Sean “Diddy” Combs has been hit with two new criminal charges, including sex trafficking and engaging in prostitution, just a month before he is set to go on trial in New York.
The new accusations, made public on Friday in a Manhattan court, include allegations of more recent criminal offences against another victim.
Prosecutors allege that Mr Combs recruited, transported and forced this victim to engage in sex acts and prostitution from 2021 to 2024.
The hip-hop mogul has denied all the allegations against him, and his legal team argued that the charges were based on consensual activities “not coercion”.
“These are not new allegations or new accusers,” Mr Combs’s legal team told CBS News, the BBC’s US partner. “These are the same individuals, former long-term girlfriends, who were involved in consensual relationships. This was their private sex life, defined by consent, not coercion.”
A grand jury probe indicted Mr Combs last year on charges of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution. These two new charges bring the total federal charges against him to five.
The court document does not provide specifics about the new offences, but prosecutors allege that they stem from a grand jury investigation.
The original charges of sex trafficking and engaging in prostitution filed against Mr Combs in 2024 tie the charges to allegations from 2009 to 2018 and relate to a different victim.
A significant portion of the most severe allegations against the rapper relate to the racketeering conspiracy charge, which includes accusations of kidnapping, drugging, and coercing women into sexual activities, sometimes using firearms or threats of violence.
The charge includes details from a raid on his Los Angeles mansion, where police found supplies that they said were intended for use in orgies known as “freak offs”, including drugs and more than 1,000 bottles of baby oil.
Mr Combs was one of the most successful rappers and music moguls in the US, known for helping make people stars.
Known as Puffy, Puff Daddy, P Diddy, Love, or Brother Love over the years, he emerged on the music scene in the 1990s and quickly became a household name.
Early in his career, he helped launch the careers of Mary J Blige and Christopher Wallace – aka Biggie Smalls, or the Notorious B.I.G.
His music label Bad Boy Records soon became one of the most important labels in rap and expanded to include Faith Evans, Ma$e, 112, Mariah Carey and Jennifer Lopez.
His star power led to several reality shows on MTV and VH1 where he searched for the next big musical talent.
Since he was indicted, dozens of lawsuits have accused Mr Combs of using that power to drug, assault, rape, intimidate and silence people.
Currently, he is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York. His criminal trial is scheduled to begin on 5 May.
Credit: BBC