Hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs was denied bail again on Wednesday after his lawyers argued for the second time that he should be released from “horrific” jail conditions while awaiting trial in a sex-trafficking case.
A New York federal judge remanded the musician into custody on Tuesday after prosecutors argued he was a “serious flight risk”.
Mr Combs, 54, was arrested this week, accused of running a criminal enterprise from at least 2008 that relied on drugs and violence to force women to “fulfil his sexual desires”, according to prosecutors.
He has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Instead of jail, Mr Combs’s lawyers were proposing a bail package that included a $50 million bond co-signed by Mr Combs, his mother and other family members, as well as home detention, surrender of his passport, weekly drug test and a visitor log that would be submitted to pre-trial services each night.
But the judge hearing Wednesday’s arguments did not agree to the proposal.
“My bigger concern deals with the danger of obstruction of justice and the danger of witness tampering,” Judge Andrew Carter said. “That is a real concern that I have here.”
After the ruling, Mr Combs’s lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, told reporters the ruling “did not go our way,” adding “the fight continues”.
A 14-page indictment charges Mr Combs with racketeering, sex trafficking by force and transportation to engage in prostitution.
If convicted on all three counts, the rapper and record producer faces a sentence of 15 years up to life in prison.
Asked by US Magistrate Judge Robyn Tarnofsky on Tuesday how he wished to plead, Mr Combs stood up and said: “not guilty”.
Mr Agnifilo said afterwards that the musician’s defence team already had launched an appeal of the judge’s bail decision.
“We believe him wholeheartedly,” Mr Agnifilo told reporters outside the Manhattan court of his client. “He didn’t do these things.”
According to court documents, Mr Combs “wielded the power” of his status to “lure female victims… to engage in extended sex acts” called “Freak Offs”.
“During Freak Offs, Combs distributed a variety of controlled substances to victims, in part to keep the victims obedient and compliant,” the indictment said.
In a news briefing, US prosecutor Damian Williams said officials found firearms, ammunition and more than 1,000 bottles of lubricant during raids on Mr Combs’s homes in Miami and Los Angeles, about six months ago.
Mr Williams said federal agents also found three semi-automatic rifles with defaced serial numbers and a drum magazine.
He told reporters that further charges were possible, without offering details.
Mr Agnifilo, the musician’s lawyer, maintained, “there’s no coercion and no crime.”
“He’s not afraid of the charges,” he said, adding that he believed Mr Combs was the target of “an unjust prosecution”.
In court documents, federal prosecutors said that Mr Combs had “abused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct”.
Prosecutors accuse Mr Combs of “creating a criminal enterprise” whose members – under his direction – engaged in sex trafficking, forced labour, kidnapping, arson and bribery.
“On numerous occasions”, the documents said, Mr Combs assaulted women by “striking, punching, dragging, throwing objects at, and kicking them”.
The indictment did not specify how many women were alleged victims. It also does not accuse Mr Combs himself of engaging directly in unwanted sexual acts with women.
The Bad Boy records founder, who was also known during his career as P. Diddy and Puff Daddy, has faced many of the accusations before.
Last November, his ex-girlfriend, singer Casandra Elizabeth Ventura, filed a civil lawsuit against him that included graphic descriptions of violent abuse. He denied the accusations, but settled the case a day after it was filed.
In May, Mr Combs released a public apology after video footage from a Los Angeles hotel appeared to show him beating Ms Ventura in a hallway.
Tuesday’s indictment against Mr Combs accuses him of similar violence.
Ms Ventura’s lawyer, Douglas Wigdor, declined to comment on Mr Combs’s arrest.
The indictment follows a string of sexual assault allegations against Mr Combs, one of the most successful music moguls in the history of rap.
Four women, including Ms Ventura, have filed lawsuits accusing him of sexual and physical abuse.
In a statement issued last December, Mr Combs defended himself against what he described as “sickening allegations” made by “individuals looking for a quick payday”.
In June, he returned a ceremonial “Key to the City of New York” following a request from Mayor Eric Adams, who had bestowed the honour on him just nine months earlier.
Days later, Howard University announced it was revoking Mr Combs’s 2014 honorary degree.
The musician is credited with helping turn rappers and R&B singers such as Usher, Mary J Blige and The Notorious B.I.G. into stars in the 1990s and 2000s.
