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WARNING: This story comprises particulars of intimate accomplice violence.
A second decide refused to grant bail to Sean (Diddy) Combs on Wednesday, saying the federal government had proved “by clear and convincing proof” that no quantity of bail may assure the hip-hop mogul will not tamper with witnesses.
U.S. District Choose Andrew L. Carter handed down the ruling after prosecutors and defence attorneys offered strenuous arguments for and in opposition to a $50 million US bail package deal that might permit Combs to be launched to residence detention with GPS monitoring and strict limitations on who may go to him.
Combs, 54, pleaded not responsible Tuesday after an indictment accused him of utilizing his “energy and status” to induce feminine victims and male intercourse staff into drugged-up, elaborately produced sexual performances dubbed “freak offs” that Combs organized, participated in and sometimes recorded. The occasions would generally final days, the indictment mentioned.
The indictment alleges he coerced and abused ladies for years, with the assistance of a community of associates and workers, whereas utilizing blackmail and violent acts together with kidnapping, arson and bodily beatings to maintain victims from talking out.
Combs has been in federal custody since his arrest Monday evening at a Manhattan lodge.
Warning: Video comprises distressing particulars | A New York decide denied bail to Sean (Diddy) Combs after the music mogul pleaded not responsible to a number of federal fees, together with intercourse trafficking. An unsealed indictment claims he abused, threatened and coerced ladies for many years, elevating questions on why it’s solely going to courtroom now.
Combs has historical past of alleged abuse: prosecutor
Arguing to maintain him locked up, prosecutor Emily Johnson instructed U.S. District Choose Andrew L. Carter that the once-celebrated rapper has an extended historical past of intimidating each his accusers and people who witnessed his alleged abuse. She cited textual content messages from ladies who mentioned Combs compelled them into the freak offs after which threatened to leak movies of them participating in intercourse acts.
Johnson mentioned Combs’ defence workforce was “minimizing and horrifically understating” his propensity for violence, taking subject together with his lawyer’s portrayal of a 2016 assault at a Los Angeles lodge as a lover’s quarrel. Safety video of the occasion confirmed Combs hitting his then-girlfriend, R&B singer Cassie, in a lodge hallway.
Johnson seized on a textual content message from a lady who mentioned Combs dragged her down a hallway by her hair. Based on Johnson, the lady instructed the rapper: “I am not a rag doll, I am somebody’s youngster.”
Combs is a “hazard to the neighborhood and poses a critical threat to the integrity” of his case, Johnson argued.
Federal Justice of the Peace Robyn F. Tarnofsky initially dominated that Combs was too harmful to be freed. However Combs’ legal professional, Marc Agnifilo, submitted a letter to Carter on Wednesday asking once more for bail underneath situations that might permit him to depart the Metropolitan Detention Heart, the lockup on the Brooklyn waterfront the place he was taken after arraignment.
Legal professionals and a few judges have regularly complained that the jail, which has round 1,200 inmates, is overcrowded, violent and uncared for.
Combs supplied to pay thousands and thousands in bail for residence detention
Combs’ Florida house is on Star Island, a man-made dollop of land in Biscayne Bay, reachable solely by a causeway or boat. It’s among the many costliest locations to dwell in america.
Combs’ request echoes that of an extended line of rich defendants who’ve supplied to pay multimillion-dollar bails in trade for residence detention in luxurious environment.
If he have been to be granted bail, Combs must keep in that home whereas awaiting trial, his attorneys mentioned. Visits could be restricted to household, property caretakers and pals who should not thought-about co-conspirators.
‘I take full duty for my actions in that video. I used to be disgusted then after I did it. I am disgusted now,’ Sean (Diddy) Combs mentioned in a video assertion posted Sunday to Instagram and Fb addressing 2016 safety footage that confirmed him punching and kicking Cassie, an R&B singer who was his protégé and longtime girlfriend on the time.
“I’m feeling assured. We will go get Mr. Combs out of jail,” Agnifilo mentioned on his means into courtroom Wednesday. He mentioned Combs is “doing nice, he is targeted and he is prepared for his listening to.”
Most of the accusations within the indictment parallel allegations contained in a November lawsuit filed by Cassie, whose authorized title is Casandra Ventura. The swimsuit was settled the next day, however its allegations have adopted Combs since.
The AP doesn’t sometimes title individuals who say they’ve been sexually abused until they arrive ahead publicly, as Ventura did.
With out naming Ventura however clearly referring to her, Agnifilo argued at Tuesday’s arraignment that the complete felony case is an outgrowth of 1 long-term, troubled-but-consensual relationship that faltered amid infidelity. The “Freak Offs,” he contended, have been an enlargement of that relationship, and never coercive.
Prosecutors portrayed the scope as bigger. They mentioned they’d interviewed greater than 50 victims and witnesses.
Narcotics, movies, firearms seized in March raids
Like many getting old hip-hop figures, Combs, the founding father of Unhealthy Boy Data, had established a gentler public picture.
The daddy of seven youngsters was a revered worldwide businessman, whose annual “White Occasion” within the Hamptons was as soon as a must have invitation for the jet-setting elite.
However prosecutors mentioned Combs used the identical corporations, folks and strategies he used to construct his enterprise and cultural energy to facilitate his crimes. They mentioned they’d show it with monetary and journey information, digital communications and movies of the freak offs.
In March, authorities raided properties belonging to Combs in Los Angeles and Miami, seizing narcotics, movies and greater than 1,000 bottles of child oil and lubricant, based on prosecutors. They mentioned brokers additionally seized firearms and ammunition, together with three AR-15s with defaced serial numbers.
A conviction on each cost within the indictment would require a compulsory 15 years in jail with the potential of a life sentence.
Help is accessible for anybody who has been abused or assaulted. You possibly can entry disaster strains and native assist companies by means of the Ending Violence Association of Canada database. The Canadian Ladies’s Basis’s Signal For Help is a silent, one-handed gesture to make use of in a video name to point that you’re liable to violence at residence. If you happen to’re in instant hazard or worry on your security or that of others round you, please name 911.
