Rapper Sean 'Diddy' Combs cannot be trusted if released from jail, prosecutor says

Lawyers say that Diddy has demonstrated that 'either he cannot or will not follow rules.'

By REUTERS NOVEMBER 22, 2024 22:22

Sean 'Diddy' Combs sits during a bail hearing in federal court in the Manhattan borough of New York City, U.S., September 18, 2024 in this courtroom sketch. (photo credit: REUTERS/JANE ROSENBERG/FILE PHOTO)

 Sean 'Diddy' Combs cannot be trusted to follow the rules he has proposed for himself as part of a $50-million bail package, a prosecutor said on Friday, in urging a judge to keep the music mogul in the Brooklyn jail where he has been held for 10 weeks ahead of his May 5, 2025 trial on sex-trafficking charges.

Combs' lawyers this month proposed a bail package backed by his $48-million Florida mansion. It also called for Combs to be monitored around the clock by security personnel, subjected to home detention, and to have no contact with alleged victims or witnesses.

At a hearing before US District Judge Arun Subramanian in Manhattan, prosecutor Christine Slavik said that even from behind bars at the Metropolitan Detention Center, Combs had communicated with his lawyers through unauthorized channels and sought to run a social media campaign to sway potential jurors.

"The defendant here has demonstrated that either he cannot or will not follow rules," Slavik said. "The defendant, simply put, cannot be trusted."

Combs' lawyers were expected to respond later in the hearing. Upon being led into the hearing by members of the US Marshals service, Combs, wearing a beige jail-issued outfit, blew kisses toward his family seated in the second row of the courtroom's audience.

Rapper Sean Diddy Combs arrives at the 2016 MTV Video Music Awards in New York (credit: REUTERS/EDUARDO MUNOZ)

Combs denies wrongdoing

Combs has been denied bail three times since his arrest, with multiple judges citing a risk he might tamper with witnesses. The rapper and producer pleaded not guilty on Sept. 17 to charges that he used his business empire, including his record label Bad Boy Entertainment, to sexually abuse women.

Prosecutors said the abuse included having women take part in recorded sexual performances called "freak offs" with male sex workers who were sometimes transported across state lines.

Combs, 55, has denied wrongdoing, and his lawyers have argued the sexual activity described by prosecutors was consensual.

Combs' lawyers questioned why jail was needed when federal prosecutors in Brooklyn last month allowed the pre-trial release on a $10-million bond of former Abercrombie and Fitch ANF.N CEO Mike Jeffries, who has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking.

"There is no legal basis for continuing to force Mr. Combs to prepare for trial from jail," his lawyers wrote in a Thursday court filing.

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The US Attorney's office in Manhattan, which brought the charges against Combs, countered that Jeffries is 80 years old with no criminal history, whereas Combs has prior arrests.

They also said federal agents recovered rifles with defaced serial numbers from Combs' residences and that Combs contacted witnesses through third parties from jail and tried to hide those communications from law enforcement.

Defense lawyers, meanwhile, said new evidence shed light on a 2016 hotel surveillance video of Combs assaulting former girlfriend, Casandra Ventura, known as Cassie, and undermined part of the prosecution's justification for detaining him.

His lawyers said the video was not proof of a coerced "freak off" as prosecutors alleged, but rather a glimpse into a complex romantic relationship.

This week, Subramanian ordered prosecutors to destroy their copies of handwritten notes that Combs took in jail, pending a decision on whether they were subject to attorney-client privilege.

A government investigator photographed the notes during a sweep of the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where Combs has been jailed.