Federal prosecutors have amended the indictment against Sean Combs, who is scheduled to stand trial next month, to include a second major sex-trafficking charge, according to a grand jury indictment unsealed on Friday.
The new charge relates to a woman described by prosecutors as “Victim-2.” They allege that she is one of three female victims whom Mr. Combs coerced into sex.
Before, Mr. Combs had been charged only with sex trafficking “Victim-2” under a less serious charge that makes it illegal to transport a person “with intent that such individual engage in prostitution.” The new indictment adds a second count of a more serious sex-trafficking charge that carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison.
Mr. Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, which include a count of racketeering conspiracy, and has vehemently denied sex trafficking anyone. His lawyers have argued that the conduct the prosecutors are targeting involves consensual sex.
In a statement released on Friday in response to the new charges, the Combs defense team said: “These are not new allegations or new accusers. 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.”
Jury selection in the trial, which will be held at Federal District Court in Manhattan, is scheduled to start in late April. Opening statements are scheduled to start on May 12.
The other major sex trafficking charge against Mr. Combs involves allegations by his former girlfriend, Casandra Ventura, whose lawsuit in 2023 — which Mr. Combs quickly settled — led to the criminal investigation of the music mogul. The indictment includes allegations that Mr. Combs coerced Ms. Ventura — referenced in court papers only as “Victim-1” — into elaborate sexual performances called “freak-offs” that involved male prostitutes.
The allegations involving Ms. Ventura end in 2018, when the couple broke up.
The alleged abusive behavior involving “Victim-2,” who has never been identified publicly, are recounted in the indictment as having been more recent, beginning in 2021 and ending last year, when Mr. Combs’s legal troubles were mounting. He is facing more than 50 civil suits accusing him of sexual abuse; he has denied all of the allegations.
Prosecutors say that Mr. Combs “maintained control” over the women through physical violence, drugs, and promises of career and financial opportunities. He is also accused of recording sexual encounters and keeping the videos, sometimes unbeknown to the alleged victims.
This is the third time the indictment against Mr. Combs has been amended. The previous version, filed last month, contained new allegations that Mr. Combs forced certain employees to work long hours, with little sleep, and coerced one employee into sex. At a court hearing last month, Mr. Combs pleaded not guilty to the new allegations of criminal activity.
Though the indictment continues to refer to a “Victim-3,” the newest version does not cite that person in any of the specific charged criminal activity. Mr. Combs, who has been awaiting trial from a jail in Brooklyn, is now facing one count of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of the more serious sex-trafficking charge and two counts of the lesser sex-trafficking charge, which stems from a federal law known as the Mann Act and carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
