Sean “Diddy” Combs is staying locked up after a judge Wednesday rejected the hip-hop mogul’s proposal that he await his sex trafficking trial in the luxury of his Florida mansion instead of a grim Brooklyn federal jail.
U.S. District Judge Andrew L. Carter ruled that Combs’ plan — which included a $50 million bail offer, GPS monitoring and strict limitations on visitors — was “insufficient” to ensure the safety of the community and the integrity of his case.
Carter, agreeing with prosecutors who fought to keep Combs in jail, found that “no condition or set of conditions” governing his release could guard against the risk of him threatening or harming witnesses — a central charge in his case.
Combs’ lawyers were making their second attempt in as many days to spring him from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where he has been held in the special housing unit since pleading not guilty Tuesday to charges he physically and sexually abused women for years.
A federal magistrate rejected Combs’ initial request for bail on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, he and his lawyers struck out with Carter, the judge who will preside over his trial.
Federal Magistrate Robyn F. Tarnofsky initially ruled that Combs was too dangerous to be freed.
But Combs’ attorney, Marc Agnifilo, submitted a letter to Carter on Wednesday asking again for bail under conditions that would allow him to leave the Metropolitan Detention Center, the lockup on the Brooklyn waterfront where he was taken after his arraignment.
The jail, which has around 1,200 inmates, is the subject of frequent complaints from lawyers and some judges that it is overcrowded, violent and neglected.
Combs’ Florida house is on Star Island, a man-made dollop of land in Biscayne Bay, reachable only by a causeway or boat. It is among the most expensive places to live in the United States. Combs’ request echoes that of a long line of wealthy defendants who have offered to pay multimillion-dollar bails in exchange for home detention in luxurious surroundings.
If he had been granted bail, Combs would have had to stay in that house while awaiting trial, according to the offer from his lawyers. Visits would be restricted to family, property caretakers and friends who are not considered co-conspirators, they said.
An indictment accuses Combs, 54, of using his “power and prestige” to induce female victims and male sex workers into drugged-up, elaborately produced sexual performances dubbed “Freak Offs” that Combs arranged, participated in and often recorded. The events would sometimes last days, the indictment said.
The indictment alleges he coerced and abused women for years, with the help of a network of associates and employees, while using blackmail and violent acts including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings to keep victims from speaking out.
Source: Africanews
