Sean “Diddy” Combs has blown kisses to family members as he appeared in court for a date to be set for his trial on sex trafficking and racketeering charges.

The jailed hip-hop mogul appeared before US District Judge Arun Subramanian in Manhattan federal court on on Thursday (local time), where his trial was set to start on May 5.

Also during the hearing, Combs’ lawyer Marc Agnifilo raised concerns about what he termed improper leaks by federal agents about the case. Prosecutor Emily Johnson called the claim baseless.

Combs, 54, pleaded not guilty on September 17 to a three-count indictment charging him with using his business empire – including record label Bad Boy Entertainment – to transport women and male sex workers across state lines to take part in recorded sexual performances called “freak offs”.

Thursday’s hearing was his third court appearance since his September arrest.

Wearing tan prison garb, Combs stood and blew kisses toward his family members seated in the courtroom’s audience at the end of the hearing.

His mother and children were in court, defence lawyer Anthony Ricco said. Combs was then led out a side door by members of the US Marshals Service.

Johnson told the court the prosecution’s case at the trial would last at least three weeks. Combs’ defence case would take about a week, Agnifilo said.

Combs has been held at the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn since his arrest.

Last week, the Manhattan-based 2nd US Circuit Court of Appeals denied his request to be immediately released while he appealed another judge’s decision to deny him bail. A three-judge 2nd Circuit panel will hear that appeal at a later date.

The rapper and producer faces a sentence of up to life in prison and a minimum of 15 years if convicted of the three counts he faces: Racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.

Prosecutors said Combs enticed women by giving them drugs such as ketamine and ecstasy, financial support or promises of career support or a romantic relationship. He then used the surreptitious recordings of the sex acts as “collateral” to ensure the women would remain silent, and sometimes showed weapons to intimidate abuse victims and witnesses, prosecutors allege.

The indictment contained no allegation that Combs himself directly engaged in unwanted sexual contact with women, though he was accused of physical assault. Agnifilo has called the sexual activity described by prosecutors consensual.

In a court filing on Wednesday, Agnifilo asked Subramanian to impose a “gag order” prohibiting prosecutors and federal agents from disclosing evidence to the media. Agnifilo cited what he called unlawful leaks that included a videotape showing Combs striking and dragging a woman in 2016.

At the hearing, Johnson called the request an attempt to “exclude a damning piece of evidence”. She said prosecutors would have no problem affirming their obligations not to disclose confidential evidence to the press, but said the defence should also be bound by that.

Johnson also raised concerns about Agnifilo’s statement in a September interview with entertainment news outlet TMZ calling the case a “takedown of a successful black man”. She said the comment amounted to an accusation that the government was “engaging in a racist prosecution”.

“Statements of this sort seriously risk a fair trial in this case,” Johnson said.

Subramanian asked Agnifilo to propose an order that would govern public statements by both sides.

-AAP