combs's case as a potential inflection point in the music world which, beyond the case of Kelly, has largely evaded the #MeToo reckoning that has rocked Hollywood.

Caroline Heldman -- co-founder of the Sound Off Coalition, which is focused on sexual violence in music -- said Combs's case is a flashpoint of a broader pattern of industry tolerance and cover-up of abuse.

"In the music industry, I think it's the perfect storm of what celebrity does to people and what power does to people. It gives them an empathy deficit where the rules don't apply to them," she said.

When it comes to Combs's case, she told AFP she's "optimistic that justice will be served."

"I hope that this inspires other survivors to come forward."

D.Qudsi--SF-PST