Federal prosecutors urged a judge this week to deny the latest bail request from Sean “Diddy” Combs while he awaits sentencing for his conviction on two counts of prostitution-related offenses.
Last month, Combs was acquitted by a jury of sex trafficking and racketeering charges but convicted of transporting prostitutes to participate in drug-fueled sex marathons.
The sex trafficking and racketeering charges carried potential terms of life in prison. Each prostitution-related charge carries a potential maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.
At a hearing following his conviction, Judge Arun Subramanian denied a defense request for Combs to be released on $1 million bail, saying his attorneys had conceded during the eight-week trial that he was violent in his personal relationships and had failed to prove that Combs does not pose a danger to others.
“This type of violence, which happens behind closed doors in personal relationships, sparked by unpredictable bouts of anger, is impossible to police with conditions,” Subramanian said.
What does Combs’s new bail request say?
Marc Agnifilo, an attorney for Combs. (Eduardo Munoz Alvarez/Getty Images)
In a 12-page court filing earlier this week, lawyers for Combs asked Subramanian to reconsider, arguing that the 55-year-old hip-hop mogul “will not be violent to anyone.”
“This jury gave him his life back,” Marc Agnifilo, Combs’s lead defense attorney, said in the filing, per the Associated Press. “And he will not squander his second chance at life, nor would he do anything to further jeopardize his seven children not having a father, and four of his children not having a parent at all.”
Agnifilo argued that Combs was being treated unfairly for engaging in what he described as a “swinger” lifestyle. He also cited severe conditions at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where Combs has been held since his arrest in September 2024.
The defense proposed that Combs be released on a $50 million bond that would restrict his travel between his home in Miami and New York for attorney meetings, and that he would be open to more conditions, including house arrest and mandatory mental and substance abuse treatment, if necessary.
What was the prosecution’s response?
Combs in 2023. (Paras Griffin/Getty Images)
In their 11-page response, prosecutors argued there were no exceptional circumstances that would warrant the judge to reconsider bail for Combs, who they said remains a “danger to the community.”
“The defendant’s detention pending sentencing is mandatory, there are no exceptional circumstances justifying his release, and even if there were, the defendant cannot demonstrate clear and convincing evidence that he is not a danger to the community,” prosecutors wrote.
“The defendant’s extensive history of violence — and his continued attempt to minimize his recent violent conduct — demonstrates his dangerousness and that he is not amenable to supervision,” they added.
What’s next?
Subramanian has yet to rule on the latest bail request from the defense, nor has he issued a decision on a separate motion arguing that the jury’s conviction under the Mann Act — which bars interstate commerce related to prostitution — should be overturned, or that Combs should be granted a new trial.
Combs is scheduled to be sentenced by Subramanian on Oct. 3.
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