By Luc Cohen, Reuters
US producer-musician Sean "Diddy" Combs poses during a music awards ceremony on 12 September, 2023, in New Jersey. Photo: Angela Weiss / AFP
- Rapper and producer seeks release on $50 million bond
- Prosecutors say Combs may tamper with witnesses
- Combs has pleaded not guilty, called sexual activity consensual
There is no risk Sean 'Diddy Combs will act violently if he is released from jail, a defence lawyer says, asking a judge to release the music mogul from a Brooklyn jail on bail.
The case was being presented on Friday (US EST), after Combs had been held for 10 weeks, ahead of his 5 May trial on sex-trafficking charges.
Combs' lawyers this month proposed a $50 million bail package backed by his $48m Florida mansion. It also called for Combs to be monitored around the clock by security personnel, subjected to home detention, and to have no contact with alleged victims or witnesses.
Combs has been denied bail three times since his arrest, with multiple judges citing a risk he might tamper with witnesses.
The rapper and producer pleaded not guilty on 17 September to charges that he used his business empire, including his record label Bad Boy Entertainment, to sexually abuse women.
At a hearing before US District Judge Arun Subramanian in Manhattan, defence lawyer Marc Agnifilo disputed prosecutors' contention that a 2016 hotel surveillance video of Combs assaulting former girlfriend Casandra Ventura, known as Cassie, showed there was a risk he would act violently if released.
"There's a zero percent chance of that happening," Agnifilo said.
Combs apologised this year after CNN broadcast the video showing him kicking, shoving and dragging Cassie in a hotel hallway. Agnifilo said he had never denied the incident, but said the video was not evidence of sex trafficking.
"It's our defence to these charges that this was a toxic, loving 11-year relationship," Agnifilo told the court.
Earlier, prosecutor Christine Slavik said Combs tried to bribe hotel staff to delete the surveillance footage - demonstrating he was committed to concealing his crimes by illegal means.
Even from behind bars at the Metropolitan Detention Centre, Combs had communicated with his lawyers through unauthorised channels, and sought to run a social-media campaign to sway potential jurors, Slavik said.
"The defendant here has demonstrated that either he cannot or will not follow rules," Slavik said. "The defendant, simply put, cannot be trusted."
Defence lawyer Alexandra Shapiro said Combs had a right to respond to news coverage of the case that could paint him unfavourably for potential jurors.
Upon being led into the hearing by members of the US Marshals service, Combs, wearing a beige jail-issued outfit, blew kisses toward his family seated in the second row of the courtroom's audience.
Combs denies wrongdoing
Prosecutors said the abuse included having women take part in recorded sexual performances called "freak offs" with male sex workers who were sometimes transported across state lines.
Combs, 55, has denied wrongdoing, and his lawyers have argued the sexual activity described by prosecutors was consensual.
Combs' lawyers questioned why jail was needed when federal prosecutors in Brooklyn last month allowed the pre-trial release on a $10m bond of former Abercrombie and Fitch chief executive Mike Jeffries, who has pleaded not guilty to sex-trafficking.
The US Attorney's office in Manhattan, which brought the charges against Combs, countered that Jeffries is 80 years old with no criminal history, whereas Combs has prior arrests.
They also said federal agents recovered rifles with defaced serial numbers from Combs' residences.
This week, Subramanian ordered prosecutors to destroy their copies of handwritten notes that Combs took in jail, pending a decision on whether they were subject to attorney-client privilege.
A government investigator photographed the notes during a sweep of the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn, where Combs has been jailed.
- Reuters