Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs was denied bail for a second time yesterday following his arrest in New York earlier this week on sex-trafficking and racketeering charges, with concerns about the musician intimidating witnesses convincing the judge to keep Combs behind bars pending trial.
Prosecutors had also raised concerns about Combs being a “serious flight risk”, which his lawyers sought to allay. They proposed a $50 million bond, the surrender of his passport, home detention and a weekly drug test.
However, the judge overseeing the case, Andrew Carter, said, “My bigger concern deals with the danger of obstruction of justice and the danger of witness tampering - that is a real concern that I have here”.
The prosecution presented various arguments as to why that concern was valid, insisting that Combs has a long history of intimidating his alleged accusers, including threatening to leak sexually explicit videos in which they appear.
Prosecutor Emily Johnson also stated that Combs’ defence team was “minimising and horrifically understating” the musician’s propensity for violence.
The criminal case against Combs follows the filing of numerous lawsuits accusing the musician of sexual harassment and assault. Indictment documents filed by prosecutors earlier this week claim that, “for decades, Combs abused, threatened and coerced women and others around him to fulfil his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct”.
Among other things, it’s alleged that Combs would force women to engage in sex acts with his associates, sometimes for days at a time, during what he called ‘freak offs’. Combs made the women take drugs during these encounters, which he would also film, masturbating to the footage. These ‘freak offs’ were so physically exhausting for Combs and his victims that they “typically received IV fluids to recover”.
Combs maintained control over his victims through various methods, it’s also claimed, including “physical violence, promises of career opportunities, and granting and threatening to withhold financial support”. Other controlling conduct included “tracking a victim’s whereabouts, dictating their appearance, monitoring their medical records, controlling their housing, and supplying them with controlled substances”.
This week’s arrest follows raids on properties owned by Combs earlier this year. There is more information about those raids in the indictment papers, including that investigators seized drugs and more than 1000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant, plus three AR-15 guns with defaced serial numbers.
As with the criminal case pursued against R Kelly, it is alleged that Combs used his fame and power in the music business to set up a criminal enterprise through which he pursued this abuse.
That enterprise, the indictment says, “relied on employees, resources and the influence of the multi-faceted business empire that Combs led and controlled”, with a group of associates who “engaged in, and attempted to engage in, among other crimes, sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice”.
Combs denies all the allegations of criminal conduct and formally pleaded not-guilty in court this week.