Sean “Diddy” Combs was all smiles as he entered a courtroom in New York City for a bail hearing he hoped would see him released from custody as he faces sex trafficking and racketeering charges.
The 55-year-old blew kisses and waved to family members as he entered South Manhattan Federal Court. He was dressed in a beige prison jumpsuit and flanked by US marshals, but was not shackled, as he has been in previous hearings.
Family members and supporters, including his mother Janice Combs, his daughter Chance Combs, his son Justin Dior Combs and adopted son Quincy Brown, were present at the hearing on Friday afternoon.
A judge postponed the decision on whether to grant him bail ahead of his upcoming trial, after prosecutors argued that he could not be “trusted” to be let out of prison and could not be controlled by his own lawyers.
The music mogul is being held on a $50 million bond at the Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) in Brooklyn, New York, as he awaits trial.
During the hearing, his lawyers cited changed circumstances, including new evidence, which they said made it sensible to release him so he can better prepare for his trial, scheduled for May 5. Two judges have previously concluded he is a danger to the community and a risk to flee.
Assistant US Attorney Christine Slavik said that Combs’ efforts to reach out to witnesses from behind bars, often via family members, showed that he “cannot and will not follow rules” even when they were set by his own lawyers. “Simply put, the defendant cannot be trusted,” she said.
Slavik also accused the mogul’s lawyers of “enabling his flouting of rules” and claimed they showed an “inability to control their client.”
Last week prosecutors accused Combs of using jailmates’ phones from inside prison to blackmail potential witnesses ahead of his trial. The music mogul had allegedly called up family members, urging them to reach out to potential victims and create “narratives” and made “relentless efforts” to “corruptly influence witness testimony,” court documents claimed.
“The defendant has shown repeatedly — even while in custody — that he will flagrantly and repeatedly flout rules in order to improperly impact the outcome of his case. The defendant has shown, in other words, that he cannot be trusted to abide by rules or conditions,” prosecutors wrote in a submission that contained redactions.
Combs had allegedly begun his campaign as soon as he was incarcerated in September, prosecutors said.
In a filing made on Friday prior to the hearing, prosecutors wrote that it “strains credulity to believe that Combs will stop engaging in criminal conduct and abide by conditions of release.”
However the mogul’s defense argued that if bailed, Combs would be living in “significantly more restrictive” conditions than he was currently in the MDC. A “completely independent” security team would monitor Combs 24/7, his attorneys said, with contact allowed only with counsel and a select few family members.
Responding to Slavik’s concern that he would return to violent behavior if allowed out, defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo said that there was a “zero per cent chance of that happening.”
Prosecutors pointed out that the security detail would be paid for, and therefore work for Combs.
Earlier this week, the judge ordered federal prosecutors to delete images of handwritten notes made by Combs, which had been taken during a search of his jail cell. The quotes in question reportedly referenced getting “dirt” on at least two potential witnesses.
His lawyers claimed the notes were protected by attorney-client privilege and improperly seized. In a previous filing they described the seizure of personal items and paperwork as an “outrageous government conduct amounting to a substantive due process violation.”
Excerpts from those notes that prosecutors referenced previously were not used at the bond hearing on Friday, following an order from the judge.
Combs, who founded Bad Boy Records, has pleaded not guilty to charges that he coerced and abused women for years with the aid of a network of associates and employees, while silencing victims through blackmail and violence, including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings.
He was arrested in September on sex trafficking and racketeering charges with federal prosecutors alleging that he and his associates threatened, abused and coerced women and others around him “to fulfill his sexual desires” – which allegedly included forcing victims into engaging in recorded sexual activity which he referred to as “Freak Offs.”
Federal agents with US Homeland Security raided two of the rapper’s houses in Los Angeles and Miami on March 25 as part of an investigation into the allegations brought against him.
Judge Arun Subramanian is expected to make a decision on bail next week.