Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Makes New Bail Attempt in Sex Trafficking, Conspiracy Case

Lawyers for Sean “Diddy” Combs asked a judge on Wednesday if he could await trial on human trafficking charges at his luxury home on an island near Miami Beach, rather than in a grim federal prison in Brooklyn.

Combs’ lawyers offered a $50 million bond — with his mansion as collateral — in exchange for his release into home detention with GPS monitoring. A hearing on the request was scheduled for Wednesday afternoon. On Tuesday, a U.S. magistrate judge in Manhattan ordered Combs held without bail.

The hip-hop mogul, whose career blossomed in the 1990s, was arrested Monday on charges Combs cited in a criminal complaint that accuses him of abusing his “power and prestige” to engage in “sex trafficking, forced labor, interstate transportation for purposes of prostitution, drug offenses, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice.”

It details the solicitation of female victims and male sex workers into drugged, elaborately produced sexual performances called “Freak Offs,” which Combs organized, directed, masturbated to and often recorded. The events sometimes lasted for days and required IVs to recover from, the indictment said.

He allegedly forced and abused women for years. He allegedly used blackmail, including through the videos he made. He also allegedly performed shocking violent acts to keep his victims in line. All of this was coordinated and facilitated from above by a network of employees and acquaintances.

Combs’ attorney Marc Agnifilo filed a letter Wednesday with Judge Andrew L. Carter requesting that Combs, 54, be released on conditions including house arrest with GPS monitoring and a ban on all visitors to his residences, except for family members, property managers and friends who are not considered accomplices.

Combs’ home is on Star Island, a man-made piece of land in Biscayne Bay accessible only by causeway or boat. It is one of the most expensive places to live in the United States. Combs’ request is reminiscent of a long line of wealthy defendants who have offered multimillion-dollar bail in exchange for house arrest in luxurious surroundings.

“Sean Combs has never dodged, avoided, evaded or run from a challenge in his life,” the defense said in a court filing. “He will not start now.”

Combs was expected to again plead not guilty at his first appearance before Carter.

So far, prosecutors have successfully argued that he is a danger to society and that he can flee, so he must remain in custody until trial.

Despite all the revelations that came with Tuesday’s unsealing of the indictment, much of what was outlined in it was actually part of a lawsuit filed in November by Combs’ former girlfriend and protégé, R&B singer Cassie, whose legal name is Cassandra Ventura. The lawsuit was settled the next day, but its allegations have dogged Combs ever since.

The descriptions of abuse, sexual assault, silencing and “freak offs” were repeated in the complaint, although she or the other women were not named.

Agnifilo, who also did not name Ventura but clearly referred to her, argued during Tuesday’s arraignment that the entire criminal case is the result of a long, difficult but consensual relationship that ended in infidelity.

The ‘Freak Offs’, Agnifilo argued, were an extension of that relationship, not coercive.

“Is it sex trafficking?” Agnifilo asked. “Not if everyone wants to be there.”

Prosecutors, however, portrayed the scale as much larger, saying in court documents that they have interviewed more than 50 victims and witnesses and expect the number to grow.

Like many older hip-hop figures—including many of those he clashed with in the bicoastal rap feuds of the ’90s alongside the Notorious B.I.G.—Bad Boy Records founder Combs had cultivated a gentler, more worldly persona. The devoted father of seven was a respected international businessman whose annual “White Party” in the Hamptons was once a must-have invitation for the jet-set elite.

But prosecutors said he used the same companies, people and methods he used to build his business and cultural power to facilitate his crimes. They said they would use financial, travel and billing records, electronic records and communications, and videos from the “Freak Offs” to prove their case.

Normally, the AP does not name people who say they were sexually abused unless they report it publicly, as Ventura did.

Combs was arrested Monday night at a Manhattan hotel, about six months after federal authorities searched his luxury homes in Los Angeles and Miami and revealed they were conducting a sex trafficking investigation.

During the searches, police seized narcotics, videos of the “Freak Offs” and more than 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant, prosecutors said. They said officers also seized firearms and ammunition, including three AR-15s with defaced serial numbers.

The indictment portrays Combs as so violent that he caused injuries that often took days or weeks to heal. His employees and coworkers sometimes witnessed his violence and stopped victims from leaving or tracked down those who tried, the indictment said.

A conviction on all charges in the indictment would carry a mandatory 15-year prison sentence, with the possibility of life in prison.

Combs and his attorneys denied similar allegations made by others in a series of lawsuits filed after Ventura’s case.