Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs denied bail, to remain in jail until sex trafficking trial
A judge has ruled music mogul Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs must stay in jail until his trial for sex trafficking, as chilling messages to alleged victims are heard in court.
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A Manhattan judge has ruled that music mogul Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs will remain behind bars until his trial for sex trafficking, rejecting an appeal by the star’s lawyers that he be released on bail.
The 54-year-old rapper appeared in court for the second day in a row, requesting to be released from Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Centre on a US$50 million (A$73 million) bond.
Manhattan federal Judge Andrew Carter, Jr. said Combs posed a risk of witness tampering and was a danger to the community.
Prosecutors argued that Combs was prone to violence, pointing to the horrific leaked surveillance video from 2016 in which the rapper was seen physically assaulting ex-girlfriend Cassandra Ventura in a hotel.
Ventura filed a sexual assault lawsuit against him last year that was quickly settled.
‘EXTREME FEAR’: WITNESSES SCARED, COURT TOLD
Prosecutor Emily Johnson said if Combs were freed, it could keep witnesses from testifying against him.
“Witnesses have expressed to us their extreme fear of the defendant,” Ms Johnson told the judge.
The prosecutor used messages between the hip-hop star and his alleged victims to bolster her case that the star should remain jailed.
One victim allegedly messaged Combs last November after reading Ventura’s allegations, saying the singer’s claims of physical and sexual abuse sounded like her own.
“I feel like I’m reading my own sexual trauma,” the message, read in court by the prosecutor, said.
“It makes me sick how three solid pages word for word is exactly my experiences and my anguish,” the alleged victim wrote.
Johnson also read a chilling message written by an unnamed alleged victim to Combs that said, “You always want to show me that you have the power, and you knock me around. I’m not a rag doll. I’m someone’s child.”
‘TRUSTWORTHY’: FAILED PLEA FOR RELEASE
In a letter to the court ahead of the hearing, Combs’ lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, appealed Judge Robyn Tarnofsky’s earlier decision to detain the rapper pending trial, writing that Combs was “eminently trustworthy” and should be released.
The bond — which he proposed would be secured by his Miami home worth A$70 million — would be co-signed by Combs, his mother, his sister, his three adult sons and the mothers of two of his daughters.
The defence also proposed restricted travel, restrictions on female visitors and home detention among other conditions of release.
Mr Agnifilo took issue with prosecution comparisons of Combs to sex offenders like R. Kelly, Keith Raniere and Ghislaine Maxwell, all of whom were jailed for a time at the same detention centre where Combs is currently being held.
He said the charges, while serious, are “eminently defensible” and said that Combs would show up to court to defend himself.
“Sean Combs has never evaded, avoided, eluded or run from a challenge in his life. He will not start now,” Mr Agnifilo’s letter said.
Combs’ lawyer said he shouldn’t be subjected to “horrific” conditions at the New York prison, citing murders and suicides that have occurred in that jail in recent years.
The lawyer previously said Combs was trying to sell his private plane. Mr Agnifilo said he took possession of his client’s passport and those of five of his relatives.
Combs is alleged to have run an “enterprise that he engaged in sex trafficking, forced labour, kidnapping, arson and other crimes,” according to the indictment.
Federal prosecutors said Combs “abused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfil his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct” from 2008 to the present. The allegations mirror 11 civil complaints filed against him since 2023.
Explaining the initial decision to deny Combs bail, Judge Tarnofsky said, “My concern is that this is a crime that happens behind closed doors.”
FOOTAGE of J LO’S MUM RESURFACES
It came as old footage of Jennifer Lopez’s mum appearing to diss the rapper has emerged.
During Lopez’s appearance on the Wendy Williams in 2015, Guadalupe Rodriguez – who was sitting in the audience – made it clear that she wouldn’t approve of her famous daughter getting back with Diddy.
“I was telling you that I could always see you getting back with [Diddy] in a little way,” Williams said to Lopez, who dated Combs – then known as Puffy – between 1999 and 2001.
Lopez instantly laughed at Williams’ comment as the audience cheered.
The pair then looked over at Rodriguez, who was sitting in the front row and had a big reaction to the conversation.
Lopez’s mum appeared to say, “It’s done,” and used a dismissive hand motion.
Noting the loud audience reaction, Lopez said, “It’s crazy, everybody came alive. They all had something to say.”
“Everybody has an opinion,” said Williams.
“Yes. It’s funny to me,” Lopez added.
“So no Puffy,” Williams said to Lopez, who replied, “No Puffy.”
Lopez, who is currently getting divorced from her fourth husband, Ben Affleck, was in a relationship with Combs for two years — during which they were famously arrested together.
On December 27, 1999, the stars were partying at Club New York when shots were fired at a fight that Combs was involved in, leading to injuries to three club-goers. They left the scene in Combs’ car but got pulled over after running a light and were both arrested.
Now-retired New York police detective Derrick Parker told The New York Post earlier this year that Rodriguez showed up to the police station where Lopez and Combs were being held.
“Her mother was yelling at J Lo in Spanish and she was really mad at Jennifer. I heard her say, ‘I told you not to get involved with (him),’” said Parker.
He alleged: “They had JLo handcuffed to a pole.”
“She was crying all over the place, in the squad room,” a police source told the Daily News at the time. “She was just upset about the whole thing.”
Lopez was released from custody without being charged after 14 hours in jail.
Combs, for his part, got indicted on two counts of criminal possession of an unregistered gun and attempted bribery for allegedly trying to get his bodyguard, Anthony Jones, to claim the weapon was his.
Lopez split from Combs in 2001. Two years after, she told Vibe magazine that the rapper “wasn’t faithful” when they were together.” I was in this relationship with Puff where I was totally crying, crazy and going nuts, it really took my whole life in a tailspin,” she explained. ”I never caught him [cheating] but I just knew. He’d say he was going to a club for a couple of hours and then never come back that night.”
Lopez also addressed claims she would “hunt down” Combs at hotel rooms. “I can’t remember right now, but I won’t say it didn’t happen,” she said.
Combs was arrested in New York on Monday on federal charges of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.
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