Rapper Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs returns to jail while judge considers bail bid

Sean “Diddy” Combs will remain in custody for at least several more days while a US judge considers his bid to be released on $50m (R903m) bail from the Brooklyn jail where the music mogul has been held for 10 weeks.

After a nearly two-hour hearing in Manhattan federal court, US district judge Arun Subramanian said on Friday he would “promptly rule on Combs' bid for home detention.

Combs' lawyers this month proposed a bail package backed by his $48m (R867m) Florida mansion. It also called for Combs to be monitored around the clock by security personnel and to have no contact with alleged victims and witnesses.

Combs has been denied bail three times since his arrest, with multiple judges citing a risk he might tamper with witnesses. The rapper and producer pleaded not guilty on September 17 to charges he used his business empire, including his record label Bad Boy Entertainment, to sexually abuse women.

During the hearing, defence lawyer Marc Agnifilo disputed prosecutors' contention that a 2016 hotel surveillance video of Combs assaulting former girlfriend Casandra Ventura, known as Cassie, showed there was a risk he would act violently if released.

“There's a zero percent chance of that happening,” Agnifilo said.

Combs apologised in May after CNN broadcast the video showing him kicking, pushing and dragging Cassie in a hotel hallway. Agnifilo said he had never denied the incident, but said the video was not evidence of sex trafficking.

“It's our defence to the charges that this was a toxic, loving 11-year relationship,” Agnifilo told the court.

Earlier, prosecutor Christine Slavik said Combs tried to bribe hotel staff to delete the surveillance footage, demonstrating he was committed to concealing his crimes by illegal means.

Even from behind bars at the Metropolitan Detention Center, Combs had communicated with his lawyers through unauthorised channels, and sought to run a social media campaign to sway potential jurors, Slavik said.

“The defendant has demonstrated that either he cannot or will not follow rules,” Slavik said.

“The defendant, simply put, cannot be trusted.”

Regarding Combs' attempted social media campaign, defence lawyer Alexandra Shapiro said he had a right to respond to news coverage of the case that could paint him unfavourably for potential jurors.

When led into the hearing by the US marshals service, Combs, wearing a beige jail-issued outfit, blew kisses towards his family seated in the second row of the courtroom's audience.

Prosecutors said the abuse included having women take part in recorded sexual performances called “freak offs” with male sex workers who were sometimes transported across state lines. Combs, 55, has denied wrongdoing, and his lawyers have argued the sexual activity described by prosecutors was consensual.

Combs' lawyers questioned why jail was needed when federal prosecutors in Brooklyn last month allowed the pretrial release on a $10m (R18m) bond of former Abercrombie and Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries, who has pleaded not guilty to sex-trafficking.

The US attorney's office in Manhattan, which brought the charges against Combs, countered that Jeffries is 80 years old with no criminal history, whereas Combs has prior arrests.

They also said federal agents recovered rifles with defaced serial numbers from Combs' residences. Last week, Subramanian ordered prosecutors to destroy their copies of handwritten notes Combs took in jail, pending a decision on whether they were subject to attorney-client privilege.

A government investigator photographed the notes during a sweep of the Metropolitan Detention Centre in Brooklyn, where Combs has been jailed.

Reuters