Sean “Diddy” Combs will remain in jail until his sex-trafficking trial on May 5, 2025, after a US judge denied his request on Wednesday to be released on $50 million bail from the Brooklyn jail, where the music mogul has been held for ten weeks.
After listening to both sides for two hours on Nov. 22 in Manhattan federal court, U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian made the decision public in a written order.
Combs had been denied bail three times since he was arrested because judges thought he might tamper with witnesses.
There were charges that the rapper and producer used his business empire, which included his record label Bad Boy Entertainment, to sexually abuse women. On September 17, he pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Authorities say that as part of the abuse, women were forced to take part in recorded sex acts known as “freak offs” with male sex workers, who were sometimes taken to other states.
Combs, who is 55 years old, has denied doing anything wrong, and his lawyers have said that the sexual activity that prosecutors described was voluntary.
His lawyers for the defense said he should be locked up in an apartment on Manhattan’s Upper East Side and watched 24 hours a day by private security guards that he would pay for. They also said he should not be able to talk to the alleged victims or witnesses.
However, prosecutors said it was not likely that Combs would follow those rules.
Prosecutors say Combs broke jail rules by calling other inmates’ numbers while he was locked up at the Metropolitan Detention Center, which is supposed to keep an eye on communications. Alexandra Shapiro, a lawyer for the defense, said that prisoners often shared things like this.
Prosecutors also said that a 2016 hotel surveillance video of Combs beating up his ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura showed that he might do something violent if he got out of jail.
Lawyer Christine Slavik said at the hearing, “This video shows that the defendant is a violent abuser and a threat to the community.” “The defendant has engaged in physical, sexual and emotional abuse of his romantic partners for years.”
Marc Agnifilo, the defense lawyer, said there was no chance that Combs would do something violent.
Agnifilo said at the hearing, “There is a 0% chance that will happen.”
Combs said sorry in May after CNN showed the video of him hitting, kicking, and dragging Cassie in a hotel hallway. He said he had never denied what happened, but the video did not show that he was involved in sex trafficking.
Agnifilo told the judge, “Our defense against these charges is that this was a toxic, loving 11-year relationship.”
It was written by Luc Cohen in New York, and Rod Nickel and Caitlin Webber edited it.
