Sean “Diddy” Combs was sent to jail Tuesday, where he will await trial after pleading not guilty to three federal charges including racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution, according to legal documents.
The rap mogul had submitted a proposal to remain free on $50,000,000 bond, with his lawyers arguing that his voluntary surrender in New York shows he is not a flight risk. But prosecutors argued that his vast resources do, in fact, make him a flight risk; they also cited his “disposition for violence” and suggested he might try to interfere with the ongoing investigation if set free.
The judge agreed and ordered his immediate remand. Combs, 54, took a drink from a water bottle and was led out of court without handcuffs, turning to family members, according to the Associated Press. A trial date was not immediately set.
The drama played out after a grand jury indictment was unsealed Tuesday revealing a vast and sordid empire of alleged criminal sexual behavior. The document said that between 2008 and the present, Combs and members of his enterprise “engaged in sex trafficking, forced labor, interstate transportation for purposes of prostitution, coercion and enticement to engage in prostitution, narcotics offenses, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice.”
Combs was arrested Monday evening at a hotel where he was staying in anticipation of the arrest and indictment. He appeared Tuesday in a Manhattan court, where the charges were read.
Federal prosecutors allege Combs coerced his victims into sex with drugs, threats to their careers and violent intimidation. Combs’ lawyer Marc Agnifilo told TMZ on his way into the courthouse that his client will “fight like hell.”
“Sean Diddy Combs is a music icon, self-made entrepreneur, loving family man and proven philanthropist who has spent the last 30 years building an empire, adoring his children and working to uplift the Black community,” Agnifilo said. “He is an imperfect person, but he is not a criminal.”
Combs, whose Bad Boy Records was a pivotal force in the rise and dominance of hip-hop, is also facing other lawsuits and serious accusations of sexual assault and misconduct. His former longtime girlfriend Casandra Ventura, best known as Cassie, filed a federal lawsuit in November accusing him of repeatedly abusing her physically and sexually.
Combs denied it, but the next day he settled the lawsuit out of court. In May, hotel surveillance video from 2016 was leaked that showed Combs viciously assaulting Cassie. A week after he settled that lawsuit, two other women sued him for rape and abuse over incidents they said occurred decades earlier. More suits have since been filed, and the feds even raided three of the rapper’s homes in April.
Pamela Chelin contributed reporting to this story.
Leave a Reply