Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs indicted: Mogul accused of presiding over sex crimes empire

NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs remains locked up after a judge on Wednesday rejected the hip-hop mogul’s bid to wait for his Sex trafficking trial in the luxury of his Florida mansion instead of a grim Brooklyn federal prison.

U.S. District Judge Andrew L. Carter found Combs’ plan — which included a $50 million bail offer, GPS monitoring and strict restrictions on visitors — was “insufficient” to ensure the safety of the community and the integrity of his case.

Carter, agreeing with prosecutors who fought to keep Combs in prison, said “no conditions or set of conditions” governing his release could protect him from the risk that he would threaten or harm witnesses – a central charge in his case.

Combs’ lawyers were trying for the second time in as many days to get him released from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where he has been held in the Special Housing Unit since pleading not guilty Tuesday to charges that he physically and sexually abused women for years.

A federal judge on Tuesday denied Combs’ first request for bail. On Wednesday, he and his lawyers opposed the request to Carter, the judge who will preside over his trial.

Indictment Charges Combs54 years old, to use his “power and prestige” to induce female victims and male sex workers in elaborate, drugged sexual performances called “Freak Offs,” which Combs organized, participated in and often recorded. The events sometimes lasted for days, according to the indictment.

The indictment He alleges that he coerced and abused women for years, with the help of a network of associates and employees, while resorting to blackmail and violent acts, including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings, to prevent victims from speaking out.

Combs has been in federal custody since his arrest Monday night at a Manhattan hotel.

Prosecutor Emily Johnson argued for Combs’ continued detention, telling U.S. District Judge Andrew L. Carter that the once-famous rapper had a history of intimidating accusers and witnesses to his alleged abuse. She cited text messages from women who said Combs forced them to do “freak offs” and then threatened to release videos of them performing sexual acts.

Johnson said Combs’ defense team “grossly downplayed and underestimated” Combs’ propensity for violence, disputing his attorney’s characterization of a 2016 assault at a Los Angeles hotel as a lovers’ quarrel. Security video of the incident showed Combs punching his then-girlfriend, R&B singer Cassiein a hotel hallway.

Johnson took advantage of a text message from a woman who claimed Combs dragged her by the hair down a hallway. According to Johnson, the woman told the rapper, “I’m not a rag doll, I’m somebody’s child.”

Combs poses a “danger to the community and poses a serious risk to the integrity” of his case, Johnson argued.

Federal Magistrate Robyn F. Tarnofsky initially ruled Combs was too dangerous to be released. lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, He sent a letter to Carter on Wednesday again requesting bail on conditions that would allow him to leave the Metropolitan Detention Center, the Brooklyn waterfront detention center where he was taken after his arraignment.

The prison, which holds about 1,200 inmates, is the subject of frequent complaints from lawyers and some judges, who consider it overcrowded, violent and neglected.

Combs’ Florida home sits on Star Island, a man-made piece of land in Biscayne Bay accessible only by causeway or boat. It’s one of the most expensive places to live in the United States. Combs’ request echoes a long line of wealthy defendants who have offered to post multimillion-dollar bail in exchange for house arrest in luxurious surroundings.

If he had been released on bail, Combs would have had to remain in that house while awaiting trial, his lawyers said. Visits would be limited to family, caretakers of the property and friends who are not considered accomplices, they said.

Many of the charges in the indictment match allegations in a November lawsuit filed by Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura. The lawsuit was settled the next day, but her allegations have followed Combs ever since.

The AP generally does not name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they do so publicly, as Ventura has done.

Without naming Ventura but clearly referring to her, Agnifilo argued at Tuesday’s arraignment that the entire criminal case was the result of a long-standing, troubled but consensual relationship that broke down because of infidelity. The “freak offs,” he argued, were an extension of that relationship, not coercion.

Prosecutors described the case as broader. They said they interviewed more than 50 victims and witnesses.

Like many of hip-hop’s aging figures, Combs, the Bad Boy Records founder, had cultivated a softer public image. A father of seven, he was a respected international businessman whose annual “White Party” in the Hamptons was once a must-attend event for the jet-setting elite.

But prosecutors said he used the same companies, people and methods with which he built his business and cultural power to facilitate his crimes. They said they would prove it with financial and travel records, electronic communications and videos of the “Freak Offs.”

In March, the authorities raided the luxurious houses of Combs Officers seized narcotics, videos and more than 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant in Los Angeles and Miami, prosecutors said. They also seized firearms and ammunition, including three AR-15s with serial numbers defaced.

A conviction on each count would carry a mandatory sentence of 15 years in prison, with the possibility of life in prison.

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This story has been edited to correct the spelling of Cassie’s legal first name: Casandra, not Cassandra.

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Dalton reported from Los Angeles.