Sean “Diddy” Combs will remain behind bars until his May 2025 sex trafficking trial. The defense’s third attempt to free the 54-year-old music mogul was denied on Wednesday. It’s been an eventful two weeks in the federal case against the Bad Boy Records founder.
U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian agreed that the government provided “clear and convincing evidence” that “that no condition or combination of conditions will reasonably assure the safety of the community” if he were to be released. The judge cited the “nature and circumstances of the offense charged,” the “weight of the evidence” against the music mogul,” Combs’s “history and characteristics” and “nature and seriousness of the danger that would be posed by the person’s release.”
Combs was denied bail twice before: Combs’s lawyers then proposed a detailed $50 million package in hopes of freeing their client. The latest offer included home confinement with GPS monitoring at a New York City apartment, an approved list of guests — with reportedly no female visitors allowed other than family members — and 24/7 monitoring of Combs by private security. The government strongly opposed this as it has accused Combs of witness tampering, even behind bars, and believe he’s a danger to others.
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In his written decision, Subramanian cited charges set forth in the federal indictment against Combs. For decades, Combs allegedly “abused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct. To do so, [Combs] relied on the employees, resources, and influence of the multi-faceted business empire that he led and controlled—creating a criminal enterprise whose members and associates engaged in, and attempted to engage in, among other crimes, sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice.”
Combs has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Subramanian also wrote “there is compelling evidence of Combs’s propensity for violence” as he referenced the 2016 video footage of the rapper appearing to beat ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura. Combs publicly apologized after a hotel surveillance video of the incident was leaked earlier this year.
The judge has yet to rule on Combs’s jailhouse notes, which were the subject of a heated hearing last week. Prosecutors gained access to them after an Oct. 28 sweep of the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, N.Y. The government claimed it showed that the entrepreneur was trying to pay off witnesses from jail. Combs’s defense team argued that the notes viewed were “attorney-client privileged material” they included in the defense’s legal strategy.
Subramanian said at the Nov. 19 hearing that he’d review whether the notes contained privileged information, which could take weeks, but that he would not take the notes into consideration when ruling on the issue of bail. However, he had some questions for the defense at the Nov. 22 hearing about if the defense retroactively wrote “legal” on the notes in question. The defense team said it was trying to get to the bottom of when “legal” was written on some of the notes, according to the Inner City Press.
Combs staying behind bars isn’t a surprise. Legal experts previously told Yahoo Entertainment that it was likely the judge would uphold the prior rulings as circumstances have not drastically changed.
On Sept. 16, Combs was arrested by federal agents at a Manhattan hotel and charged with racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. He faces a flurry of civil sexual assault lawsuits as well but has maintained his innocence.
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