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The
refreshed indictment was filed in Manhattan federal court. An
attorney for Combs, Marc Agnifilo, noted that the superseding
indictment contains no new charges.
Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking charges
lodged against him after his September arrest. He remains
incarcerated without bail, awaiting a May 5 trial.
In the superseding indictment, prosecutors added four years to
the length of the alleged racketeering conspiracy, saying it
lasted from about 2004 to 2024. The original indictment said the
conspiracy began by 2008.
The indictment specified that there are at least three female
victims, listing them only as “Victim-1,” “Victim-2” and
“Victim-3.”
Prosecutors said Combs used the “power and prestige” he wielded
as a music mogul to intimidate, threaten and lure women into his
orbit, often under the pretense of a romantic relationship.
The indictment said he then used force, threats and coercion to
cause victims, including the three women, to engage in
commercial sex acts.
It said he subjected his victims to violence, threats of
violence, threats of financial and reputational harm and verbal
abuse.
“On multiple occasions, Combs threw both objects and people, as
well as hit, dragged, choked and shoved others,” it said. “On
one occasion, Combs dangled a victim over an apartment balcony.”
Prosecutors offered no other information about that allegation.
Agnifilo, in a statement, said Combs remains committed to
fighting the charges.
“The government has added the ridiculous theory that two of Mr.
Combs’ former girlfriends were not girlfriends at all but were
prostitutes. ”
Earlier this month, defense lawyers said in court papers that
the allegations described in the indictment were a “sexist and
puritanical” reaction by prosecutors to consensual sex acts
between willing adults.
They wrote that "the government’s theory perpetuates stereotypes
of female victimhood and lack of agency.”
They said the government’s view depends on the characterization
of the sex performances as “dirty, disgusting, or inherently
unsavory” and shows that the government “seeks to police
non-conforming sexual activity and that it assumes — despite all
evidence to the contrary — that a woman’s willing participation
must have been coerced.”
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