A federal judge on Tuesday ordered that Sean “Diddy” Combs be sent to jail ahead of his criminal trial after prosecutors argued that the music mogul could try to flee the country or attempt to meddle with the investigation of sex trafficking charges against him.
Magistrate Judge Robyn Tarnofsky denied that Combs be released on bond during a hearing in Manhattan federal court. At the hearing, Combs pleaded not guilty to the three felony charges against him.
In an indictment unsealed Tuesday, prosecutors in the Southern District of New York accused Combs of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy, and illegal prostitution transportation. They allege he manipulated and pressured victims into participating in “Freak Offs” — elaborate “sex performances” that Combs masturbated to and recorded.
Combs wore a black T-shirt and sweatpants at the hearing. He was arrested at 8:25 p.m. Monday night at his hotel, prosecutors said.
The rapper and entrepreneur was marched into the courtroom by US marshals on Tuesday, but appeared impassive during much of the hearing, sipping occasionally from a Fiji water bottle. If he is eventually convicted, he could face life in prison.
At the afternoon court appearance, Combs’s lawyers offered a $50 million bond to keep him out of jail before his trial. They offered to hand over his and his family members’ passports and said that he planned to sell his private jet to illustrate he was not a flight risk.
Prosecutors, meanwhile, said in their own letter filed to the court that Combs should remain incarcerated, arguing he has used his “vast wealth” to “ensure that his criminal conduct goes unpunished through manipulative and obstructive conduct.”
In addition to being known as a rapper and record producer, Combs is a serial entrepreneur who’s founded fashion and media companies and was a brand ambassador for Cîroc vodka. Prosecutors pegged his wealth at about $1 billion and said he had a private jet and $1 million in cash on hand to flee the country if he wanted to.
“In short, if the defendant wanted to flee, he has the money, manpower, and tools to do so quickly and without detection,” prosecutors wrote in the filing.
Prosecutors also said that if Combs were released, he could engage in witness tampering. According to their letter, Combs and his associates have contacted witnesses in the investigation and tried to get them to change their stories.
“In late 2023, immediately following public allegations of certain of the defendant’s crimes, including his physical and sexual abuse of women, the defendant and other members of the Enterprise made repeated phone calls to victims and witnesses during which they provided victims and witnesses with false narratives of events, in an apparent effort to conceal the defendant’s crimes,” prosecutors wrote.
Most of the bond Combs’ lawyers offered would be backed by his Miami home, which they said was worth $48 million.
“Sean Combs has never evaded, avoided, eluded, or run from a challenge in his life,” his lawyers wrote in their letter. “He will not start now.”
In the past, Combs has pressured security staff to stay quiet about his activities, prosecutors wrote.
After a March 2016 incident, where Combs “was captured on video surveillance striking, kicking, and dragging a woman in a public area of a hotel” — an apparent reference to the R&B singer Cassie Ventura — Combs tried to bribe hotel security, prosecutors said.
“When a member of hotel security staff intervened, the defendant attempted to offer the hotel security officer a stack of cash to ensure his silence,” prosecutors wrote. “After the security guard refused the defendant’s bribe, and after coordination between the defendant and his employees, the defendant’s staff contacted other members of hotel security.”
Prosecutors said that Combs’ abuse has continued despite being under criminal investigation.
“The defendant has continued to physically assault and threaten those around him, including his romantic partners, his employees, and others who happened to be present when he succumbed to fits of rage,” prosecutors wrote. “No bail conditions can address the defendant’s tendency to become violent when angry or emotional: anyone in his presence is at risk of abuse or assault.”
The post Judge orders Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs to be jailed until his sex trafficking trial appeared first on Business Insider.
