Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs jailed after sex trafficking indictment

NEW YORK (AP):

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs was headed to jail Tuesday to await trial in his federal sex trafficking case, after a magistrate ordered him to be held without bail in a case that accuses him of presiding over a sordid empire of sexual crimes.

The music mogul pleaded not guilty Tuesday to racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking. He’s accused of inducing female victims and male sex workers into drugged-up, sometimes days-long sexual performances dubbed ‘Freak Offs’. The indictment against him also refers obliquely to an attack on his former girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie, that was captured on video.

Prosecutors wanted him jailed. His attorneys proposed that he be released on a US$50 million bond to home detention with electronic monitoring. US Magistrate Judge Robyn Tarnofsky sided with the government.

Combs, 54, took a long swig from a water bottle, then was led out of court without handcuffs. As he walked out, he turned toward family members in the audience.

“Mr Combs is a fighter. He’s going to fight this to the end. He’s innocent,” his lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, said after court. As a start, he said he would appeal the bail decision.

The Bad Boy Records founder is accused of striking, punching and dragging women, throwing objects and kicking them – and getting his personal assistants, security and household staff to help him hide it all.

“Not guilty,” Combs told a court, standing to speak after listening to the allegations with his uncuffed hands folded in his lap.

Federal prosecutors called him dangerous.

“Mr Combs physically and sexually abused victims for decades. He used the vast resources of his company to facilitate his abuse and cover up his crimes. Simply put, he is a serial abuser and a serial obstructor,” Assistant US Attorney Emily Johnson told a court. She also said he had “extensive and exhaustive history of obstruction of justice,” including alleged bribery and witness intimidation.

Agnifilo acknowledged Combs was “not a perfect person,” saying he’d used drugs and had been in “toxic relationships” but was getting treatment and therapy.

“The evidence in this case is extremely problematic,” the attorney told the court.

‘Consensual’ relationship

He maintained that the case stemmed from one long-term, consensual relationship that faltered amid infidelity. He didn’t name the woman, but the details matched those of Combs’ decade-long involvement with Cassie, whose legal name is Casandra Ventura.

The ‘Freak Offs’, Agnifilo contended, were an expansion of that relationship, and not coercive.

“Is it sex trafficking? Not if everybody wants to be there,” Agnifilo said, arguing that authorities were intruding on his client’s private life.

Prosecutors, however, said in court papers that they had interviewed more than 50 victims and witnesses and expect the number to grow. They said they would use financial, travel and billing records, electronic data and communications and videos of the ‘Freak Offs’ to prove their case.

Combs nodded his head at times as his lawyer spoke and occasionally leaned over to converse with them when they were not. The impresario watched other parts of the proceeding expressionlessly, looking straight ahead.

Combs was arrested late Monday in Manhattan, roughly six months after federal authorities conducting a sex trafficking investigation raided his luxurious homes in Los Angeles and Miami.

A conviction on every charge in the indictment would require a mandatory 15 years in prison with the possibility of a life sentence.