Embattled music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs will remain in federal custody after a judge denied his bail appeal on September 18. This decision came one day after he pleaded not guilty to three serious criminal counts, including sex trafficking and racketeering. Combs’ lawyers had sought bail, citing “horrific” conditions at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York. However, the magistrate judge denied the appeal, emphasizing the severity of the charges and allegations of witness tampering.
Combs was indicted on three counts: racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking by force, and transportation to engage in prostitution.
These charges stem from alleged actions that occurred between 2009 and 2018 for sex trafficking and between 2009 and 2024 for prostitution.
The indictment claims that Combs “abused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfill sexual desires,” using his business empire to create a “criminal enterprise.”
Prosecutors allege that he engaged in “a persistent and pervasive pattern of abuse,” including “verbal, emotional, sexual and physical abuse.”
They accuse him of “striking, punching, dragging, throwing objects at and kicking” women, with employees allegedly facilitating and covering up his actions.
Additionally, the indictment states that Combs manipulated women into engaging in “extended sex acts with male commercial sex workers,” which he referred to as “Freak Offs.”
Prosecutors assert that Combs and his associates transported sex workers across state lines, constituting sex trafficking, and allegedly drugged women to keep them “obedient and compliant.”
Combs was arrested on Monday night in Manhattan, with the charges unsealed the following morning.
His lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, has denied any wrongdoing, stating that Combs “voluntarily relocated to New York last week in anticipation of these charges” and has “nothing to hide.”
