Sean “Diddy” Combs must stay in Brooklyn federal jail as he awaits his sex trafficking trial instead of the luxury of his Florida mansion, a judge has ruled.
US District Judge Andrew Carter ruled that the hip-hop mogul’s plan — which included a $50m bail offer, GPS monitoring and strict limitations on visitors — was “insufficient” to ensure the safety of the community and the integrity of his case.
Carter, agreeing with prosecutors who fought to keep Combs in jail, found that “no condition or set of conditions” governing his release could guard against the risk of him threatening or harming witnesses — a central charge in his case.
Combs’ lawyers were making their second attempt to release him from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where he has been held in the special housing unit since pleading not guilty to charges he physically and sexually abused women for years.
A federal magistrate rejected Combs’ initial request for bail on Tuesday.
An indictment accuses Combs, 54, of using his “power and prestige” to induce female victims and male sex workers into drugged-up, elaborately produced sexual performances dubbed “Freak Offs” that Combs arranged, participated in and often recorded. The events would sometimes last days, the indictment said.
The indictment alleges he coerced and abused women for years, with the help of a network of associates and employees, while using blackmail and violent acts including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings to keep victims from speaking out.
A conviction on every charge in the indictment would require a mandatory 15 years in prison with the possibility of a life sentence.
Combs has been in federal custody since his arrest on Monday night at a New York hotel.
Prosecutor Emily Johnson told Carter that the once-celebrated rapper has a long history of intimidating both accusers and witnesses to his alleged abuse.
She cited text messages from women who said Combs forced them into “Freak Offs” and then threatened to leak videos of them engaging in sex acts.
Johnson said Combs’ defence team was “minimizing and horrifically understating” Combs’ propensity for violence, taking issue with his lawyer’s portrayal of a 2016 assault at a Los Angeles hotel as a lovers’ quarrel.
Security video of the event showed Combs hitting his then-girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie, in a hotel hallway.
Johnson highlighted 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 someone’s child.”
Combs is a “danger to the community and poses a serious risk to the integrity” of his case, Johnson argued.
Federal Magistrate Robyn Tarnofsky initially ruled that Combs was too dangerous to be freed.
But Combs’ lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, submitted a letter on Wednesday asking again for bail under conditions that would allow him to leave the jail.
The Metropolitan Detention Center has around 1,200 inmates and is the subject of frequent complaints from lawyers and some judges that it is overcrowded, violent and neglected.
Combs’ Florida house is on Star Island in Biscayne Bay, reachable only by a causeway or boat. It is among the most expensive places to live in the United States.
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