Judge orders Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs sent to jail while he awaits sex trafficking trial

Sean “Diddy” Combs, the spotlight-adoring music impresario who helped launch the careers of a few of the greatest names in hip-hop and R&B, was denied bail and despatched to jail Tuesday after being accused in a three-count federal indictment of getting used his sprawling enterprise empire to abuse, threaten and site visitors ladies with the intention to “fulfill his sexual needs” and defend his status.

Prosecutors within the Southern District of New York accuse Combs of intercourse trafficking, racketeering and transportation to interact in prostitution within the indictment unsealed Tuesday.

It accuses Combs, 54, together with members of his safety and family employees, private assistants and different associates in his companies, of “making a legal enterprise whose members and associates engaged in, and tried to interact in, amongst different crimes, intercourse trafficking, compelled labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice.”

The indictment facilities round Combs’ alleged orchestration of elaborate intercourse events that he referred to as “freak offs” and that included the distribution of medicine, the transportation of intercourse staff throughout state and worldwide strains, and the usage of pressure and threats in opposition to ladies who had been compelled to take part.

He appeared somber throughout his arraignment listening to Tuesday in Manhattan, the place he pleaded not responsible and was denied bail in entrance of his three grownup sons and different supporters. Two of the fees carry a most sentence of life in jail.

Prosecutors had requested that he stay jailed till trial.

In a memo supporting that request, U.S. Lawyer Damian Williams mentioned Combs’ “disposition to violence can’t be fairly prevented via bail situations” and referred to as the rapper-turned-mogul a flight danger who “poses a major hazard to the neighborhood.”

The memo, which says the federal government interviewed greater than 50 victims and witnesses, describes many years of alleged bodily abuse by Combs in opposition to ladies, together with some he was romantically concerned with, and the alleged kidnapping in 2011 of an individual recognized solely as “Particular person-1” as causes he must be detained.

The memo additionally says that brokers recovered three AR-15s — two of which had been damaged down into elements with magazines loaded in them — in Combs’ bed room closet throughout a search of his Miami dwelling in March. The serial numbers on the AR-15s had been defaced, Williams mentioned.

Throughout the listening to, Assistant U.S. Lawyer Emily Johnson mentioned Combs’ historical past of substance abuse was additionally among the many causes he must be jailed till trial. After he was arrested Monday night time at a resort in Manhattan, the place he was staying, she mentioned, regulation enforcement discovered a pink powder in his room that’s believed to be a narcotic.

Combs’ attorneys had proposed he be launched on a $50 million bond, which they are saying is secured by fairness in his $48 million dwelling in Miami. In a letter to Choose Robyn Tarnofsky, they mentioned Combs was not a flight danger and that his authorized counsel was in possession of his passport, in addition to these of his mom and his 4 daughters. However Tarnofsky denied their request, citing, amongst different issues, Combs’ substance abuse and anger points.

The indictment calls for that Combs forfeit any property and cash used to commit the crimes he’s accused of, although it doesn’t specify any explicit property or quantity.

Williams mirrored on Combs’ fall from grace Tuesday.

“A 12 months in the past Sean Combs stood in Instances Sq. and was handed a key to New York Metropolis,” he mentioned. “At this time he’s been indicted and can face justice within the Southern District of New York.”

Exterior the courthouse Tuesday morning, Marc Agnifilo, certainly one of Combs’ attorneys mentioned, Combs is harmless and would plead not responsible. 

“He’s going to combat this with all of his power and all of his would possibly, and the total confidence of his attorneys,” Agnifilo instructed reporters. “And I count on an extended battle with a superb consequence for Mr. Combs.”

Combs is the highest-profile music artist to face sexual misconduct costs because the R&B singer R. Kelly, born Robert Sylvester Kelly, was sentenced in 2022 to greater than 30 years in jail for sexually abusing followers, a few of them youngsters, racketeering and intercourse trafficking.

Combs, who helped enhance the careers of a few of the greatest names in hip-hop and R&B, together with the Infamous B.I.G., Mary J. Blige and Usher, has seen his star dim since a bombshell lawsuit filed in November by his former longtime girlfriend, Casandra Ventura.

Ventura, an R&B singer often known as Cassie, accused him of years of bodily and sexual abuse. The 2 settled the lawsuit in someday with out disclosing the phrases and with Combs denying any wrongdoing.

Most of the allegations within the indictment intently mirror claims Ventura made in her lawsuit, together with that he compelled ladies to have intercourse with male prostitutes and take part in drug-fueled orgies that Combs referred to as “freak offs.”

The 14-page indictment referred to as them “elaborate and produced intercourse performances” that Combs is alleged to have “organized, directed, masturbated throughout, and infrequently electronically recorded.” They “occurred usually, typically lasted a number of days, and infrequently concerned a number of business intercourse staff,” in line with the indictment, which says that when federal brokers raided Combs’ houses in Los Angeles and Miami in March, they “seized varied Freak Off provides, together with narcotics and greater than 1,000 bottles of child oil and lubricant.” Williams mentioned in addition they seized digital gadgets that comprise photographs and movies of the freak offs with a number of victims.

The indictment says Combs and his enterprise associates would lure ladies into his world, “usually below the pretense of a romantic relationship,” after which use pressure, threats and coercion, together with medicine to maintain them “obedient and compliant,” to compel their participation in freak offs. No victims are named within the indictment. The intercourse trafficking depend mentions “Sufferer-1,” whose interactions with Combs as described within the indictment mirror these described in Ventura’s lawsuit. 

The indictment, as an illustration, mentions a 2016 assault on Ventura that was captured on resort surveillance video and revealed by CNN in Could. Combs admitted to his conduct within the video in an apology after its launch. In accordance with the indictment, Combs tried to bribe a member of the resort safety employees who had intervened.

When his authority or status was threatened with detrimental publicity, the indictment alleges, together with round late 2023, after Ventura’s lawsuit was filed, Combs and members and associates of his enterprise are alleged to have pressured witnesses and victims, together with via tried bribery, to remain silent and never report what they skilled or knew to regulation enforcement, in line with the indictment.

Ventura’s lawyer, Douglas Wigdor, declined to touch upon the indictment.

On the information convention Tuesday, Williams, the U.S. lawyer, mentioned Combs had not acted alone and indicated it was potential others should face costs. He mentioned he couldn’t specify how many individuals are believed to have been victimized by Combs however careworn that the investigation is lively, and inspired “anybody with details about this case to come back ahead and to do it shortly.”

“Combs has been charged with RICO conspiracy to make use of his enterprise and staff of that enterprise and different shut associates to get his method,” Williams mentioned.

Since Ventura’s lawsuit, a number of others have accused Combs in separate lawsuits of sexual assault or sexual misconduct. Combs’ attorneys are preventing these fits and have vehemently denied the allegations.