Diddy Intercourse Trafficking Trial Kicks Off With Jokes From the Decide

The primary day of the federal racketeering and intercourse trafficking trial of Sean “Diddy” Combs started this morning with some lighthearted feedback by the decide … who mentions Diddy’s numerous nicknames over time, and nods to the scale of the potential jury pool and the size of the questionnaire every particular person stuffed out.

As proceedings bought formally underway, Decide Arun Subramanian made a comment evaluating the scale of the record of potential jurors that each side will query on the stand — and the questionnaire of individuals and locations within the case — to the famously huge “Lord of the Rings” trilogy of novels.

As you realize, there are lots of challenges on each side for jury choice, which is predicted to take a number of days.

Diddy himself arrived on the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Courthouse in Decrease Manhattan sporting a proper go well with and studying glasses … the decide beforehand granted Diddy’s request to put on civilian clothes to the trial, as an alternative of jail scrubs … he was allowed a restricted record of very particular gadgets to select from, and the famously trendy defendant predictably confirmed up in fashion.

Decide Subramanian additionally referred to the rap mogul’s many monikers … describing the defendant as “also known as Puff Daddy, Diddy, other names … and Love.” (Combs legally modified his center title to “Love” in 2018.) The decide notes Diddy has pleaded not responsible to all costs, and is presumed to be harmless.

Subramanian addressed the protection and the prosecution about potential privateness points in testimony, noting they will be addressed through sidebar conversations. He mentioned he expects the trial to final for about 8 weeks.

Diddy has a staff of 8 attorneys on his aspect — we reported on the record of attorneys that was simply finalized final week.

Diddy is being tried on three costs — one rely of intercourse trafficking by drive, fraud or coercion; one rely of transportation to interact in prostitution; and one rely of racketeering conspiracy. In April 2025, he was hit with two extra costs — one other intercourse trafficking rely, and one other transportation to interact in prostitution cost, bringing the entire quantity to 5.

The decide additionally dropped a fast comparability to the Ghislaine Maxwell case — the previous girlfriend of convicted pedophile Jeffrey Epstein who’s serving 20 years in jail for related crimes to what Diddy’s charged with. She’s serving 20 years in jail in Florida.