Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Denied Bail for Sex Trafficking and Racketeering Charges
A judge has refused to grant bail to Sean “Diddy” Combs and has ordered him to be sent to jail while awaiting trial on sex trafficking and racketeering charges. The 54-year-old hip-hop mogul pleaded not guilty to charges that say he presided over a sordid empire of sexual crimes, coercing and abusing women for years while using blackmail and shocking acts of violence to keep his victims in line.
His lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, said he would he will appeal the decision to deny his client bail and left the courtroom on Tuesday saying: “Tomorrow we fight again.” Prosecutors say Combs used his fame as one of hip-hop’s biggest names to coerce women into demeaning sexual acts as part of a scheme dating back at least 16 years of sex trafficking and racketeering.
The Allegations and Indictment
The 14-page indictment accused him of using his business empire to transport women, as well as male sex workers, across state lines to take part in recorded sexual performances called “Freak Offs” in which the music mogul would watch and masturbate. During raids of his homes in Los Angeles and Miami Beach, Florida six months ago, authorities found drugs and 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant, along with AR-15 rifles with defaced serial numbers, the indictment said.
“The defendant Sean Combs physically and sexually abused victims for decades,” prosecutor Emily Johnson, arguing for continued detention, told the judge. “He is extremely dangerous to the community.” Mr Agnifilo called the sexual activity described by prosecutors consensual. “Does everybody have experience with being intimate this way? No. Is it sex trafficking? No. Not if everybody wants to be there,” Agnifilo told the judge.
The Legal Battle and Consequences
Mr Agnifilo acknowledged that Combs has a history of drug use and toxic relationships, and said he was getting treatment and therapy, without going into specifics. Combs faces a sentence of up to life in prison, and a minimum of 15 years, if convicted of the three felony counts: racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. Prosecutors said Combs enticed women by giving them drugs such as ketamine and ecstasy, financial support, or promises of career support or a romantic relationship.
Combs then used the surreptitious recordings of the sex acts as “collateral” to ensure that the women would remain silent, and sometimes displayed weapons to intimidate abuse victims and witnesses, prosecutors said. The indictment did not specify how many women were alleged victims. It contained no allegation that Combs himself directly engaged in unwanted sexual contact with women, though he was accused of assaulting them by punching, kicking, dragging and throwing objects.
Combs and his associates used bribery and violence such as arson and kidnapping to try to keep his conduct secret, prosecutors said. “My concern is that this is a crime that happens behind closed doors,” Judge Robyn Tarnofsky said in denying bail, before Combs was led out of the courtroom by members of the US Marshals Service.
Past Allegations and Controversies
Last November, his former girlfriend Casandra Ventura, an R&B singer known as Cassie, accused him in a lawsuit of serial physical abuse, sexual slavery and rape. She agreed to an undisclosed settlement one day after suing. Combs denied her allegations. In a March 2016 incident that resembles Cassie’s description of his alleged attack, prosecutors said Combs was captured on a hotel security video striking and dragging a woman trying to leave a “Freak Off.”
Combs then offered a stack of cash to a hotel security officer who intervened, prosecutors said. Also known during his career as P. Diddy and Puff Daddy, Combs founded Bad Boy records and is credited with helping turn rappers and R&B singers such as Mary J. Blige, Faith Evans, Notorious B.I.G. and Usher into stars in the 1990s and 2000s.