Latest news with #RAINN
Associated Press
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
SteamyBookworms Announces Charitable Donation Through Emily Klepp Book Box to Support RAINN
SteamyBookworms announces that 75% of profits from the Emily Klepp book box sale will be donated to RAINN to support sexual assault survivors. United States, July 21, 2025 -- SteamyBookworms Supports RAINN with Ongoing Charity Box SaleIn April, SteamyBookworms launched an important charitable initiative to support the RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) foundation, an organization dedicated to providing support for survivors of sexual violence. The company's Emily Klepp book box became the center of this effort, with 75% of all profits from its sales being donated directly to RAINN. This initiative is still ongoing, and the Emily Klepp box is now available in the overstock section of the SteamyBookworms website. Every purchase of this exclusive book box continues to contribute to RAINN's crucial work in offering support, advocacy, and resources to survivors of sexual assault. Customers can be confident that their purchase is making a meaningful impact. The Emily Klepp Book Box: A Unique Collaboration with Authors and Readers The Emily Klepp box represents the essence of what SteamyBookworms strives to achieve with every product they offer: a unique and collaborative creation that reflects the collective input of authors and readers. Unlike other companies that push their ideas onto the community, SteamyBookworms works alongside authors and their fanbase to curate the best possible products. This collaborative approach ensures that every item in the Emily Klepp box is something everyone can take pride in. The box features a selection of items and three exclusive contemporary romance novels, specially chosen for readers who are drawn to imaginative and engaging narratives. Fans of romance will find that this box offers more than just a book; it's an immersive experience with collectibles and themed items that enhance the reading journey. A Different Approach to Book Boxes and Community Engagement While there are many book box companies in the market, SteamyBookworms sets itself apart by offering exclusive boxes focused on unique and imaginative romance genres. This niche market is often underserved, and SteamyBookworms takes pride in filling this gap with products that cater specifically to fans of captivating romance stories. In addition to curating products that reflect the interests of its readers, SteamyBookworms is deeply committed to community engagement. By working closely with both authors and their readers, the company fosters a strong bond that ensures its offerings are always in line with what the community wants and values. This collaboration is central to SteamyBookworms' mission and continues to be a key factor in its success. Donations to RAINN: How Each Purchase Makes a Difference Since the launch of the Emily Klepp box, SteamyBookworms has continued its commitment to donate 75% of the profits from each box to RAINN. The funds from these donations help support a range of services, including a 24/7 sexual assault hotline, confidential advocacy programs, and outreach efforts aimed at raising awareness about sexual violence. For each customer who purchases the Emily Klepp book box, they are playing an important part in making a difference for sexual assault survivors. This initiative not only provides critical resources to individuals who need them but also helps raise awareness about sexual violence and prevention. The donations will continue to make a positive impact long after the sale of the Emily Klepp box has ended. About SteamyBookworms SteamyBookworms is a book box company dedicated to providing exclusive, high-quality products for readers who enjoy imaginative romance genres. By collaborating with authors and their community, SteamyBookworms curates themed book boxes that include exclusive novels, collectibles, and other bookish items. The company's focus on collaboration and its commitment to giving back make it stand out in the crowded book box market. SteamyBookworms also values supporting charitable causes. Through its ongoing donation efforts, like the contributions to RAINN, SteamyBookworms is committed to making a positive impact in the community while providing book lovers with a one-of-a-kind reading experience. Media Contact Emily Simon SteamyBookworms Email: [email protected] Website Instagram BlueSky TikTok Contact Info: Name: Emily Simon Email: Send Email Organization: SteamyBookworms Website: Release ID: 89164607 In the event of any inaccuracies, problems, or queries arising from the content shared in this press release, we encourage you to notify us immediately at [email protected] (it is important to note that this email is the authorized channel for such matters, sending multiple emails to multiple addresses does not necessarily help expedite your request). Our diligent team will be readily available to respond and take swift action within 8 hours to rectify any identified issues or assist with removal requests. Ensuring the provision of high-quality and precise information is paramount to us.
7NEWS
4 days ago
- Business
- 7NEWS
Match Group response to Spotlight's Dating Apps investigation
'At Match Group, safety is at the heart of everything we do. 'We know people come to our platforms looking for meaningful connections, and that requires trust. 'That's why we invest over $125 million each year in safety tools, technology, and teams across all our brands. 'We work every day to take swift, effective action at scale to protect our members: in 2024, we banned over 84 million accounts globally for violating our rules. 'The vast majority of these bans were proactive, issued before any user report of misconduct, with 83 per cent occurring before a match was made. 'We also removed over 30 million pieces of content and issued over six million warnings. 'Safety is about more than bans: it's about ensuring people have the tools to stay in control of their experience. 'To that end, we've launched more than 20 key features over the past three years to help people feel safer and more in control — identity verification tools (including an additional level using official government-issued IDs in Australia), harmful message alerts, date-sharing options, and enhanced photo checks. 'Any report of sexual violence is deeply troubling and taken extremely seriously. 'A global team of trained moderators reviews reports and escalates serious issues quickly. 'Each platform has trained support teams and a specialist group focused on high-risk cases. 'Users can contest enforcement decisions through our appeals system which is now available across all our major platforms. 'We operate the industry's first global law enforcement portal, now on Kodex, to streamline urgent requests and support investigations worldwide, complemented by proactive engagement with law enforcement agencies around the world. 'We've also taken steps to better support survivors. In partnership with RAINN, Tinder introduced a trauma-informed reporting system that allows users to report someone even after unmatching, because no one should feel silenced or powerless. 'Safety is a commitment. 'One that extends beyond our apps through partnerships with NGOs, global safety experts, and initiatives like the Tech Against Scams Coalition. 'In Australia, we helped lead the industry in creating the Voluntary Online Dating Code of Conduct. 'As our CEO Spencer Rascoff said: 'trust is both a moral and business imperative.' 'We stand with survivors, and we will keep working every day to make online dating safer for everyone.'
CNN
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
Laws with lookback windows gave Cassie Ventura and others the chance to fight back against accused abusers. Advocates say survivors deserve more
EDITOR'S NOTE: If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, you are not alone. Visit RAINN's National Sexual Assault Hotline for help. Call (4673), chat at or text 'HOPE' to 64673. Getting help around the world: If you, or someone you know, is being affected by domestic violence, a worldwide list of directories is provided by UN Women. You can also find a list of national agencies on The Pixel Project. Music mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs was acquitted Wednesday of the most serious charges against him in a trial that exposed allegations of sexual assault and abuse of power, placing a renewed spotlight on survivors who choose to speak out. Combs was acquitted of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking pertaining to two of his former girlfriends, including the singer Cassie Ventura, who provided vivid and emotional testimony while eight months pregnant. Ventura first alleged years of physical and sexual abuse at the hands of Combs in a lawsuit filed in November 2023, just before the expiration of New York's one-year lookback window, which suspended the statute of limitations for civil lawsuits related to adult sexual assault cases. The suit was settled shortly after. New York's Adult Survivors Act was part of a suite of legislation passed in New York and California in the last several years that temporarily dropped the statute of limitations for lawsuits related to child or adult victims of sexual assault. Thousands of lawsuits were filed under the laws against powerful figures and institutions, including President Donald Trump, once-renowned movie producer Harvey Weinstein, state prison systems, the Boy Scouts of America and the Archdiocese of New York. Every 68 seconds, someone in the US is sexually assaulted, according to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, or RAINN, the nation's largest advocacy organization against sexual violence. While the laws and temporary lookback windows were a huge step forward, advocates say they weren't a panacea for survivors seeking justice. Now advocates say the #MeToo movement's momentum is waning and they are struggling to maintain the public attention and legislative support to push through additional protections for sexual assault survivors. Lawmakers in New York had been working to pass legislation for child victims of sexual assault for more than a decade when they recognized a unique moment in the cultural landscape, according to New York State Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, who helped lead the legislative effort. The MeToo movement, launched by activist Tarana Burke nearly two decades ago, went viral around 2017, as allegations of sexual assault and harassment were leveled at Weinstein. People were willing to talk about sexual assault out in the open, in a way they hadn't been before, Burke told CNN in June. Accounts of sexual assault and harassment spanned industries, and survivors didn't just want to be heard, they wanted accountability. 'It became harder for those who were opposed to the effort to say, 'Oh, this isn't such a big deal. It doesn't happen that often. It's not really a thing that we need to be changing the laws about,' when you couldn't open the paper or see a movie without this being a central topic,' said Michael Polenberg, vice president of government affairs at Safe Horizon, a national non-profit that offers services to victims of sexual assault and other forms of abuse. After years of trying, there was finally enough public pressure and legislative support to overcome the fierce lobbying effort against the Child Victims Act, Rosenthal said. The law, enacted in 2019, allowed child victims to file civil lawsuits up to the age of 55 and created a one-year lookback window for civil lawsuits from victims of any age, regardless of when the abuse occurred. That window was later extended for another year to account for difficulty accessing the courts during the Covid-19 pandemic. It was a recognition that trauma takes time to process and strict statutes of limitations do not account for the experience of survivors, who are often not ready to tell their stories for years, Rosenthal said. Nearly 11,000 lawsuits were filed under the Child Victims Act in New York during its two-year span. 'Once we passed the Child Victims Act, the dam sort of broke, and we were able to pass the Adult Survivors Act. People understood how many victims there are out there,' Rosenthal said. New York's separate Adult Survivors Act passed in 2022 and created a one-year lookback window for adult victims. Similar legislation in California created lookback windows for child victims in 2020 and adults in 2023. Former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll accused Trump of raping her in a New York department store in the mid-1990s and later defaming her in his denial of her claims. A Manhattan federal jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and ordered him to pay about $5 million in damages. Trump has denied all claims. 'Some of the people that it helped bring down really makes me even prouder that I got to pass that bill into law,' Rosenthal said, citing Caroll's lawsuit against Trump. 'She used the Adult Survivors Act to get justice.' But some of the survivors who chose to pursue legal action faced additional legal hurdles. Advocates say a patchwork of sexual assault policies can sometimes feel like it exists less to protect survivors and more to weed out cases deemed illegitimate. If one year seems like an arbitrary period to file lawsuits for old cases, that's because essentially, it is. In New York, the time frame was born out of political compromise and reflects what some lawmakers believed was reasonable, Rosenthal said. She's since pursued legislation that would eliminate the statute of limitations in the state for child victims entirely, but interest among some legislators has waned. 'Once the momentum has stopped, you have to reenergize and get it back and prove all over again why some of these bills are needed,' she said. Some cases brought against the state – like those filed by formerly incarcerated women who say they were sexually assaulted in New York's prison system – have to be heard in the Court of Claims, which requires a more precise degree of detail about the time and place of the abuse. That requirement has resulted in cases being dismissed in New York, Polenberg said. 'It's chilling when you think about the Adult Survivors Act, where the preponderance of cases were brought on behalf of formerly incarcerated individuals – many women – for sexual abuse that took place in a prison. It is unfathomable to ask survivors to know the exact day that something took place, if they were locked up for six years or eight years,' Polenberg said. Rosenthal authored a bill to try to remedy the issue, which had the support of Safe Horizon and other survivor advocates, but it failed this year. Nationally, only a handful of states, including Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming, have removed statutes of limitations for all felony sex crimes, according to RAINN. Survivors in other states are limited to set time frames or temporary lookback windows. Even then, a number of other factors are at play, like so-called intoxication loopholes that can prevent sexual assault survivors from getting justice if they were unable to consent after becoming voluntarily intoxicated. The loophole exists in nearly half the nation, a 2022 analysis of sexual assault laws from all 50 states and Washington, DC, found. Texas closed its loophole on June 20 with a law that expands the definition of consent and clearly outlines sexual assault to include cases in which a victim 'cannot consent because of intoxication or impairment by any substance.' Rosenthal sponsored legislation in New York last month aimed at closing the state's intoxication loophole; it also failed to advance. Christina Maxwell, a New York-based singer, actress and public speaker, advocated for the elimination of that loophole. It was a legal hurdle she never thought she would have to contend with in 2020, after the #MeToo movement went worldwide and legislators were throwing their weight behind survivors of sexual assault. That was the year Maxwell was sexually assaulted after drinking an alcoholic beverage she believes was drugged while at a workplace event, she told CNN. Maxwell pulled the surveillance footage which captured much of the night's events and went to the police, she said, but she was told by detectives and lawyers that she likely did not have a case. 'They verbatim said to me that drunk consent is still consent,' Maxwell said. She returned to her job and spent the next three years working in the office where the alleged assault took place, she said. 'In order to keep working there and to keep doing what was a dream job for me at the time, I had to fully separate – for myself – what happened from the physical space because I didn't want him to take my dream job from me too,' she said. Maxwell has since found camaraderie with the advocates she now works with to rally for protections for other sexual assault survivors. Rosenthal said survivor voices will be key as she and her colleagues work to increase protections for victims of sexual assault, sometimes inch by inch. 'You can read about it, but the most convincing strategy is to have a survivor sit down with you and look you in the eye and tell their truth about what happened to them and the reasons that they were unable to seek justice,' Rosenthal said. The fact that Combs was acquitted on the most serious charges in the federal trial was disappointing, said Polenberg, who believes there's been a recent backlash towards the MeToo movement and survivors' rights. He cited a willingness to dismiss serious allegations from survivors. But just the fact that Ventura was able to file her original civil suit against Combs was a success, he said. 'Back in November of 2023, Cassie had a choice. She could accept an eight-figure settlement offer and move on with her life and sign non-disclosure agreements, or she could file a civil lawsuit and hold Sean Combs responsible for what he did to her and shine a light on his behavior,' Ventura's lawyer, Doug Wigdor, told CNN after the verdict. 'She showed great courage, great bravery, to choose the latter of those two options.' During Combs' criminal trial, Ventura said she received a $20 million settlement in her 2023 civil suit. The significance of Ventura's lawsuit will extend far beyond the trial, Burke, the founder of the #MeToo movement, previously told CNN. 'You can't unring this bell,' she said. 'We all listened to Cassie. We all saw that video. We've heard this testimony that's not going anywhere.' Rosenthal said she hopes the moment will recapture the attention of her colleagues and other lawmakers around the nation who hold the power to shape policy. 'Cassie and others did file in the waning days of the Adult Survivors Act, and perhaps the depravity exposed in the trial will give renewed momentum to bills that will allow survivors to seek justice,' she said. CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister, Dan Heching and Kara Scannell contributed to this report.
CNN
06-07-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
Laws with lookback windows gave Cassie Ventura and others the chance to fight back against accused abusers. Advocates say survivors deserve more
EDITOR'S NOTE: If you or someone you know has experienced sexual assault, you are not alone. Visit RAINN's National Sexual Assault Hotline for help. Call (4673), chat at or text 'HOPE' to 64673. Getting help around the world: If you, or someone you know, is being affected by domestic violence, a worldwide list of directories is provided by UN Women. You can also find a list of national agencies on The Pixel Project. Music mogul Sean 'Diddy' Combs was acquitted Wednesday of the most serious charges against him in a trial that exposed allegations of sexual assault and abuse of power, placing a renewed spotlight on survivors who choose to speak out. Combs was acquitted of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking pertaining to two of his former girlfriends, including the singer Cassie Ventura, who provided vivid and emotional testimony while eight months pregnant. Ventura first alleged years of physical and sexual abuse at the hands of Combs in a lawsuit filed in November 2023, just before the expiration of New York's one-year lookback window, which suspended the statute of limitations for civil lawsuits related to adult sexual assault cases. The suit was settled shortly after. New York's Adult Survivors Act was part of a suite of legislation passed in New York and California in the last several years that temporarily dropped the statute of limitations for lawsuits related to child or adult victims of sexual assault. Thousands of lawsuits were filed under the laws against powerful figures and institutions, including President Donald Trump, once-renowned movie producer Harvey Weinstein, state prison systems, the Boy Scouts of America and the Archdiocese of New York. Every 68 seconds, someone in the US is sexually assaulted, according to the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, or RAINN, the nation's largest advocacy organization against sexual violence. While the laws and temporary lookback windows were a huge step forward, advocates say they weren't a panacea for survivors seeking justice. Now advocates say the #MeToo movement's momentum is waning and they are struggling to maintain the public attention and legislative support to push through additional protections for sexual assault survivors. Lawmakers in New York had been working to pass legislation for child victims of sexual assault for more than a decade when they recognized a unique moment in the cultural landscape, according to New York State Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, who helped lead the legislative effort. The MeToo movement, launched by activist Tarana Burke nearly two decades ago, went viral around 2017, as allegations of sexual assault and harassment were leveled at Weinstein. People were willing to talk about sexual assault out in the open, in a way they hadn't been before, Burke told CNN in June. Accounts of sexual assault and harassment spanned industries, and survivors didn't just want to be heard, they wanted accountability. 'It became harder for those who were opposed to the effort to say, 'Oh, this isn't such a big deal. It doesn't happen that often. It's not really a thing that we need to be changing the laws about,' when you couldn't open the paper or see a movie without this being a central topic,' said Michael Polenberg, vice president of government affairs at Safe Horizon, a national non-profit that offers services to victims of sexual assault and other forms of abuse. After years of trying, there was finally enough public pressure and legislative support to overcome the fierce lobbying effort against the Child Victims Act, Rosenthal said. The law, enacted in 2019, allowed child victims to file civil lawsuits up to the age of 55 and created a one-year lookback window for civil lawsuits from victims of any age, regardless of when the abuse occurred. That window was later extended for another year to account for difficulty accessing the courts during the Covid-19 pandemic. It was a recognition that trauma takes time to process and strict statutes of limitations do not account for the experience of survivors, who are often not ready to tell their stories for years, Rosenthal said. Nearly 11,000 lawsuits were filed under the Child Victims Act in New York during its two-year span. 'Once we passed the Child Victims Act, the dam sort of broke, and we were able to pass the Adult Survivors Act. People understood how many victims there are out there,' Rosenthal said. New York's separate Adult Survivors Act passed in 2022 and created a one-year lookback window for adult victims. Similar legislation in California created lookback windows for child victims in 2020 and adults in 2023. Former magazine columnist E. Jean Carroll accused Trump of raping her in a New York department store in the mid-1990s and later defaming her in his denial of her claims. A Manhattan federal jury found Trump liable for sexual abuse and ordered him to pay about $5 million in damages. Trump has denied all claims. 'Some of the people that it helped bring down really makes me even prouder that I got to pass that bill into law,' Rosenthal said, citing Caroll's lawsuit against Trump. 'She used the Adult Survivors Act to get justice.' But some of the survivors who chose to pursue legal action faced additional legal hurdles. Advocates say a patchwork of sexual assault policies can sometimes feel like it exists less to protect survivors and more to weed out cases deemed illegitimate. If one year seems like an arbitrary period to file lawsuits for old cases, that's because essentially, it is. In New York, the time frame was born out of political compromise and reflects what some lawmakers believed was reasonable, Rosenthal said. She's since pursued legislation that would eliminate the statute of limitations in the state for child victims entirely, but interest among some legislators has waned. 'Once the momentum has stopped, you have to reenergize and get it back and prove all over again why some of these bills are needed,' she said. Some cases brought against the state – like those filed by formerly incarcerated women who say they were sexually assaulted in New York's prison system – have to be heard in the Court of Claims, which requires a more precise degree of detail about the time and place of the abuse. That requirement has resulted in cases being dismissed in New York, Polenberg said. 'It's chilling when you think about the Adult Survivors Act, where the preponderance of cases were brought on behalf of formerly incarcerated individuals – many women – for sexual abuse that took place in a prison. It is unfathomable to ask survivors to know the exact day that something took place, if they were locked up for six years or eight years,' Polenberg said. Rosenthal authored a bill to try to remedy the issue, which had the support of Safe Horizon and other survivor advocates, but it failed this year. Nationally, only a handful of states, including Kentucky, Maryland, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming, have removed statutes of limitations for all felony sex crimes, according to RAINN. Survivors in other states are limited to set time frames or temporary lookback windows. Even then, a number of other factors are at play, like so-called intoxication loopholes that can prevent sexual assault survivors from getting justice if they were unable to consent after becoming voluntarily intoxicated. The loophole exists in nearly half the nation, a 2022 analysis of sexual assault laws from all 50 states and Washington, DC, found. Texas closed its loophole on June 20 with a law that expands the definition of consent and clearly outlines sexual assault to include cases in which a victim 'cannot consent because of intoxication or impairment by any substance.' Rosenthal sponsored legislation in New York last month aimed at closing the state's intoxication loophole; it also failed to advance. Christina Maxwell, a New York-based singer, actress and public speaker, advocated for the elimination of that loophole. It was a legal hurdle she never thought she would have to contend with in 2020, after the #MeToo movement went worldwide and legislators were throwing their weight behind survivors of sexual assault. That was the year Maxwell was sexually assaulted after drinking an alcoholic beverage she believes was drugged while at a workplace event, she told CNN. Maxwell pulled the surveillance footage which captured much of the night's events and went to the police, she said, but she was told by detectives and lawyers that she likely did not have a case. 'They verbatim said to me that drunk consent is still consent,' Maxwell said. She returned to her job and spent the next three years working in the office where the alleged assault took place, she said. 'In order to keep working there and to keep doing what was a dream job for me at the time, I had to fully separate – for myself – what happened from the physical space because I didn't want him to take my dream job from me too,' she said. Maxwell has since found camaraderie with the advocates she now works with to rally for protections for other sexual assault survivors. Rosenthal said survivor voices will be key as she and her colleagues work to increase protections for victims of sexual assault, sometimes inch by inch. 'You can read about it, but the most convincing strategy is to have a survivor sit down with you and look you in the eye and tell their truth about what happened to them and the reasons that they were unable to seek justice,' Rosenthal said. The fact that Combs was acquitted on the most serious charges in the federal trial was disappointing, said Polenberg, who believes there's been a recent backlash towards the MeToo movement and survivors' rights. He cited a willingness to dismiss serious allegations from survivors. But just the fact that Ventura was able to file her original civil suit against Combs was a success, he said. 'Back in November of 2023, Cassie had a choice. She could accept an eight-figure settlement offer and move on with her life and sign non-disclosure agreements, or she could file a civil lawsuit and hold Sean Combs responsible for what he did to her and shine a light on his behavior,' Ventura's lawyer, Doug Wigdor, told CNN after the verdict. 'She showed great courage, great bravery, to choose the latter of those two options.' During Combs' criminal trial, Ventura said she received a $20 million settlement in her 2023 civil suit. The significance of Ventura's lawsuit will extend far beyond the trial, Burke, the founder of the #MeToo movement, previously told CNN. 'You can't unring this bell,' she said. 'We all listened to Cassie. We all saw that video. We've heard this testimony that's not going anywhere.' Rosenthal said she hopes the moment will recapture the attention of her colleagues and other lawmakers around the nation who hold the power to shape policy. 'Cassie and others did file in the waning days of the Adult Survivors Act, and perhaps the depravity exposed in the trial will give renewed momentum to bills that will allow survivors to seek justice,' she said. CNN's Elizabeth Wagmeister, Dan Heching and Kara Scannell contributed to this report.
USA Today
30-06-2025
- Entertainment
- USA Today
Diddy trial updates: Jurors in Sean Combs case prepare for verdict deliberations
This story contains graphic descriptions that some readers may find disturbing. Jurors in Sean "Diddy" Combs' criminal trial are heading back to court as they prepare to deliberate on a verdict for the embattled hip-hop mogul. The 12-person jury, which has heard graphic testimony on Combs' alleged abuses from more than 30 witnesses, gathered again in Manhattan court on June 30 following the completion of closing arguments from Combs' attorneys on June 27. The defense took about five hours for closing arguments, with Combs' lawyer Marc Agnifilo framing the case as a "tale of two trials." He argued the case is about love, jealousy and money, not trafficking or racketeering, and accused the government of putting on a show to target a wealthy celebrity. Agnifilo claimed prosecutors distorted the Grammy-winning rapper's consensual sexual "lifestyle" into criminal acts while witnesses spoke of the "successful Black entrepreneur" as a respected and generous figure. Meanwhile, prosecutor Maurene Comey returned to the floor to present the government's rebuttal, focusing on previous remarks on Combs' former girlfriend Casandra "Cassie" Ventura Fine: "Mr. Agnifilo suggested Cassie was the winner of a prize. Black eyes? A gash in her head? Getting urinated in her mouth? How could anyone think that's a prize? That's ridiculous." Combs, 55, was arrested in September and charged with sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has pleaded not guilty. Diddy on trial newsletter: Step inside the courtroom as music mogul faces sex-crimes charges What is Diddy charged with? Combs is facing federal sex-crimes and trafficking charges in a sprawling case that has eroded his status as a power player and kingmaker in the entertainment industry. He was arrested in September 2024 and later charged with racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. The rapper has pleaded not guilty to the five counts against him. Discover WITNESS: Access our exclusive collection of true crime stories, podcasts, videos and more What is racketeering? Racketeering is the participation in an illegal scheme under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Statute, or RICO, as a way for the U.S. government to prosecute organizations that contribute to criminal activity. Using RICO law, which is typically aimed at targeting multi-person criminal organizations, prosecutors allege that Combs coerced victims, some of whom they say were sex workers, through intimidation and narcotics to participate in "freak offs" — sometimes dayslong sex performances that federal prosecutors allege they have on video. How to stream the Diddy trial The trial will not be televised, as cameras are typically not allowed in federal criminal trial proceedings. USA TODAY will be reporting live from the courtroom. Sign up for our newsletter for more updates. Contributing: USA TODAY staff If you are a survivor of sexual assault, RAINN offers support through the National Sexual Assault Hotline at (4673) and and en Español If you or someone you know is a victim of domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233 or text "START" to 88788.
