Breaking news, as an updated superceding indictment is issued. An indictment is a formal document filed by the US government detailing all the crimes that P Diddy has been charged with. This updated indictment accuses Diddy of threatening staff members and forcing one into a sex act. He denies the accusations, and says many employees stand by his side. Rolling Stone’s Investigative Reporter Cheyenne Roundtree updates Anoushka Mutanda Dougherty with all the latest detail. Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs - who has also gone by the names Puffy, Puff Daddy, P Diddy, Love, and Brother Love - emerged into the hip-hop scene in the 1990s. He founded Bad Boy Records, which launched the careers of the Notorious B.I.G. and Mary J Blige. His current legal issues began when he was sued by his ex-girlfriend Casandra Ventura, also known as Cassie, in late 2023. She accused him of violently abusing and raping her. That lawsuit was settled for an undisclosed amount a day after it was filed, with Mr Combs maintaining his innocence. His controversial history with Ms Ventura resurfaced in 2024, when CCTV footage emerged showing Mr Combs kicking his former girlfriend as she lay on a hotel hallway floor in 2016. Multiple people have filed lawsuits accusing Mr Combs of sexual assault, with accusations dating back to 1991. He denies all claims. He is accused of the federal charges of kidnapping, drugging and coercing women into sexual activities, sometimes by using firearms or threatening them with violence. He denies the charges. The Diddy on Trial podcast is here to investigate the rumours, confront the theories, and give you the answers that you need. We also want YOU to be part of the conversation. Have you any burning questions about the cases or the upcoming trial? Heard a theory that doesn’t sit right with you? Get in touch now via WhatsApp: 0330 123 555 1. Presenter: Anoushka Mutanda-Dougherty Series Producer: Laura Jones Sound Design: Richard Hannaford and Nicky Edwards Production Coordinator: Hattie Valentine Editor: Clare Fordham Commissioning Editor: Rhian Roberts Assistant Commissioner: Will Drysdale Commissioning Producer: Adam Eland Commissioning Assistant Producer: Rechmial Miller
Chapter 1: What is the latest superseding indictment against Diddy?
BBC Sounds. Music, radio, podcasts. Hello and welcome back to Diddy on Trial from BBC Sounds with me, Anushka Matandadauti. Make sure you subscribe and turn on your push notifications so you never miss a thing. So we have another superseding indictment issued by the prosecution on Thursday, the 6th of March. Reminder, what are indictments?
Indictments are lawsuits filed by the government detailing all the crimes they allege P. Diddy has committed. First indictment came in September 2024, charging him with sex trafficking, transportation for prostitution and racketeering with conspiracy. He pled not guilty and says he's never sexually assaulted anyone, man or woman, adult or minor.
Our first superseding indictment came in January 2025, which added two extra victims. Joining me today to go through our latest one is Rolling Stone senior investigative reporter Cheyenne Roundtree. Hi, Cheyenne. Hi. So this was filed on Thursday. What's new in this superseding indictment?
Chapter 2: What are the specific allegations in the indictment?
The second superseding indictment follows the first one very closely. However, there is a new paragraph added under count one, which is racketeering conspiracy. And this section kind of builds out a section about his employees. It alleges that Diddy and members of his alleged criminal enterprise
threatened employees and through financial harm, physical force, kind of just threats to them, working long hours. I think the government calls it forced labor. They've expanded the racketeering to include his treatment of employees.
And they say specifically in regard to one employee, they said that he did all of these things to them as well as force them into sex acts with him, prosecutors allege. So there's not too much different, but prosecutors are making a case that his employees, as well as female victims, were subjected to different forms of abuse.
Chapter 3: How does the indictment relate to forced labor claims?
So under the umbrella of Rico racketeering with conspiracy, we have this new allegation of forced labour. It's not a brand new charge, but it sort of adds to the Rico charge.
Yeah, it's kind of more explanations to say why they believe he should be charged with racketeering. Obviously, forced labour, making employees do things against their will that would fall under racketeering, prosecutors say.
Now, we don't know who these new people are that the grand jury has spoken to who've alleged this, but it is sort of in line with allegations we've heard from other people who were employees of Sean Combs. Specifically, I'm thinking someone like Phil Pines, who we heard from in the Discovery investigation, who said similar things.
Chapter 4: Who are the new witnesses mentioned in the indictment?
Yeah, Phil Pines was Diddy's executive assistant from 2019 to 2021. And he says in that docuseries that he testified from the grand jury. And what he said was that he was working all the time, had little hours of sleep, that he was charged with setting up for these wild king nights, taking women home afterward. And he alleges himself was forced into a non-consensual situation.
type of encounter where he claims that Diddy forced him to have sex with a woman while he watched. So it falls under this umbrella. Again, we're not sure if prosecutors are using Phil's story as part of this, but we have heard stories from former employees that say that there was an abusive, toxic work environment while working for Diddy.
Diddy's team have responded to Phil's lawsuit. They say he denies the accusations and he's never sexually assaulted anyone, man or woman, adult or minor. Once again, I sound like a broken record here, but this is not quite what we were expecting from another superseding indictment, a second superseding indictment, in that we have no new charges and no co-defendants added on once again.
Chapter 5: What evidence supports the allegations against Diddy?
Yeah, it is surprising. We are less than two months out from the start of the trial when it's supposed to start on May 5th. And, you know, prosecutors have alleged that he has this enterprise and they talk about co-conspirators and co-conspirators talking to alleged victims and witnesses, yet we haven't seen anyone else charged yet. So who's to say if that day will come, if ever?
But yeah, it's not exactly quite what we're expecting, especially since this new superseding indictment only has one new paragraph added from the 15 pages that were already there.
And we contacted Diddy's team for a statement on this new superseding indictment and they sent us this. Mr. Combs has said it before and will say it again. He vehemently denies the accusations made by the Southern District of New York. He looks forward to his day in court when it will become clear that he has never forced anyone to engage in sexual acts against their will.
Many former employees stand by his side, prepared to attest to the dedication, hard work and inspiration they experienced while helping build groundbreaking, award-winning businesses. There's also a letter that's been filed to the judge that sort of commits to following the same schedule promising that May 5th start date.
Yeah. When they filed the superseding indictment in this letter to the judge, they said, you know, we still maintain that we are on track for this May 5th trial date, even though we've added a little bit more detail to this indictment. But they have already said that they turned over a bunch of their discovery already on New Year's Eve of 2024.
And so it seems like they're pointing of he already had all this information and now we're adding this information to the indictment. So it shouldn't affect, you know, pushing back the start of the trial date.
And we've got that March 14th court appearance from Diddy and they're saying, can he just be arraigned on this second superseding indictment then?
He was supposed to be arraigned on the first superseding indictment and our prosecutors are saying, we'll do the second one too while we're at it.
Cheyenne, thank you so much for joining me today. Thanks for having me. That's it for this episode of Diddy on Trial from BBC Sounds with me, Anushka Matandadauti. Make sure you subscribe and turn on your push notifications so you never miss a thing.
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