Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs federal criminal sex trafficking case assigned to new judge

By Kara Scannell, CNN

(CNN) — The federal criminal sex trafficking case against Sean “Diddy” Combs has been assigned a new judge.

On Thursday, a notice in the court docket indicated the case was reassigned to Judge Arun Subramanian, who was first nominated by President Joe Biden in 2022 and took the bench in 2023.

Subramanian spent most of his career as a civil litigator of complex disputes at the law firm Susman Godfrey. Before joining the law firm, he worked as a law clerk for Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

No explanation for the change was given. CNN has reached out to the court, attorneys for Combs, and the US attorney’s office for the Southern District of New York for comment.

Combs’ case was first randomly assigned to Judge Andrew Carter, who was nominated by President Barack Obama in 2011.

Carter denied Combs bond and ordered him detained in jail while awaiting trial. At the end of a lengthy court hearing, the judge said he could find no conditions that would make him comfortable releasing the music mogul in light of allegations of witness tampering and physical violence. Combs has appealed the decision.

Combs is currently incarcerated and is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York while awaiting his criminal trial.

He was arrested earlier this month and charged with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution, and pleaded not guilty to the charges.

CNN’s Elizabeth Wagmeister contributed to this report.

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