Judge orders Sean 'Diddy' Combs to stay in jail after sex trafficking, racketeering arrest
Judge orders Sean 'Diddy' Combs to stay in jail after sex trafficking, racketeering arrest
The rapper and media mogul is appealing the magistrate's order. A hearing is scheduled Wednesday before U.S. District Judge Andrew Carter Jr. in Manhattan.
A federal judge in New York on Tuesday ordered media mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs to stay in custody after his arrest on federal sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges Monday night.
The new criminal case against Combs accuses him of forcible sex trafficking as part of a criminal enterprise that began at least 15 years ago and victimized women emotionally, physically and sexually.
Federal agents arrested the 54-year-old rapper and businessman at a New York City hotel Monday night. He appeared before U.S. Magistrate Judge Robyn F. Tarnofsky in Manhattan on Tuesday and will be back in court Wednesday to appeal her decision that he stay in jail. (Update: Judge rejects Sean 'Diddy' Combs' bail appeal in sex trafficking, racketeering case)
His lawyers say he’ll post a $50 million bond and use his $48 million Miami home and his mother’s home as equity. His mother, sister and three sons will co-sign his bond, as will the mother of his oldest daughter, and he’ll also stay at home on an ankle monitor and will stay in Florida or New York for court appearances.
The hearing before U.S. District Judge Andrew L. Carter Jr. is scheduled for 3 p.m.
Unsealed Monday morning, the 14-page indictment charges Combs with three crimes: racketeering conspiracy, transportation to engage in prostitution as well as sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion. He pleaded not guilty to the charges on Tuesday.
The first line of the indictment says Combs “for decades … abused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct.” He forced women to engage in “freak offs,” which the indictment defines as “elaborate and produced sex performances that Combs arranged, directed, masturbated during and often electronically recorded.”
Combs and victims “typically received IV fluids to recover from the physical exertion and drug use,” according to the indictment.
The racketeering charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. It alleges a criminal enterprise that began “at least in or about 2009” and included sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice.
U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams told reporters “the freak offs sometimes lasted days at a time, involved multiple commercial sex workers, and often involved a variety of narcotics such as ketamine, ecstasy and GHB, which Combs distributed to the victims to keep them obedient.”
“When Combs didn’t get his way, he was violent, and he subjected the victims to physical, emotional and verbal abuse so that they would participate in the freak offs,” Williams said at a press conference Tuesday morning.
The indictment says Combs also “used the sensitive, embarrassing, and incriminating records that he made during freak offs as collateral to ensure the continued obedience and silence of the victims,”
Williams said federal agents found three AR-15s with defaced serial numbers, “a large capacity drum magazine,” 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant and narcotics such as ketamine when they searched his homes in Miami and Los Angeles in March. A prosecutor also said in court Tuesday that agents found apparent narcotics in Combs’ hotel room, including suspected Ecstasy.
The indictment also indicates agents found recordings of phone calls Combs made to victims and witnesses after allegations about him became public in late 2023.” It says Combs and others “pressured” them “including through attempted bribery, to stay silent and not report what they experienced or knew to law enforcement.”
Combs and others “provided these victims and witnesses with a false narrative of events in an efforts to conceal Combs’ crimes.”
Combs’ lawyer Marc Agnifilo told reporters that Combs “didn’t do these things.”
“He’s going to fight this until the end. He’s innocent. He came to New York to establish his innocence. He’s not afraid. He’s not afraid of the charges. There was nothing that the government said in their presentation today that changes anyone’s mind about anything,” Agnifilo said.
Agnifilo said Combs is “looking forward to clearing his name, and he’s going to clear his name. And we’re going to stand by his side as he does.”
Agnifilo said the criminal case stems from a lawsuit filed last year by a woman who had a longterm relationship with Combs.
“There's no coercion. There’s no crime. There’s basically just, you know, someone who brought a civil case and now is … a legal witness in a criminal case,” he said.
He was referring to singer Cassie Ventura, who sued Combs for sex trafficking and rape last November but settled three days later. The lawsuit was the first of several that have been filed against Combs, and the new criminal case includes allegations similar to some of the civil claims.
The indictment does not identify Ventura by name, but it references the video that CNN published in May of Combs assaulting her in a Los Angeles hotel in 2016. Combs “kicked, dragged, and threw a vase at a woman as she was attempting to leave.”
“When a member of the hotel security staff intervened, Combs attempted to bribe the staff member to ensure silence,” according to the indictment, which says Combs’ violence “extended to his employees, witnesses to his abuse and others.” Williams said the bribe offer involved “a stack of cash.”
Agnifilo discussed the hotel assault and Ventura’s lawsuit in court on Tuesday, describing it as a fight about Combs seeing other women. He said Combs is not a perfect person, but his toxic relationships were mutual and he’s trying to be better for the rest of his days. He also said Combs wrote a very large check to someone he was in a relationship with for 10 years. People got in line for their checks. (These are paraphrases via dedicated SDNY courts live tweeter Matthew Lee of Inner City Press.)
A prosecutor said in court that Combs isn’t being prosecuted on a theory of lack of consent, meaning Ventura “was coerced to participate in those sex acts.”
Combs is the only person charged in the racketeering conspiracy, but Williams indicated many associates could be considered unindicted co-conspirators and end up testifying against him.
“Those individuals allegedly included high-ranking supervisors in the business, personal assistants, security staff and household staff,” Williams said. “The indictment alleges that those individuals facilitated the freak offs. They booked the hotel rooms and stocked them with the supplies, including drugs, baby oil, personal lubricant, extra linens and lighting.”
Williams continued, “When the hotel rooms got damaged, they helped clean it up. They arranged for victims and commercial sex workers to travel for the freak offs and they delivered large quantities of cash to Combs to pay for the commercial sex workers.”
Agnifilo said Combs traveled to New York City in anticipation of charges being filed. He wanted to turn himself in, but federal agents surprised him at his hotel Monday night because “that's what the government wanted to do.”
“He came here to turn himself in. Why doesn’t the government want him to turn himself in? Because then they can’t ask for detention,” Agnifilo said.
A licensed lawyer since 1992, Agnifilo’s previous clients include Keith Rainere, the cult leader convicted by a jury of racketeering and sex trafficking and sentenced in October 2020 to 120 years in prison. Agnifilo is representing Combs with Teny Rose Geragos, who is Los Angeles lawyer Mark Geragos’ daughter and a partner at Agnifilo’s Manhattan-based firm Agnifilo Intrater LLP.
Prosecutors mentioned Rainere on Tuesday when arguing Combs should be detained, as well as Jeffrey Epstein and R. Kelly, according to Inner City Press. All were jailed without bail after being indicted for sex trafficking, which by law presumes detention is warranted.
Agnifilo said Combs tried to build trust with authorities for months to help ensure he can stay free pending trial. A 10-page letter said he’s trying to sell his jet, and his lawyers have been looking for a one-month rental for him in New York but had trouble "including because of the numerous events occurring in New York City in September (e.g., the US Open, Fashion Week, and the UN Summit), and some landlords’ discomfort with having Mr. Combs as a tenant given the investigation.”
“Last night, counsel had scheduled a viewing of a potential apartment; however, because of Mr. Combs’ arrest, counsel and Mr. Combs obviously were not able to view the rental,” according to the letter.
Combs’ lawyers included as exhibits emails with prosecutors after the last few month discussing Combs’ travel. One in June said he was departing Miami “on his plane for Los Angeles” and would be going on a “road trip” with his family.
“They will go to Sedona, the Grand Canyon, Lake Powell, Zion, and Death Valley,” according to the email.
The letter also says Combs’ companies have produced 144,000 pages in documents in response to subpoenas over the last few months.
“For the past several months, counsel for Mr. Combs and the [assistant U.S. attorneys] have had regular discussions about what documents we had, what we did not have and, in regard to the documents we did not have, where the Government may be able to find such documents,” according to the letter. “We did this for two reasons. First, there was nothing, in counsel’s estimation, that would constitute evidence of Mr. Combs being involved in any federal crime. Second, we wanted to be appropriately helpful to the Government in its investigation.”
Prosecutors explained why they want Combs to stay in jail in a 16-page letter that included photos of firearms seized from his homes and said he “is dangerous and poses an ongoing threat to the safety of the community.”
“If released, he remains a serious risk of flight, despite the conditions offered by his counsel. Most glaringly, the defendant also poses a significant risk of obstructing justice,” according to the letter, which said Combs “has already tried to obstruct the Government’s investigation of this case, repeatedly contacting victims and witnesses and feeding them false narratives of events, as described in detail below.”
“There are simply no conditions that would ensure that the defendant’s efforts to obstruct and tamper with witnesses will stop,” according to the letter from Assistant U.S. Attorneys Meredith Foster, Emily A. Johnson, Madison Reddick Smyser, Christy Slavik and Mitzi Steiner.
Johnson said in court Tuesday that federal officials have spoken to more than 50 witnesses, served more than 300 grand jury subpoenas and searched 90 phones and other devices, including a surveillance system. Johnson also said they found suspected narcotics in Combs’ hotel room when arresting him, including suspected Ecstasy. You can read Matthew Lee’s long Twitter thread from court here.
In rebuttal, Johnson said Agnifilo critiqued law enforcement but did not refute the presumption Combs should be detained. She said Combs was recorded three das after the November 2023 lawsuit saying he didn’t want to speak on the phone because it might be tapped. Johnson also cited his use of armed security and the presence of AR-15s with defaced serial numbers in his personal closet.
Before announcing her decision, Judge Tarnofsky met privately in chambers with representatives of U.S. District Court pretrial services, who were recommending Combs stay in jail.
When ordering Combs detained, Tarnofsky cited allegations of significant violence as well as the presence of weapons and allegations of witness coercion.
As a magistrate judge, Tarnofsky is in the second year of a seven-year term by the appointment of the lifetime U.S. District judges in the Southern District of New York.
Carter is a 2011 Barack Obama appointee and a 1994 Harvard Law School graduate. He’s a native of Albany, Georgia, who was an attorney with the Legal Aid Society from 1996 to 2005. He also was a deputy federal public defender from 2005 to 2009.
I discussed Combs’ arrest on The Today Show in Australia on Tuesday, as well as LiveNOW from Fox.
I’ll be on CBS Chicago Wednesday morning at 6:15 a.m. P.T., and I’m going to participate in a 45-minute roundtable discussion on NPR’s It’s Been A Minute with Brittany Luse starting about 8:30 a.m. P.T.
Court documents:
Defense letter seeking release
Prosecution letter seeking detention
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