NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� pleaded not guilty Tuesday to federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges. An indictment says 鈥渆ngaged in a persistent and pervasive pattern of abuse toward women and other individuals.鈥�
Later Tuesday, U.S. Magistrate Judge Robyn Tarnofsky refused to grant Combs bail and ordered him to be jailed pending trial.
Combs was in Manhattan, roughly six months after federal authorities conducting a sex trafficking investigation in Los Angeles and Miami.
Over the past year, Combs who say he subjected them to physical or sexual abuse. He has denied many of those allegations.
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Combs' lawyer says he will appeal the decision to deny bail
The defense attorney for Sean 鈥淒iddy鈥� Combs says he will appeal the decision to deny his client bail.
Combs has been indicted on sex trafficking and racketeering charges. A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the music mogul to be held without bail pending his trial.
As he left the courtroom, Combs' lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, said he is not surprised by the outcome and that he is looking forward to a bail hearing soon, saying: 鈥淭omorrow we fight again.鈥�
Judge refuses bail for Sean 鈥楧iddy鈥� Combs and sends him to jail to await trial
A judge has refused to grant bail to Sean 鈥淒iddy鈥� Combs and has ordered him to be sent to jail while awaiting trial on sex trafficking and racketeering charges.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Robyn Tarnofsky announced the decision Tuesday after hearing lengthy arguments from prosecutors and Combs鈥� lawyers.
Prosecutors asked that the music mogul be held without bail. Combs' attorneys proposed that he be released on a $50 million bond to home detention with electronic monitoring.
Combs鈥� lawyer says his client is 鈥榥ot a perfect person鈥�
Combs鈥� defense attorney, who is asking that he be released on bail, has said in court that by coming to New York in anticipation of the charges, the music producer 鈥渄id the exact opposite of what we see defendants do when they鈥檙e presented with problems in the court.鈥�
Marc Agnifilo said Tuesday that Combs came to New York to 鈥渨ait it out.鈥�
Agnifilo also says Combs is receiving 鈥渢reatment and therapy for things that he needs treatment and therapy for.鈥� He says his client is 鈥渘ot a perfect person,鈥� that he has used drugs and has been in toxic relationships.
Prosecutors raise 2016 assault video in arguing for Combs to be detained
Prosecutors seeking to have Combs' jailed without bail have pointed to of the music producer assaulting a woman as she attempted to leave a California hotel.
In court Tuesday afternoon, Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Johnson said the assault happened after one of Combs' 鈥淔reak Offs,鈥� which is defined in the indictment as 鈥渆laborate and produced sex performances.鈥�
Johnson did not identify the woman who was attacked, but a video from that time shows Combs attacking R&B singer Cassie.
Johnson says Combs tried to bribe a hotel security officer 鈥渨ith a handful of cash in exchange for his silence,鈥� but was unsuccessful.
She says the video showing the attack disappeared from the hotel鈥檚 servers within days and that this was no coincidence.
Johnson says Combs only acknowledged this attack relatively recently, after being confronted with the video, and that this proves he can鈥檛 be taken at his word.
Prosecutors argue in court that Combs should remain jailed
Federal prosecutors have asked that Combs be jailed without bail, while his attorneys have proposed he be released on a $50 million bond.
In court Tuesday afternoon, Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Johnson said the government is seeking Combs鈥� detention on 鈥渕ultiple bases,鈥� including the severity of the charges against him and the potential punishment of life in prison. She argued that he is a flight risk and there is a risk of witness intimidation.
鈥淢r. Combs physically and sexually abused victims for decades,鈥� Johnson said. 鈥淗e used the vast resources of his company to facilitate his abuse and cover up his crimes. Simply put, he is a serial abuser and a serial obstructor.鈥�
Combs enters a not guilty plea
Sean 鈥淒iddy鈥� Combs has pleaded not guilty to federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges.
Combs stood up to enter his plea in a New York courtroom Tuesday.
An indictment unsealed Tuesday alleges Combs 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.
Comb's attorneys request Diddy's release on $50M bond
A motion for bail from Combs鈥� attorneys proposes he be released on a $50 million bond secured by his home in Miami.
The motion filed Tuesday also proposes his detention at home with GPS monitoring, with his travel restricted to federal districts in south Florida and southern New York.
The motion says Combs will turn over his passport and that he is attempting to sell his private jet. It says he has remained in the country even though there were no restrictions on his travel, and that his attorneys have kept authorities updated on his location.
It adds that 鈥渃onditions at Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn are not fit for pre-trial detention.鈥�
Prosecutors describe Combs' alleged violence, including kidnapping and arson
Prosecutors say Combs repeatedly engaged in violence towards his employees and others.
In a court filing Tuesday, prosecutors say Combs and an unidentified co-conspirator kidnapped someone at gunpoint a few days before Christmas in 2011 in order to facilitate a break-in at another person鈥檚 home. They say multiple witnesses, police reports and other records corroborate the incident.
The detention memo also says that two weeks later, Combs' allies set fire to a vehicle by slicing open its convertible top and dropping a Molotov cocktail inside.
Prosecutors say police and fire department reports document the arson and that multiple witnesses heard Combs brag about his involvement.
Prosecutors say Combs is a flight risk
Prosecutors say Combs should be denied bail because he is a serious flight risk.
In a detention memo filed in court, prosecutors say Combs has 鈥渟eemingly limitless resources鈥� to flee, pointing out that his net worth is close to $1 billion, including over $1 million in personal cash on hand as of last December.
They said he has had a personal plane for international travel since 2019, along with multiple vehicles in multiple locations.
The letter says Combs 鈥渉as the money, manpower, and tools鈥� to flee without detection.
Prosecutors urge court to deny Combs bail
Prosecutors say the violence Combs exacted on his victims was so extreme that he should be denied bail.
In a detention letter written for the federal judge overseeing the music mogul's case, prosecutors described how Combs would assault women, employees and others 鈥渂y throwing objects at them, choking them, pushing them, kicking them, and slamming them against walls and on to the ground.鈥�
The letter says the violence was sometimes spontaneous and sometimes premeditated, including 鈥渞esorting to kidnapping and arson when the defendant鈥檚 power and control were threatened.鈥�
Prosecutors say Combs鈥� 鈥渄isposition to violence cannot be reasonably prevented through bail conditions.鈥�
The letter also says Combs should be denied bail because he has already reached out to potential witnesses in the case and that further attempts at witness tampering are likely.
Prosecutor says Combs was enabled by staff in his alleged crimes
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams says Combs did not act alone.
During a news conference Tuesday, Williams said Combs鈥� security and household staff, as well as operators high up in the music industry were complicit. Williams says they cleaned up damaged hotel rooms and "delivered large quantities of cash to Combs to pay for the commercial sex workers.鈥�
Williams says the investigation is ongoing, and is urging "anyone with information about this case to come forward and to do it quickly.鈥�
US Attorney says he wants Diddy detained ahead of trial
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, whose office is bringing the case against Sean 鈥淒iddy鈥� Combs, says the music mogul led a criminal organization that carried out kidnapping, forced labor and sex trafficking, among other crimes.
Speaking at a news conference Tuesday, Williams said authorities will seek to have Combs detained while he awaits trial.
He spoke before a display board showing images of some of the items recovered in searches of Combs鈥� homes in Los Angeles and Miami in March, including AR-15s and a drum magazine containing dozens of rounds of ammunition. He says agents also seized electronic devices that contain images and videos of sexual encounters.
Williams says: 鈥淐ombs led and participated in a racketeering conspiracy that used the business empire he controlled to carry out criminal activity, including sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and the obstruction of justice.鈥�
Combs' lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, has said he will fight to keep his client free. He says Combs is innocent and will plead not guilty.
Cassie Ventura declines to comment on Combs鈥� indictment
Comb鈥檚 former longtime girlfriend, whom he was seen attacking in a security video, has declined to comment on the federal case against him.
Douglas Wigdor, an attorney for the singer Cassie Ventura, said in a statement released before Combs was due to appear in court Tuesday that neither he nor his client have anything to say on the matter.
Wigdor says: 鈥淲e appreciate your understanding and if that changes, we will certainly let you know.鈥�
Ventura with Combs last November, one day after filing a lawsuit containing by the music producer.
Combs' lawyer says Diddy is innocent
Outside the Manhattan courthouse early Tuesday, Combs鈥� lawyer, noted that his client came to New York City voluntarily because they knew the charges were coming.
Marc Agnifilo said: 鈥淣ot a lot of defendants do that. He came to New York to, to basically engage the court system and start the case.鈥�
Though the indictment was not unsealed at the time of his comments, Agnifilo said they know what the charges will be and that Combs is 鈥渋nnocent of these charges.鈥� He vowed to 鈥渇ight like hell鈥� to get Combs released from federal custody.
Prosecutors say injuries of Combs' victims sometimes took weeks to heal
The indictment alleges Combs hit, kicked and threw objects at victims, and sometimes dragged them by their hair, causing injuries that often took days or weeks to heal. It says Combs also threw people around, choked and shoved them.
Prosecutors say his employees and associates witnessed his violence and, rather than intervening, helped him cover it up, including by preventing victims from leaving, and locating and contacting victims who attempted to flee.
Authorities say Combs was the head of a criminal enterprise
The indictment describes Combs as the head of a criminal enterprise that engaged or attempted to engage in activities including sex trafficking, forced labor, interstate transportation for purposes of prostitution, drug offenses, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice.
He鈥檚 accused of striking, punching and dragging women on numerous occasions, throwing objects and kicking them, and enlisting his personal assistants, security and household staff to help him hide it all.
The Associated Press
