Sean 'DD' Combs to appear in court before new judge in sex-trafficking case

Sean “Diddy” Combs is set to make his first appearance before the judge expected to preside over the hip-hop powerbroker's trial on sex-trafficking charges.

Combs will be arraigned Thursday afternoon from a Brooklyn jail in federal court in Manhattan before Judge Arun Subramanian.

The hearing is expected to set deadlines for each side's attorneys to submit arguments that would set the boundaries for the trial that Coombs' lawyers want to begin in April or May. Prosecutors have not disclosed a preference for when the trial might take place.

The judge was assigned to the case after another judge recused himself based on his past relationship with lawyers in the case.

Combs, 54, pleaded not guilty to charges filed against him last month. The charges included racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking based on allegations dating back to 2008.

An indictment alleges that Combs, with the help of a network of co-workers and employees, coerced and abused the women for years and silenced the victims through blackmail and acts of violence including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings.

His lawyers have been unsuccessfully trying to get the Bad Boy Records founder released on bail since his September 16 arrest.

Two judges concluded that Combs is a danger to the community if he is released. At a bail hearing three weeks ago, a judge rejected a $50 million bail package, including house arrest and electronic monitoring, concluding that Combs was a threat to tamper with witnesses and obstruct an ongoing investigation.

In an appeal of the bail ruling to the Second U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, Combs' lawyers asked a panel of judges on Tuesday to overturn the bail findings, saying the proposed bail package would “clearly prevent him from endangering anyone or contacting any witnesses.”

They urged the appeals court to reject the lower court judge's findings who they said “endorsed the government's exaggerated claims and ordered the detention of Mr Coombs”.