Rap star Sean “Diddy” Combs has been refused bail once again as he faces a raft of serious charges including sex trafficking and conspiracy.
US district judge Andrew L Carter said on Wednesday that the government had proved “by clear and convincing evidence that there is no condition or set of conditions” that will ensure the safety of the community and that the hip-hop mogul will not tamper with witnesses.
Combs pleaded not guilty following his Monday arrest on sex trafficking charges, and his lawyer says he is innocent. Prosecutors say he used his power and prestige for years to sexually abuse women.
Lawyers for Combs had asked a judge on Wednesday to let him await his sex trafficking trial at his luxury home on an island near Miami Beach, rather than a federal jail in Brooklyn.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs is accused of sex trafficking and other serious offences (AP Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP, File)
Prosecutors argued against the arrangement, saying there was too great a risk that he could threaten or harm witnesses.
Combs’ lawyers offered a 50 million US dollar (£37.8 million) bail package – using his mansion as collateral – in exchange for releasing him to home detention with GPS monitoring and strict limitations on who could visit him.
The defence and prosecution were wrangling over the request at a hearing on Wednesday afternoon.
On Tuesday, a US magistrate judge in Manhattan had ordered Combs held without bail.
Sean Combs’ lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, arrives at Manhattan federal court (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Combs, 54, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday after an indictment accused him of using his “power and prestige” to induce female victims and male sex workers into drugged-up, elaborately produced sexual performances dubbed “Freak Offs” that Combs arranged, participated in and often recorded.
The events would sometimes last days, the indictment said.
The indictment alleges he coerced and abused women for years, with the help of a network of associates and employees, while using blackmail and violent acts including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings to keep victims from speaking out.
Combs has been in federal custody since his arrest on Monday night at a Manhattan hotel.
Arguing to keep him locked up, prosecutor Emily Johnson told US district judge Andrew L Carter that the once-celebrated rapper has a long history of intimidating both accusers and witnesses to his alleged abuse.
She cited text messages from women who said Combs forced them into “Freak Offs” and then threatened to leak videos of them engaging in sex acts.
Ms Johnson said Combs’ defence team was “minimising and horrifically understating” Combs’ propensity for violence, taking issue with his lawyer’s portrayal of a 2016 assault at a Los Angeles hotel as a lovers’ quarrel.
Security video of the event showed Combs hitting his then-girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie, in a hotel hallway.
Ms Johnson seized on a text message from a woman who said Combs dragged her down a hallway by her hair.
According to Ms Johnson, the woman told the rapper: “I’m not a rag doll, I’m someone’s child.”
Combs is a “danger to the community and poses a serious risk to the integrity” of his case, Ms Johnson argued.
Federal magistrate Robyn F Tarnofsky initially ruled that Combs was too dangerous to be freed.
But Combs’ attorney, Marc Agnifilo, submitted a letter to Judge Carter on Wednesday asking again for bail under conditions that would allow him to leave the Metropolitan Detention Centre, the lockup on the Brooklyn waterfront where he was taken after his arraignment.
The jail, which has about 1,200 inmates, is the subject of frequent complaints from lawyers and some judges that it is overcrowded, violent and neglected.
Combs’ Florida house is on Star Island, a man-made dollop of land in Biscayne Bay, reachable only by a causeway or boat. It is among the most expensive places to live in the United States.
Combs’ request echoes that of a long line of wealthy defendants who have offered to pay multimillion-dollar bails in exchange for home detention in luxurious surroundings.
If he were to be granted bail, Combs would have to stay in that house while awaiting trial, his lawyers offered.
Visits would be restricted to family, property caretakers and friends who are not considered co-conspirators.
“I am feeling confident. We’re going to go get Mr Combs out of jail,” Mr Agnifilo said on his way into court on Wednesday. He said Combs is “doing great, he’s focused and he’s ready for his hearing”.
Many of the accusations in the indictment parallel allegations contained in a November lawsuit filed by Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura. The suit was settled the following day, but its allegations have followed Combs since.
In March, authorities raided Combs’ luxurious homes in Los Angeles and Miami, seizing narcotics, videos and more than 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant, according to prosecutors.
They said agents also seized firearms and ammunition, including three assault rifles with defaced serial numbers.
A conviction on every charge in the indictment would require a mandatory 15 years in prison with the possibility of a life sentence.
The AP does not typically name people who say they have been sexually abused unless they come forward publicly, as Ventura did.