Judge rejects Sean 'Diddy' Combs' bail appeal in sex trafficking, racketeering case
Judge rejects Sean 'Diddy' Combs' bail appeal in sex trafficking, racketeering case
Combs did not waive his right to a speedy trial on Wednesday, but federal prosecutors have indicated more people could be charged in a superseding indictment.
Sean “Diddy” Combs will remain in jail on sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges after another federal judge on Wednesday rejected his $50 million bond proposal.
Combs’ lawyers did not significantly change their release request from what U.S. Magistrate Judge Robyn F. Tarnofsky rejected on Tuesday, but they added regular drug testing and said they would “restrict female visitors to Mr. Combs’ residence except for family, or mothers of his children.”
They also enlisted a security company to watch Combs’ home and said he’d be checked regularly to ensure he doesn’t use the Internet. A representative of the company Sage Intelligence, which worked with Harvey Weinstein during his sex crimes investigations, joined defense attorneys Marc Agnifilo and Teny Rose Geragos in court on Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Andrew L. Carter Jr., however, said prosecutors showed Combs is a risk to flee if released, and he ordered the 54-year-old rapper and media mogul to remain in custody.
“It did not go our way. The fight continues. We’re not giving up by a long shot,” Agnifilo told reporters outside the Thurgood Marshall U.S. Courthouse in Manhattan.
Agnifilo said Combs won’t waive his right to a speedy trial, and he said he told Combs “I’m going to try and get his case to trial as quickly as possible.”
“I’m going to try and minimize the amount of time he spends in very, very difficult and, I believe, inhumane housing conditions in the special housing unit in the Metropolitan Detention Facility,” Agnifilo said.
Prosecutors have said other people could be charged, and the 14-page indictment against Combs discusses unnamed coconspirators and eye witnesses to his alleged crimes. Right now, Combs is charged with three federal felonies: racketeering conspiracy, transportation to engage in prostitution as well as sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion.
If prosecutors secure another indictment against him that includes codefendants, they can force a trial continuance without Combs waiving time.
The indictment says Combs’ organized crime conspiracy began “at least in or about 2009” and included sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice.
Prosecutors offered more details in a letter to Judge Tarnofsky requesting Combs remain in jail, including that he and a coconspirator “kidnapped an individual at gunpoint to facilitate breaking into and entering the residence of another (“Individual-1”).”
“Multiple witnesses would testify at trial to the events surrounding the kidnapping and break-in, the latter of which is corroborated by police reports and other records,” according to the letter.
Prosecutors also said Combs’ coconspirators set fire to a car “by slicing open the car’s convertible top and dropping a Molotov cocktail inside the interior.”
“Police and fire department reports extensively document the arson and conclude that the fire was intentionally set. Multiple witnesses would also testify to the defendant bragging about his role in destroying Individual-1’s car,” according to the letter.
Combs’ former girlfriend Cassie Ventura, who is an alleged victim in the case, included the same allegation in her lawsuit against Combs and identified the target as rapper Kid Cudi.
Prosecutors told Judge Carter in a letter on Wednesday that Combs’ lawyers failed to “seriously contend” with Judge Tarnogsky’s findings, “most glaringly related to the defendant’s unpredictable dangerousness and inability to be monitored or controlled.”
“Despite public statements by counsel minimizing the defendant’s conduct, both to Judge Tarnofsky and the media, the defendant has committed incredibly serious crimes,” according to the letter from Assistant U.S. Attorneys Meredith Foster, Emily A. Johnson, Madison Reddick Smyser, Christy Slavik and Mitzi Steiner in the Southern District of New York.
The letter cited Agnifilo’s interview with CNN in which he characterized Combs’ March 5, 2016 assault of Cassie as a “misdemeanor assault.”
Agnifilo discussed the assault during Combs’ hearing with Judge Tarnofsky on Tuesday, saying it was not evidence of a sex trafficking conspiracy but “evidence of Mr. Combs having more than one girlfriend and getting caught.” He said Ventura’s lawsuit occurred “years and years and years later” when she “realizes she had a pretty good thing for 10 years with Mr. Combs. They were in love. It was exciting. She was a recording artist. He had a recording studio, things — I don’t want to comment on her present life.”
AUSA Johnson said the video of the assault “speaks for itself.”
“And abuse and long-term relationships are not mutually exclusive. And a single instance, even where a defendant has no criminal history, a history of domestic violence has been found sufficient to detain a defendant,” Johnson said.
On Wednesday, Johnson told Judge Carter that Combs messaged Ventura after the assault and told her police arrived and “I got six kids” and “Yo, please call. I am surrounded. You gonna abandon me all alone.”
Agnifilo included a transcript of Tuesday’s hearing with his letter to Judge Carter on Wednesday. You can read it here.
I don’t have a transcript from Wednesday’s hearing with Judge Carter, but you can read detailed tweets from reporter Matthew Lee of Inner City Press here.
The Associated Press recorded video of Combs’ sons entering and leaving the courthouse on Wednesday.
I discussed the case against Combs live on CBS Chicago early Wednesday.
Agnifilo said Wednesday, “we’re preparing for trial as we speak, and we are considering out next steps.”
“I obviously would much prefer to fight this case with him out of jail, and we are going to try to bring that about through additional legal processes,” Agnifilo said. “But wherever he is, his resolve is the same. He believes is innocent. I believe he’s innocent, and we’re going to fight this case with all of our might until we don’t have to fight anymore.”
I will continue following the case and updating you all on filings, including most immediately any appeals to the 2nd Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals regarding Combs’ detention.
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Court documents:
Defense letter to Judge Tarnofsky
Prosecutors’ letter to Judge Tarnofsky
Court reporter’s transcript of first hearing
Defense letter to Judge Carter
Prosecutors’ letter to Judge Carter
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