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Sean “Diddy” Combs’ lawyers on Wednesday tried to keep him from going to prison again ahead of his criminal trial, asking another federal judge to accept $50 million bail.
Tuesday before U.S. District Judge Robin Tarnowski. The court rejected Combs’ motion, ruling that the weight of the evidence in the charges against the record producer, including allegations of violence and coercion of witnesses, made it too dangerous to release him. He also cited evidence of violent behavior.
“Given the very significant concerns I have, including what appear to be substance abuse and anger issues, I do not believe you can trust yourself or that your attorney has the ability to control you,” Tarnowski said during Tuesday’s hearing.
Tarnowski’s decision means Combs will remain in prison ahead of a criminal trial that has yet to be scheduled.
U.S. District Judge Andrew Carter, who is overseeing the trial, scheduled a hearing for Wednesday afternoon to decide whether to reconsider the sentence.
Combs was escorted from the downtown Manhattan courtroom by federal marshals after Tuesday’s hearing. Federal Bureau of Prisons records show he is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, a notorious jail that has housed other high-profile criminal defendants, including Sam Bankman Freed, R. Kelly, Ghislaine Maxwell and Michael Cohen.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan have charged Combs with sex trafficking, unlawful sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy.
The indictment unsealed Tuesday accuses Combs of running a complex ring in which he ordered members of his business empire to arrange “freak-offs” — elaborate sexual performances in which he manipulated women into taking part in “highly organized sexual performances with male commercial prostitutes.”
Prosecutors allege Combs assaulted the women to get his way and force them to do what he wanted.
Combs pleaded not guilty at Tuesday’s hearing. His lawyer, Mark Anifilo, said his relationship with singer Cassie Ventura, identified in the indictment as the victim, was consensual and at times became “mutually toxic” during their 10-year relationship. Ventura filed a civil lawsuit against Combs in November 2023, which sparked the criminal investigation. Anifilo said Combs settled the case for “an undisclosed but significant amount of money.”
Angifilho emphasized at Tuesday’s hearing and in court documents that Combs has taken unusual steps to cooperate with prosecutors for months.
He said Combs made a “bad business decision” by paying off the mortgage on his $48 million Miami home and using it as collateral for his bail. Emails filed in court show Combs’ lawyers emailed prosecutors about the singer’s travel plans and assured them he had surrendered his passport so he wouldn’t fly overseas or outside the jurisdiction of the Department of Justice. Angifilho also said Combs’ companies turned over 144,000 pages of documents during the investigation.
Prosecutors were not convinced by Combs’ actions, noted he still had “enormous resources” to flee if he wanted to, and alleged he had made multiple phone calls to grand jury witnesses in an attempt to get them to change their testimony about him, and asked that he be detained until the end of the trial.
Lawyers who represent defendants at the Metropolitan Detention Center frequently complain that the conditions make it difficult to negotiate with their clients or plan their defense at trial. Maxwell’s lawyers frequently complained that the poor conditions, with rats and insects running around the rooms and flashlights shining in defendants’ faces at night, kept them up at night. More recently, lawyers at Bankman Freed complained that seemingly arbitrary rules, such as restrictions on the use of electronic devices in rooms where lawyers meet with their clients, made it difficult to review evidence with their clients.
District Judge Carter will now review the conditions of Combs’ release and may decide whether to release him while he awaits trial.
Combs and prosecutors could appeal Carter’s sentence to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, and from there to the U.S. Supreme Court.