The Latest: Music mogul Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs to appear in court on sex trafficking charges

NEW YORK — NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Kammen is due in court Tuesday on federal charges of sex trafficking and racketeering. An indictment alleges that the music mogul “engaged in a persistent and pervasive pattern of abuse against women and other individuals.”

Combs were arrested late monday evening in Manhattan, about six months after federal authorities launched a sex trafficking investigation his luxurious homes have been robbed in Los Angeles and Miami.

Over the past year, Combs has has been sued by people who say he physically or sexually abused them. He has denied many of those allegations, and his attorney, Marc Agnifilo, said outside court Tuesday morning that Combs, 54, would plead not guilty and that he would “fight like hell” to get his client free.

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The indictment alleges that Combs punched, kicked, and threw objects at victims, sometimes dragging them by their hair, causing injuries that often took days or weeks to heal. It also says Combs threw, choked, and pushed people.

Prosecutors say his employees and coworkers witnessed his violent behavior and, rather than intervening, helped him cover up the violence, including preventing victims from leaving and locating and contacting victims who tried to flee.

The indictment describes Combs as the head of a criminal organization that engaged or attempted to engage in activities including sex trafficking, forced labor, interstate transportation for the purpose of prostitution, drug offenses, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice.

He is accused of repeatedly hitting, punching and dragging women, throwing objects at them and kicking them, and enlisting his personal assistants, security guards and housekeepers to help him cover it all up.