Sean 'Diddy' Combs trial judge dismisses juror over 'concerns about his candor'

The federal judge overseeing Sean "Diddy" Combs' racketeering and sex trafficking trial dismissed one of the jurors Monday morning.

The federal judge overseeing Sean "Diddy" Combs' racketeering and sex trafficking trial dismissed one of the jurors Monday morning, saying he had "concerns about his candor and whether he shaded answers to get on and stay on the panel."

Combs' lawyers had made a last-ditch appeal Sunday to keep Juror No. 6, a 41-year-old Black man, on the 12-person panel. The defense team filed a 14-page letter arguing there wasn't a valid basis to toss him, and that doing so would be discriminatory.

Judge Arun Subramanian said Monday that he shared the defense team's concerns about tossing the juror, but he could not abide the man's inconsistent answers about where he lives — either in New York City, inside the bounds of the Southern District of New York, or with his girlfriend in New Jersey.

U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian holds a sidebar with lawyers during Sean "Diddy" Combs' sex trafficking trial in New York on June 12, 2025.Jane Rosenberg / ReutersJuror No. 6 will be replaced by an alternate: a 57-year-old white man who lives in Westchester County, north of Manhattan.

Combs' attorneys, in their letter opposing the removal of the juror, argued in part that the U.S. government's prosecution of the hip-hop mogul has been a case of "extreme overreach."