New York (CNN) — Sean “Diddy” Combs will remain in federal custody after his lawyers on Wednesday failed in their appeal of the decision that denied him bail.
In his ruling, Judge Andrew Carter said there were no conditions that reduced the risk of witness tampering or obstruction.
The hip-hop artist and music mogul, who is facing charges of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution, will continue to be held in custody pending his trial. He pleaded not guilty Tuesday.
Combs faces a sentence of up to life in prison if convicted. His next court appearance was scheduled for October 9.
Combs was being held by himself at the Special Housing Unit in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn after Tuesday’s hearing, according to a law enforcement official.
Prosecutors allege Combs, 54, created and ran a “criminal enterprise” through his business empire that engaged in crimes including sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice, according to the federal indictment.
US Magistrate Judge Robyn Tarnofsky ruled Tuesday that Combs stay in custody while he faces charges.
Prosecutors opposed releasing Combs on any grounds, telling Tarnofsky he has attempted to tamper with witnesses and saying “the risk of danger is acute.” They pointed to an alleged cache of weapons found in the closet of Comb’s bedroom and his access to millions of dollars in bank accounts and cash that make him a flight risk.
To try to sway a federal judge to release Combs while he awaits trial, his lawyers submitted a new bail package Wednesday that proposes to restrict all female visitors to his home who are not family members.
Combs’ defense team suggested the court restrict any females other than his family or mothers of his children from visiting his home and limit all visitors to his Miami properties “except for family, property caretakers, and friends who are not considered to be co-conspirators,” according to a new letter submitted to Carter, who is expected to preside over Combs’ case until the end.
The terms were part of a proposed bail package that included a $50 million bond co-signed by Combs, his mother and several family members; surrender of his passport; home detention; weekly drug testing; and a visitor log to be submitted nightly to pretrial services.
At the start of the hearing on Wednesday, Carter said the package did not provide reasonable assurance Combs would return to court.
“My bigger concern deals with the danger of obstruction of justice and the danger of witness tampering. That is a real concern that I have here,” said Carter.
Combs’ attorney Marc Agnifilo proposed putting in place “strenuous and maybe unusual conditions” to address the judge’s concerns, including that Combs have no access to a cell phone or internet. “Any witness intimidation would be completely nullified,” he said in court.
Agnifilo also emphasized the detention center where Combs is being held is a “very difficult place to be an inmate” and prepare for trial. “He knows the stakes,” said the lawyer, who also proposed for the Sage Intelligence firm, staffed with former state and federal officials, monitor Combs’ residence 24 hours a day.
The judge, however, said the package was “insufficient” in ruling the government had met its burden of proof.
On Monday night – following a slew of sexual assault lawsuits and a federal human trafficking probe in the past year – Combs was arrested at the Park Hyatt Hotel in Manhattan and taken into custody by Homeland Security Investigations, a source familiar with negotiations for his surrender told CNN.
The indictment states that Combs “abused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct” for more than adecade.
Specifically, the indictment accuses Combs of working with other associates and employees, alleges he hosted drug-fueled “freak offs” with victims and sex workers, notes instances of physical and sexual abuse and illuminates what law enforcement found in the March raids of his homes.
While prosecutors in court Tuesday argued the music mogul should not be released because he had previously reached out to witnesses and victims, Combs’ defense attorneys in a bail motion proposed to put him on home detention with a $50 million bond secured by his Miami residence.
Tarnofsky told Combs there were no conditions she could find to assure her that he would appear in court if released. The judge said her concern is “this is a crime that happens behind closed doors, even when pretrial services is monitoring.”
Combs is a ‘serial abuser and a serial obstructor,’ prosecutors say
In court Tuesday, Assistant US Attorney Emily Johnson said Combs should be detained because he is a “serial abuser and a serial obstructor,” adding pretrial services also recommended detention.
Agnifilo asserted the case is about “one victim” – an argument fiercely opposed by federal prosecutors. In a rebuttal, Johnson emphasized, “This is not a case about one victim. There are multiple victims.”
Since last November, Combs has been hit with 10 lawsuits – nine directly accusing him of sexual assault.
“Members and associates of the Combs Enterprise engaged in, and attempted to engage in, among other activities, 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,” the indictment states.
During Combs’ detention hearing, federal prosecutors said at least a dozen witnesses personally observed the music mogul’s violence against women or the injuries they sustained at his hands. Prosecutors also noted Combs had reached out to victims and witnesses, some of whom are scared of him.
The attorney for Dawn Richard, a former member of the musical group Danity Kane, who is accusing Combs of sexual battery in a separate lawsuit, told CNN the federal prosecutor’s revelation about a witness in Richard’s own case receiving 128 phone contacts from Combs within the four days after the complaint being filed was “shocking.”
“That was jarring – 128 phone contacts. Then, after the witness made the statement, not a single phone contact after from Mr. Combs,” attorney Arick Fudali said.
Agnifilo on Tuesday called Combs’ reach-out to the witness the “furthest thing” from obstruction and said the witness had a different experience that would play out at trial.
Erica Wolff, another Combs’ attorney, denied the allegations in the separate lawsuit in a statement to CNN and accused Richard of having a financial motive.
Agnifilo told CNN on Tuesday night that he has “flown around the country,” interviewing a “large number” of men who are alleged witnesses in the case and argued the “freak offs” — what the indictment described as “elaborate and produced” sex performances in which he drugged and coerced victims into extended sex acts with male sex workers — were consensual acts among adults.
“Nobody was too drunk. Nobody was too high,” he said.
Sex trafficking charge centers on 2016 video
The indictment accuses Combs of years of abuse that “was, at times, verbal, emotional, physical, and sexual.” Combs “engaged in a persistent and pervasive pattern of abuse toward women and other individuals,” the indictment states.
Johnson told the judge Tuesday that the investigation uncovered evidence of Combs allegedly assaulting victims by choking, hitting, kicking and dragging victims.
The physical abuse in particular was “recurrent and widely known,” the indictment states, and occurred on “numerous” occasions from about 2009 and continued for years.
The sex trafficking charge is based on allegations against a single, unnamed “Victim-I” from about 2009 up to about 2018, the indictment states.
The indictment highlights a March 2016 incident, “which was captured on video and later publicly reported,” showing Combs kicking, dragging and throwing a vase at a woman. When a hotel staffer intervened, Combs attempted to bribe them for their silence, the indictment adds.
The details match up with CNN’s reporting in May of the video that showed Combs beating and kicking his then-girlfriend Casandra Ventura at a Los Angeles hotel. She is not named in the indictment.
In November 2023, Ventura sued Combs and accused him of rape and years of abuse. In response, an attorney for Combs said he “vehemently denies these offensive and outrageous allegations.” They settled the lawsuit a day after it was filed.
Attorney Douglas Wigdor, who represents Ventura, said in a statement Tuesday: “In response to the numerous inquiries we have received regarding the indictment of Sean Combs, neither Ms. Ventura nor I have any comment.”
The explosive surveillance video contradicted Combs’ earlier comments denying wrongdoing, and days afterward he posted an Instagram video apologizing. That video has since been deleted.
“My behavior on that video is inexcusable. I take full responsibility for my actions in that video,” he said.
Combs’ attorney argued the 2016 video is not evidence of sex trafficking, as prosecutors suggested, but evidence of Combs “having more than one girlfriend and getting caught.”
“This was just a matter of personal embarrassment because he and the person in the video were in the midst of a 10-year relationship that was difficult at times, it was toxic at times, but it was mutually so,” Agnifilo told CNN Tuesday night.
Diddy’s attorney pledges he won’t flee and has ‘earned’ court’s trust
Agnifilo asked the court Tuesday to allow Combs to remain out on bond prior to trial, saying he had no plans to flee and had “earned” the court’s trust.
The attorney said he took Combs’ and his family members’ passports and reported all of his domestic travel since he became involved in the investigation as a show to prosecutors they were taking this seriously. In addition, Combs is in treatment and therapy, which Agnifilo argued was a reason for release.
Agnifilo said he knew the music mogul was going to formally face charges on March 25, when the Homeland Security Investigations agency led dramatic searches of his Los Angeles and Miami homes.
Law enforcement seized guns, ammo, drugs and a huge collection of baby oil and lubricant during the searches, according to the indictment. The indictment accuses Combs of brandishing firearms “to intimidate and threaten others.”
By September, Agnifilo said he realized an indictment was “coming down in a matter of weeks, maybe months,” so he urged Combs to fly to New York. Agnifilo said he called federal prosecutors and said his client was willing to surrender.
When asked how Combs’ defense team would assure the court he wouldn’t pose a flight risk or communicate with witnesses, as prosecutors argued Tuesday, Agnifilo said: “The most important thing, even more than the passport, is that Mr. Combs came to New York on September 5.”
Agnifilo said he will argue the same points again Wednesday, and “we’ll make it as much as we can until we get him out.”
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