A trial date has been set in Sean "Diddy" Combs' sex trafficking case.
Per the Associated Press, the trial is set to begin Monday, May 5, 2025, and will be presided over by Manhattan federal court Judge Arun Subramanian.
AP also reports that defence lawyers argued that the US government's Department of Homeland Security had leaked a video of Combs punching and kicking R&B singer Cassie, his former girlfriend and protege, in a hotel hallway in 2016.
Defence lawyers claimed the video, published by CNN in May, has "led to damaging, highly prejudicial pretrial publicity that can only taint the jury pool and deprive Mr. Combs of his right to a fair trial."
Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Johnson called the claims "baseless and simply a means to try to exclude a damning piece of evidence" from the trial." [via AP]
Combs was arrested in New York City last month and was charged with racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking. The music mogul has pleaded not guilty to the charges, and has been denied bail by multiple judges, who concluded he was a threat to tamper with witnesses.