Sean “Diddy” Combs remains in jail after being denied bail for the second time

By Michael R. Sisak, Larry Neumeister and Andrew Dalton, The Associated Press, September 18, 2024.

FILE – Sean 'Diddy' Combs participates in “The Four” panel during the FOX Television Critics Association winter press tour in Pasadena, Calif., on Jan. 4, 2018. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)

NEW YORK (AP) – Sean “Diddy” Combs will remain in prison after a judge on Wednesday rejected the hip-hop mogul's proposal to await his sex trafficking trial in the luxury of his Florida mansion rather than in a grim federal prison in Brooklyn.

U.S. District Judge Andrew L. Carter ruled that Combs' plan – which included a $50 million bail offer, GPS monitoring and strict visitor restrictions – was “inadequate” to ensure the safety of the community and the integrity of his case.

Carter joined prosecutors who fought to keep Combs in prison, believing that “no condition or set of conditions” for his release could protect him from the risk that he would threaten or harm witnesses – a central charge in his case.

Combs' attorneys were making a second attempt in three days to free him from the Metropolitan Detention Center, where he has been held since he pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to charges that he physically and sexually abused women over a period of years.

A federal judge on Tuesday denied Combs' first request for bail. On Wednesday, he and his lawyers argued with Carter, the judge who will preside over his trial. Defense attorney Marc Agnifilo says he will next ask the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn Carter's ruling and release Combs.

“I will not let him stay in this prison a day longer than necessary,” Agnifilo said.

Combs looked at his family members and tapped his heart valve several times as the hearing began Wednesday. Then he sat stoically and listened to the arguments. Afterward, as federal agents led him away, his relatives hugged and clapped each other solemnly.

Combs, 54, is accused in the indictment of abusing his “power and prestige” to lure female victims and male sex workers into elaborately staged drugged sexual performances known as “freak offs.” Combs arranged, participated in and often filmed them. The events sometimes lasted several days, the indictment says.

The indictment alleges that, with the help of a network of accomplices and associates, he coerced and abused women for years, while also using blackmail and acts of violence such as kidnapping, arson and physical assault to prevent the victims from speaking out.

Combs has been in federal custody since his arrest Monday evening at a Manhattan hotel.

Prosecutor Emily Johnson argued for him to be kept locked up, telling Carter that the once-celebrated rapper had a long history of intimidating both accusers and witnesses to his alleged abuse. She cited text messages from women who said Combs forced them to “freak off” and then threatened to release videos of them engaging in sexual acts.

Johnson said Combs' defense team was “minimizing and terribly understating” Combs' propensity for violence. He criticized his attorney's portrayal of a 2016 robbery at a Los Angeles hotel as a lovers' quarrel. Surveillance video of the incident showed Combs punching his then-girlfriend, R&B singer Cassie, in a hotel hallway.

Johnson seized on a text message from a woman who said Combs dragged her down a hallway by her hair. According to Johnson, the woman told the rapper, “I'm not a rag doll, I'm somebody's child.”

Combs is a “danger to the community and poses a serious risk to the integrity” of his case, Johnson argued.

Agnifilo also asked Carter to transfer Combs to a New Jersey prison rather than the Metropolitan Detention Center, which has about 1,200 inmates and is described by some lawyers and judges as overcrowded, violent and neglectful. The judge said Agnifilo would have to submit a written request.

Combs' Florida home is on Star Island, a man-made piece of land in Biscayne Bay that is only accessible by causeway or boat. It is one of the most expensive places to live in the U.S. Combs' request is in line with a long line of wealthy defendants who have offered to post multimillion-dollar bail in exchange for house arrest in luxurious surroundings.

If Combs had been released on bail, he would have had to stay in that house while awaiting trial, his lawyers offered. Visits would be limited to family members, caretakers and friends who are not considered co-conspirators, they said.

Many of the allegations in the indictment match those in a lawsuit filed in November by Cassie, whose real name is Casandra Ventura. The lawsuit was settled the following day, but the allegations have dogged Combs ever since.

The AP does not typically name people who report sexual abuse unless they come forward publicly, like Ventura.

Without mentioning Ventura by name but clearly referring to her, Agnifilo argued at Tuesday's arraignment that the entire criminal case was the result of a long-standing, troubled but consensual relationship that faltered due to infidelity. The “freak offs,” he claimed, were an extension of that relationship, not coercion.

Prosecutors made the case more extensive. They said they had interviewed more than 50 victims and witnesses.

Like many aging hip-hop figures, Bad Boy Records founder Combs had built a softer public image for himself. The father of seven was a respected international businessman whose annual “White Party” in the Hamptons was once a must-attend event for the jet-setting elite.

But prosecutors said he used the same companies, people and methods to commit his crimes that he used to build his business and cultural power. They said they would prove this with financial and travel records, electronic communications data and videos of the “Freak Offs.”

In March, authorities raided Combs's luxury homes in Los Angeles and Miami, seizing drugs, videos 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-15s with obscured serial numbers.

If convicted on all counts, a prison sentence of 15 years, possibly even life imprisonment, would be required.

___

This story has been edited to correct the spelling of Cassie's legal first name: Casandra, not Cassandra.

___

Dalton reported from Los Angeles.

30
-29