As his trial on federal sex crime charges looms, Sean "Diddy" Combs is requesting a postponement of the legal proceeding.
In a motion filed Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, attorneys for the embattled hip-hop mogul asked Judge Arun Subramanian to delay the trial two months after its scheduled May 5 start date, according to court documents obtained by USA TODAY.
The Grammy-winning rapper, who was arrested in September 2024 and charged with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution, now faces a total of five counts in his federal grand jury indictment.
A superseding indictment filed April 3 — the third revised indictment following an amended indictment in January and a superseding indictment in March — charged him with two additional counts: one charge of sex trafficking and one of transportation to engage in prostitution.
Combs' lawyers, who were previously considering a two-week delay, said in the filing that the two-month delay will allow Combs the "necessary time to prepare his defense" for the third superseding indictment as well as resolve an issue with evidence regarding an additional accuser.
The rapper's legal team claims there's "substantially new conduct" alleged in the new indictment, which Combs' attorneys say prosecutors had evidence of before the indictment being issued. Additionally, the defense argues that the U.S. government is still producing evidence for the fourth count in Combs' indictment, which carries a minimum 15-year jail sentence if convicted.
"Under these circumstances ... we cannot, in good conscience, go to trial on the scheduled date," Combs' attorneys said in the filing. "This is a problem that the government has created, yet it opposes our reasonable request."
A spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York declined to comment on the motion to USA TODAY.
The amended indictment from January accused Combs of victimizing three unnamed women as part of an alleged sex trafficking enterprise he presided over. The second superseding indictment leveled an additional allegation that the rap mogul subjected his employees to forced labor under inhumane circumstances.
After the third superseding indictment was issued, Combs' team told USA TODAY: "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."
Combs, who has pleaded not guilty to all charges, has been in jail since his arrest on Sept. 16, 2024. Despite repeated attempts at bail, he was ordered to remain in custody at the Special Housing Unit in Brooklyn's Metropolitan Detention Center ahead of his May 5 trial.
