Hip-hop entrepreneur Sean Diddy's federal sex trafficking trial, whose successful career was scattered in New York City by violent allegations, began in New York City, and the jury selection could last for several days.
It is expected to start with lawyers and testimony next week.
Dozens of potential jurors briefly described the sexual trafficking and extortion charges of Judge Arun Subramanian's comb, reminding them that the comb pleaded not guilty and was considered innocent.
The comb sat with the lawyer while the judge spoke. He wore a white collar shirt and grey slack sweater, which the judge allowed instead of prison outfit. Combs, 55, has been detained in a grim federal lockdown in Brooklyn since his arrest last September. His hair and goatee were almost gray because the dye was not allowed to go to jail.
Unlike other recent high-profile celebrity trials, Combs’ court cases won’t be live streamed because federal courts don’t allow internal electronic recordings – meaning court sketch artists act as public eyes in court.
The trial is expected to take at least eight weeks. If convicted, he faces the possibility of decades in prison.
Several potential jurors said they had seen news reports, with one key evidence: The hip-hop tycoon's video hit and kicked a plaintiff in a hotel corridor in 2016. The woman was refused to consider.
After another juror was fired, Coms asked for a restroom break and told the judge: "I'm sorry for your honor, I'm a little nervous today."
The 17-page indictment against the Comb (reads like a document of allegations filed against the Mafia leader or the head of the drug gang - claims that with the help of his entourage and employees, the Comb engages in abuse of women and others, and commits abuse patterns to women and others.
Combs and his lawyer said he was innocent and that any group sex was voluntary. They say there is no effort to get people into something they don't want to do, nothing constitutes a criminal racket.
Prosecutors said women and male sex workers who were called "freaks" were manipulated. To keep women consistent, prosecutors say the comb uses a mix of various influence and violence: if they do what he asks, he proposes to improve the entertainment cause, or if not or cut it off.
When he didn't get what he wanted, the indictment said Combs and his colleagues resorted to violence, including assault, kidnapping and arson. At one time, he even hung someone from the balcony, the indictment said.
Combs acknowledged an episode of violence that could be seen at trial. In 2016, a security camera documented his defeat of his ex-girlfriend R&B singer Cassie in the corridor of a hotel in Los Angeles. Cassie filed a lawsuit in late 2023, claiming Combs suffered years of abuse, including assault and rape.
The Associated Press does not usually name people who say they are sexually abused unless they publicly stand up because Cassie's legal name is Casandra Ventura.
The trial is the most serious of a series of legal issues in the comb.
In 1999, he was accused of breaking into the office of the director of Interscope Records and beating him with his bodyguards with champagne bottles and chairs. Executive Steve Stoute then asked prosecutors to make it easy for the comb, who admitted fewer charges and participated in an angry management class.
Later that year, Combs and then-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez fled a nightclub where he was stopped by police. Combs was acquitted at a 2001 trial and all charges related to the plot were released, but his entourage, Jamal "Shyne" Barrow, was convicted in the shooting and served nearly nine years in prison.
Then, in 2015, Combs was accused of assaulting a heavy-room kettlebell man at the University of California, Los Angeles, where one of his sons played football. Combs said he was defending himself and prosecutors dropped the case.