NEW YORK — Sean “Diddy” Combs presided over a sordid empire of sexual crimes, coercing and abusing women for years while using blackmail and shocking acts of violence to keep his victims in line, according to an indictment unsealed Tuesday.

The music mogul pleaded not guilty, standing to speak during a court appearance, after listening to the allegations while showing little reaction, his uncuffed hands folded in his lap.

“Mr. Combs physically and sexually abused victims for decades. He used the vast resources of his company to facilitate his abuse and cover up his crimes. Simply put, he is a serial abuser and a serial obstructer,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Johnson told the court.

She also said he had “extensive and exhaustive history of obstruction of justice,” including alleged bribery and witness intimidation.

Prosecutors wanted him jailed. His attorneys proposed that he be released on a $50 million bond to home detention with electronic monitoring.

“He is not a perfect person. There has been drug use. He has been in toxic relationships,” attorney Marc Agnifilo told the court. The lawyer said Combs was receiving “treatment and therapy for things that he needs treatment and therapy for.”

U.S. Magistrate Judge Robyn Tarnofsky sided with the government.

Combs, 54, took a long swig from a water bottle, then was led out of court without handcuffs. As he walked out, he turned toward family members in the audience.

“Mr. Combs is a fighter. He’s going to fight this to the end. He’s innocent,” Agnifilo said after court. As a start, he said he would appeal the bail decision.

The 54-year-old founder of Bad Boy Records is accused of striking, punching and dragging women, throwing objects and kicking them — and getting his personal assistants, security and household staff to help him hide it all.

The racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking indictment described Combs inducing female victims and male sex workers into drugged-up, sometimes dayslong sexual performances dubbed “Freak Offs.”

It also refers obliquely to an attack on his former girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie, that was captured on video.

The “Freak Offs,” Agnifilo contended, were an expansion of that relationship, and not coercive.

“Is it sex trafficking? Not if everybody wants to be there,” Agnifilo said, arguing that authorities were intruding on his client’s private life.

Prosecutors, however, said in court papers that they had interviewed more than 50 victims and witnesses and expect the number to grow.

They said they would use financial, travel and billing records, electronic data and communications and videos of the “Freak Offs” to prove their case.

Combs was arrested late Monday in Manhattan, roughly six months after federal authorities conducting a sex trafficking investigation raided his luxurious homes in Los Angeles and Miami.

The indictment describes Combs as the head of a criminal enterprise that engaged or attempted to engage in sex trafficking, forced labor, interstate transportation for purposes of prostitution, drug offenses, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice.

Combs and his associates wielded his “power and prestige” to intimidate and lure women into his orbit, “often under the pretense of a romantic relationship,” the indictment says.

It says he then would use force, threats and coercion to get the women to engage with male sex workers in the “Freak Offs” — “elaborate and produced sex performances” that Combs arranged, directed, masturbated during and often recorded, creating dozens of videos.

He sometimes arranged to fly the women in and ensured their participation by procuring and providing drugs, controlling their careers, leveraging his financial support and using intimidation and violence, according to the indictment.

The events could last for days, and Combs and victims would often receive IV fluids to recover from the exertion and drug use, the indictment said.

It said his employees facilitated “Freak Offs” by arranging travel, booking hotel rooms, stocking them with supplies such as drugs and baby oil, scheduling the delivery of IV fluids and cleaning the rooms afterward.

During the searches of Combs’ homes earlier this year, law enforcement seized narcotics, videos of the “Freak Offs” and more than 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant, according to prosecutors.

They said agents also seized firearms and ammunition, including three AR-15-style rifles with defaced serial numbers — two of them, broken into parts, in his bedroom closet in Miami.

The indictment portrays Combs as a violent man who choked and shoved people, hit and kicked victims and sometimes dragged them by their hair, causing injuries that often took days or weeks to heal.

It alleges that Combs sometimes kept videos of victims engaging in sex acts and used the recordings as “collateral” to ensure the women’s continued obedience and silence.

He also exerted control over victims by promising career opportunities and providing and threatening to withhold financial support, according to the indictment.