Hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs was denied bail again on Wednesday after his lawyers argued for the second time that he should be released from “horrific” jail conditions while awaiting trial in a sex-trafficking case.
A New York federal judge remanded the musician into custody on Tuesday after prosecutors argued he was a “serious flight risk”.
Combs, 54, was arrested this week, accused of running a criminal enterprise from at least 2008 that relied on drugs and violence to force women to “fulfil his sexual desires”, according to prosecutors.
He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Instead of jail, Combs’s lawyers were proposing a bail package that included a $50 million bond co-signed by Combs, his mother and other family members, as well as home detention, surrender of his passport, weekly drug test and a visitor log that would be submitted to pre-trial services each night.
But the judge hearing Wednesday’s arguments did not agree to the proposal.
“My bigger concern deals with the danger of obstruction of justice and the danger of witness tampering,” Judge Andrew Carter said. “That is a real concern that I have here.”
After the ruling, Combs’s lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, told reporters the ruling “did not go our way,” adding “the fight continues”.
A 14-page indictment charges Combs with racketeering, sex trafficking by force and transportation to engage in prostitution.
If convicted on all three counts, the rapper and record producer faces a sentence of 15 years up to life in prison.
Asked by US Magistrate Judge Robyn Tarnofsky on Tuesday how he wished to plead, Combs stood up and said: “not guilty”.
Agnifilo said afterwards that the musician’s defence team already had launched an appeal of the judge’s bail decision.
“We believe him wholeheartedly,” Agnifilo told reporters outside the Manhattan court of his client. “He didn’t do these things.”
According to court documents, Combs “wielded the power” of his status to “lure female victims… to engage in extended sex acts” called “Freak Offs”.
“During Freak Offs, Combs distributed a variety of controlled substances to victims, in part to keep the victims obedient and compliant,” the indictment said.
In a news briefing, US prosecutor Damian Williams said officials found firearms, ammunition and more than 1,000 bottles of lubricant during raids on Combs’s homes in Miami and Los Angeles, about six months ago.
Williams said federal agents also found three semi-automatic rifles with defaced serial numbers and a drum magazine.
He told reporters that further charges were possible, without offering details.
Agnifilo, the musician’s lawyer, maintained, “there’s no coercion and no crime.”
“He’s not afraid of the charges,” he said, adding that he believed Combs was the target of “an unjust prosecution”.
BBC
