SEAN “Diddy” Combs will testify in his bombshell sex trafficking criminal case as the disgraced rapper tries to clear his name.
The music mogul is in a New York jail after also being charged with racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution.
The star’s lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, makes the shocking claim that Combs will defend himself in front of a judge and jury in a new documentary that will air on the streaming site Tubi.
Agnifilo is set to say there is nobody better to defend the rapper than himself, according to TMZ, which produced the show.
On the stand, Combs could face questions from lawyers over beating an ex, drug-fueled Freak Off parties, and accusations he even blew up a car.
Testifying would be a high stakes strategy that could prove a pivotal moment in a trial that could put Combs away for at least 15 years if convicted on all charges.
The documentary, The Downfall of Diddy: The Indictment, does not have a release date, but it is promising to raise issues that are not public yet.
Combs is currently waiting for his trial inside Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center sharing a cell with crypto fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried.
He reportedly is not eating in jail fearing that he will be poisoned, according to one former inmate.
Plagued with rat infestations, violent outbreaks, and understaffing, the prison is a far cry from the luxury Combs has lapped up for years at his Miami and Los Angeles mansions.
The Metropolitan Detention Center holds 1,600 inmates, including cartel kingpins and other celebrities.
High-profile individuals who have experienced the prison’s brutal conditions include R Kelly, Fetty Wap, and Ghislaine Maxwell.
Maxwell famously bemoaned her time at the jail, complaining about sleep deprivation, a lack of potable water, a sewage stench in her cell, and living among rodents and cockroaches.
Combs was arrested on Monday and yesterday had his $50 million bail bid denied by a judge.
Prosecutors argued that the embattled hip-hop tycoon was a danger to the community and urged the judge to keep him locked up.
Accused of running a sex crime empire, Combs has denied the allegations stemming from a months-long investigation.
A dozen accusers have come forward bringing civil suits against him dating back to the 1990s.
One accuser, Thalia Graves, filed a lawsuit on Tuesday alleging Combs drugged, bound, and raper her in 2001.
In court filings, his attorneys argued that he should be released on a $50 million bail because he was struggling to find a place to live in New York City.
The lawyers cited the US Open and Fashion Week as some of the reasons why their client couldn’t land a month-long rental.
But prosecutors argued that Combs was a danger to the community and urged the judge to keep him locked up until trial.
“Mr. Combs physically and sexually abused victims for decades,” Assistant US Attorney Emily Johnson said.
“He used the vast resources of his company to facilitate his abuse and cover up his crimes.
“Simply put, he is a serial abuser and a serial constructor.”
The evidence against Sean 'Diddy' Combs
The months-long federal sex trafficking probe against Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs has culminated in a searing incictment that was unsealed on Tuesday. Combs has been hit with one count of racketeering and one count of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion, and one count of transportation to engage in prostitution. But behind those legal charges lies a mountain of alleged evidence of menace, violence, and horrific abuse of his fame. The indictment alleges:
- Combs “abused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct.”
- He “created a criminal enterprise whose members and associates engaged in, and attempted to engage in, among other crimes, sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice.”
- The rapper assaulted women by “striking, punching, dragging, throwing objects at, and kicking them.”
- Combs “manipulated women to participate in highly orchestrated performances of sexual activity with male commercial sex workers” that he called “Freak Offs.”
- Freak offs “occurred regularly, sometimes lasted multiple days, and often involved multiple commercial sex workers.”
- During Freak Offs, he “distributed a variety of controlled substances to victims, in part to keep the victims obedient and compliant.”
- After Freak Offs, Combs and the victims “typically received IV fluids to recover from the physical exertion and drug use.”
- In March 2024, during searches of his residences in Miami and Los Angeles, “law enforcement seized various Freak Off supplies, including narcotics and more than 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant.”
- During and separate from Freak Offs, Combs “hit, kicked, threw objects at, and dragged victims, at times, by their hair…These assaults often resulted in injuries that took days or weeks to heal.”
- He also used the “sensitive, embarrassing, and incriminating recordings” that he made during Freak Offs as “collateral to ensure the continued obedience and silence of the victims.”
- Combs himself “brandished firearms to intimidate and threaten others, including victims of and witnesses to his abuse.”
- During searches of his homes, “law enforcement seized firearms and ammunition, including three AR-15s with defaced serial numbers, as well as a drum magazine.”
- Associates “assisted him in locating and contacting victims who attempted to flee his abuse.”
- When witnesses to the abuse threatened his authority or reputation, he and members and associates of the enterprise “engaged in acts of violence, threats of violence, threats of financial and reputational harm, and verbal abuse. These acts of violence included kidnapping and arson.”
The prosecutors then referenced a video that matched the footage of Combs chasing his ex, Cassie Ventura, in a hotel hallway and beating her, which CNN obtained in May.
They argued this was surefire proof that Combs shouldn’t be trusted to roam free alongside his alleged victims.
FREEZING CONDITIONS
In February 2019, MDC was in the national spotlight after inmates suffered days without heat or power during a cold snap.
Power and heating in parts of the jail were cut off after a fire, with inmates left in near freezing temperatures and total darkness after the sun went down.
“The MDC was one of the most troubled, if not the most troubled facility in the Bureau of Prisons,” Cameron Lindsay, a former warden at the jail, told The New York Times at the time.
Despite issues raised ranging from overcrowding to human rights violence, it has remained one of the go-to locations to house both high-risk and high-profile detainees.
Right now, the jail is housing a trio of cartel figures – Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, Nestor Perez “El Nini” and Genaro Garcia Luna.
Zambada was the co-founder of the infamous Sinaloa Cartel, while Perez has been identified as El Chapo’s top security man.
Luna is a former Mexican national security secretary being held for his links to the cartel.
Combs is one of the latest inmates to join the jail – despite his attorney’s pleas.
His lawyers noted “several courts in this District have recognized that the conditions at Metropolitan Detention Center are not fit for pre-trial detention.”
“Just earlier this summer, an inmate was murdered,” they wrote.
“At least four inmates have died by suicide there in the past three years.”
