Sean 'Diddy' Combs, who is awaiting trial after being charged with sex trafficking and racketeering, was denied bail for a third time on Wednesday.
Last Friday, Combs appeared before a federal judge in Manhattan to request bail on a $50 million package proposed by his attorneys. The details of the bail package included conditions that the hip-hop mogul would remain under 24-hour surveillance, not have a cell phone and remain in the state of New York ahead of the trial. Combs has been held in a Brooklyn jail since September, where he awaits a trial scheduled to begin in May 2025. He will spend the Thanksgiving holiday in jail.
In September, Combs pleaded not guilty on all charges and he has repeatedly denied, via his attorneys, that he has ever trafficked, drugged or assaulted anyone.
Earlier this month, Combs' defense team, led by Marc Agnifilo, compared his case to that of former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Michael Jeffries, who was arrested in October in relation to a sex trafficking investigation and was released on a bail package that included a secured $10 million bond and home detention with electronic monitoring.
In a letter filed to Judge Arun Subramanian before Friday's hearing, the U.S. Attorney's office stated that other than the high-profile visibility of the defendants and the sex trafficking charges, Combs' case is different from Jeffries' for several reasons that include Combs' "repeated acts of violence" and "acts of obstruction" that they allege he continues to engage in by using other inmates' phone privileges to attempt to contact witnesses. Prosecutors also pointed to surveillance footage published by CNN that depicted Combs beating and kicking his then-girlfriend Casandra Ventura in a Los Angeles hotel in 2016 as evidence that Combs could behave violently if released.
Defense attorneys for Combs asserted that the surveillance video of their client assaulting Ventura does not depict trafficking, but rather a domestic dispute. "It's our defense to these charges that this was a toxic, loving 11-year relationship," Agnifilo stated. As part of their plea for bail, Combs' attorneys claimed that the government submitted a doctored version of the surveillance footage to the judge.
The defense also argued that private notes from Combs' jail cell had been unlawfully seized to try to keep him behind bars. The prosecutors argued that these notes show that Combs had been trying to coordinate a social media campaign with people, including his adult sons, in order to sway public opinion ahead of the trial.
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