Sean “Diddy” Combs is to make his first appearance before the judge who is expected to preside over the hip-hop powerbroker’s trial on sex trafficking charges.
Combs will be brought to Manhattan federal court from a Brooklyn prison for a Thursday afternoon appearance before Judge Arun Subramanian.
The hearing is expected to result in deadlines being set for lawyers on each side to submit arguments that will establish the boundaries for a trial that Combs’ lawyers want to start in April or May.
Prosecutors have not expressed a preference for when the trial might occur.
The judge was assigned to the case after another judge recused himself based on his past associations with lawyers in the case.
Combs, 54, has pleaded not guilty to charges lodged against him last month. Those charges included racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking based on allegations that go back to 2008.
An indictment alleges Combs coerced and abused women for years with help from a network of associates and employees while silencing victims through blackmail and violent acts including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings.
His lawyers have been trying unsuccessfully to get the founder of Bad Boy Records freed on bail since his September 16 arrest.
Two judges have concluded that Combs is a danger to the community if he is freed.
At a bail hearing three weeks ago, a judge rejected a 50 million dollar (£38.2 million) bail package, including home detention and electronic monitoring, after concluding that Combs was a threat to tamper with witnesses and obstruct a continuing investigation.
In an appeal of the bail rulings to the 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals, lawyers for Combs on Tuesday asked a panel of judges to reverse the bail findings, saying the proposed bail package “would plainly stop him from posing a danger to anyone or contacting any witnesses”.
They urged the appeals court to reject the findings of a lower-court judge who they said had “endorsed the government’s exaggerated rhetoric and ordered Mr. Combs detained”.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel