Sean “Diddy” Combs was denied bail for a second time in his sex trafficking case in New York City. A federal judge decided Wednesday that Combs should continue to be held without bail following an appeal from his legal team.
U.S. District Judge Andrew Carter Jr. said prosecutors showed during Wednesday afternoon’s bail hearing “clear and convincing evidence that there is no condition or set of conditions” to guarantee the community’s safety or prevent Combs from potentially tampering with witnesses if he were released.
Marc Agnifilo, an attorney for Combs, told reporters after Wednesday’s hearing that he’ll try to get the case to trial as quickly as possible.
“I understand that the government has a great amount of electronic devices that they have to download and provide to me, but everything’s on the government’s timetable, nothing’s on the defendant’s timetable, and they’re going to have to accommodate me and him and give us a quick trial,” Agnifilo said.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, of the Southern District of New York, told reporters Tuesday that federal agents earlier this year seized devices from Combs’ homes containing images and videos of his alleged abuse of women.
Reuters/Jane Rosenberg
On Tuesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Robyn Tarnofsky agreed with prosecutors and denied the hip-hop mogul bail when he appeared in federal court after he was charged in an indictment with sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution. Combs pleaded not guilty to the charges during the same hearing in a lower Manhattan courtroom.
Combs is being held at a detention center across the East River from Manhattan in Brooklyn, New York, according to online records from the Federal Bureau of Prisons.
Agnifilo told CBS News correspondent Jericka Duncan before Wednesday’s hearing that the part of the detention center where Combs is being held is “a very difficult place to be.”
“It’s impossible to prepare for a trial from where he is,” Agnifilo said.
Prosecutors argued in a letter to Tarnofsky that Combs is a flight risk and “poses an ongoing threat to the safety of the community.”
Agnifilo denied the allegations against his client and vowed to fight for his release.
“We’re going to fight this case with everything we have, as is he, and eventually, he’s going to be shown to be innocent,” Agnifilo told reporters after Tuesday’s hearing.
Prosecutors accused Combs of using his business empire as a criminal enterprise to conceal his alleged abuse of women at events Combs referred to as “Freak Offs.”
“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 and compliant,” Williams told reporters Tuesday.
The charges come months after federal authorities raided Combs’ homes in Los Angeles and Miami in March and found three defaced AR-15s and a large-capacity drum magazine, Williams said. Prosecutors accused Combs of using guns to intimidate and threaten victims and witnesses.
The indictment unsealed Tuesday refers to an incident caught on hotel security cameras in 2016. CNN aired the footage earlier this year, which appears to show Combs attacking the singer Cassie, his former girlfriend, in a Los Angeles hotel hallway. In May, Combs apologized for the incident, saying his behavior was “inexcusable” and that he took “full responsibility” for his actions.
In November, Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura, filed a lawsuit accusing Combs of rape and abuse during their relationship; he denied the accusations. They reached a settlement the following day.
Read the indictment against Sean “Diddy” Combs
contributed to this report.
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