Diddy denied bail in sex trafficking case for third time

UPDATED, 3:05 p.m.: The third time wasn’t the charm for Sean “Diddy” Combs when it comes to getting out of the clink.

After reviewing arguments and additional filings from both the U.S. Attorney’s Office and the former music mogul’s defense team earlier this week, a federal judge on Wednesday rejected Combs’ latest bid to be released from New York City’s Metropolitan Detention Center ahead of his 2025 trial.

“Defendant Sean Combs renewed his request for bail on November 8, 2024. The court held a hearing on November 22, 2024 and the parties filed supplementary briefs on November 25 and 26, 2024,” Judge Arun Subramanian wrote in a five-page letter . ruling before Thanksgiving (read the ruling denying Sean Combs’ bail request here). “For the following reasons, Combs’ motion is denied.”

“The court finds that the government has shown by clear and convincing evidence that no condition or combination of conditions will reasonably ensure the safety of the community,” the district judge added bluntly.

The 55-year-old Combs’ trial was arrested in mid-September on extortion, sex trafficking and transportation to participate in prostitution charges that could land him in prison for life if convicted, and the 55- year-old Combs’ trial starts on May 5, 2025. a $50 million bond plus other sureties saw Combs’ two previous bail attempts halted in September.

PREVIOUSLY, 25 NOV 15:24: The outgoing U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York warned a federal judge Monday to be wary of bail efforts for Sean “Diddy” Combs, as the Bad Boy Records founder has an ongoing “history of obstructive behavior” and has “physically abused his personal staff.”

Combs is charged with extortion, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. The 55-year-old Grammy winner, who pleaded not guilty after his Sept. 16 arrest, also faces a stream of civil lawsuits filed almost daily centered on his celebrity, drug-fueled and videotaped “freak offs.” He faces life in prison if convicted of the charges in a trial set to begin May 5.

Indeed, citing the currently jailed Combs for “his decades-long pattern of violence,” Damian Williams’ office today painted a picture of the defendant before Judge Arun Subramanian far more vivid than almost anything we heard from the meticulous American lawyer. much.

The defendant’s physical and sexual abuse has taken many forms over the years, often in connection with long-term romantic relationships. Throughout, there was a common theme: The defendant repeatedly and consistently coerced and coerced women into satisfying his sexual desires. Often behind closed doors, the defendant engaged in acts of violence against women, including throwing them to the ground, dragging them by the hair, kicking, pushing, punching and beating them. He manipulated, coerced, and blackmailed women, including drugging them, threatening to withhold financial support, and threatening to distribute sex tapes that the defendant had made of their sexual encounters. He targeted women by, among other things, displaying firearms, threatening them, showing up at their homes unannounced and trying to knock down the door – on one occasion with a hammer. In addition to his romantic partners, the defendant also physically abused his personal associates. Former employees have described the defendant threatening to kill them, throwing objects at them, and being hit, punched and pushed by the defendant, and seeing him do the same to others.

This significant history of violence must be taken into account when viewing the defendant’s obstructive activity. Taken together, there can be no doubt that the Government has proven the defendant’s dangerousness by clear and convincing evidence.

After a sometimes acrimonious hearing at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Courthouse in New York on Nov. 22 in the third attempt by Combs’ lawyers to have him challenged on a $50 million bail package, the judge told all parties that he wanted “further submissions ” at the latest at PT Monday before a decision is made.

With conflicting accounts of what really went down during an allegedly pre-planned raid a few weeks ago on Combs’ cell at the Metropolitan Detention Center, the ruling by Subramanian on whether Combs could be granted bail and end up under 24/7 security surveillance in a three -bedroom Upper East Side apartment is expected anytime before Thanksgiving.

Although the defense has a tendency to tie itself to some of Donald Trump’s recent legal battles, today they are very much planting a flag of family and free speech for their client.

“For months and months, government agents, plaintiffs’ attorneys and others with dubious motives have polluted the airwaves with false and outrageous allegations about Mr. Combs,” the eight-page correspondence signed by attorneys Alexandria Shapiro, Mark Agnifilo and Teny Geragos exclaims.

“This nonstop drumbeat of negative publicity has destroyed (Combs’) reputation and will make it virtually impossible for him to receive a fair trial. Mr. Combs is not required to sit idly by and acquiesce to all of this. He is entitled to a due process and a constitutional right to speak for themselves,” they add in terms used in previous cases. “The government’s arguments that asking his children to post birthday wishes on Instagram and that he is not entitled to publicly express his opinion that this prosecution is racially motivated is simply an unconstitutional attempt to silence him.”

The defense says, “The government essentially argues for a standard where the entire press community — and civil plaintiffs and the government itself — can wage war on Mr. Combs’ reputation, but Mr. Combs cannot even try to influence public opinion. himself in response. That’s simply not the law.”

Filed by the defense this morning, the lightly redacted document by Williams — who is soon to be replaced by Trump appointee Jay Clayton — mostly sidesteps constitutional issues and rips the defense team led by Agnifilo and Geragos for the lack of “meaningful guardrails” in place in this latest swing toward bail for Combs.

The SDNY USAO also hit out at “defense counsel’s blasé attitude in breaking these rules while at the same time asking this court to release their client.” They added that this “does not give the government any confidence that counsel will be able to monitor the defendant’s conduct with any rigor.” And with what you would call a hard kick in any bar fight, it went on to say: “Contrary to statements made by lawyers just a few days ago, the defendant has continued to engage in unauthorized communication with MDC family members using another effort ContactMeASAP account as recently as yesterday.”

While a bit more inside baseball than other comments the U.S. attorney’s office made in its 13-page letter Monday, the prosecution’s claim that the defensive player is playing could prove to be the most damning of any bail stipulation.

“After defense counsel stated unequivocally at the pretrial bail hearing before Judge Carter that the defendant would not reach out to grand jury witnesses, it became clear that the defendant had done just that: phone records and electronic evidence show that the defendant contacted Witness-1 repeatedly leading up to and after his grand jury appearance, and then the defendant apparently deleted the messages from his phone,” they stated, citing Combs’ ex-girlfriend Cassie Venture (aka Witness-1), who sued him for abuse and rape in a short-lived lawsuit last year that was settled in 24 hours for about $30 million.

“Finally, it cannot be ignored that the defendant’s propensity for obstruction appears to have continued as recently as last week in court, where it appeared that the defendant delivered falsified documents to the Court during a hearing called to address his allegations of government misconduct,” the feds added of Combs’ charge that documents and notes marked “legal” were improperly taken and photographed by MSC staff during the raid of his cell and locker.

Spraying egg all over the defence’s face, it emerged that a number of those pages did not actually have the word “lawful” on them on the original documents – a fact that angered Subramanian again and again last week.

Acknowledging, as it were, the error of papers that were not marked “legal” and then suddenly marked “legal” in the Nov. 22 hearing, the defense was noticeably silent on the issue today as well as on the more specific questions of obstruction , which was raised by Govt.

But in another filing after Monday’s hearing, the defense said, “Mr. Combs objects to the government’s submissions to the extent that it goes beyond answering the court’s specific questions and asks the court not to consider any new or repeated information in the government’s letter .”

All that said, we plan to try again if you deny us bail this time.