Sean “Diddy” Combs will remain behind bars until his May 2025 sex trafficking trial. The defense’s third attempt to free the 54-year-old music mogul was denied on Wednesday. It’s been an eventful two weeks in the federal case against the Bad Boy Records founder.
Twice denied bail before, Combs’s lawyers proposed a detailed $50 million package in hopes of freeing their client. The latest offer included home confinement with GPS monitoring at a New York City apartment, an approved list of guests — with reportedly no female visitors allowed other than family members — and that he’d be monitored 24/7 by private security. The government strongly opposed this as they’ve accused Combs of witness tampering, even behind bars, and believe he’s a danger to others.
U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian sided with prosecutors after mulling over the decision for days. He was originally set to rule on the matter during a Nov. 22 hearing.
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“The Court finds that the government has shown by clear and convincing evidence that no condition or combination of conditions will reasonably assure the safety of the community,” Subramanian wrote, denying Combs’s motion for bail.
Combs’s handwritten jailhouse notes were the subject of a heated hearing last week. Prosecutors gained access to them after an Oct. 28 sweep of the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn. The government claimed it showed the entrepreneur was trying to pay off witnesses from jail. Combs’s defense team argued the notes viewed were “attorney-client privileged material” as it included their legal strategy.
Judge Subramanian said at the Nov. 19 hearing he’d review whether the notes contained privileged information, which could take weeks, but that he would not take the notes into consideration when ruling on the issue of bail. However, he had some questions for the defense at the Nov. 22 hearing on if they retroactively wrote “legal” on the notes in question at the top of the hearing. The defense said they were trying to get to the bottom of when “legal” was written on some of the notes, per Inner City Press.
Combs staying behind bars isn’t a surprise. Legal experts previously told Yahoo Entertainment it was likely the judge would uphold the prior rulings as circumstances have not drastically chanced.
On Sept. 16, Combs was arrested by federal agents at a Manhattan hotel and charged with racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution, according to the federal indictment. He’s accused of using his wealth and power to run an “criminal enterprise” through his company to attempt to engage in, among other crimes, “forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice.” Combs, who faces a flurry of civil sexual assault lawsuits as well, pleaded not guilty and maintains his innocence.
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