Attorneys for Sean “Diddy” Combs returned to federal court Friday, to plead for the mogul’s release.
But prosecutors countered the Bad Boy Records founder is dangerous and should remain jailed at Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, until his trial on sex trafficking and racketeering charges begins in May 2025.
During the Nov. 22 hearing, Judge Arun Subramanian pressed prosecutors as to why the music mogul’s $50 million bail proposal — which includes private security to monitor Diddy’s phone calls and computer use — is not enough to secure his release, the Associated Press reported.
Diddy’s two previous bail requests were rejected by separate federal judges.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Christy Slavik urged Judge Subramanian to do the same on Friday, because Combs has not followed the rules at MDC in Brooklyn. Slavik said the mogul is even less likely to follow rules if freed.
According to Slavik, Diddy has been using phone codes from eight other inmates to place calls to witnesses and victims.
“Simply put, the defendant cannot be trusted,” Slavik said in court.
Meantime, Diddy’s lawyers argued that the video showing the mogul kicking and dragging his then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura through the hallway of a Los Angeles hotel in March 2016, did not give the full story.
CNN published the hotel surveillance footage on May 17, 2024. Two days later, Diddy apologized for his behavior via a video statement he posted on Instagram and later deleted.
On Friday in court, Slavik said Diddy paid hotel staff $100,000 “to make the original video go away.” Cassie also alleged in her November 2023 lawsuit that Diddy bribed hotel employees. The mogul settled Cassie’s suit the day after it was filed, and denied any wrongdoing.
Diddy’s lawyers argued Friday that prosecutors presented an edited version of the video that shows only “a minutes-long glimpse into a complex but decade-long consensual relationship.”
Slavik said prosecutors don’t have the original footage because Diddy paid off hotel staff. Instead, she said the government was given cell phone footage of the assault.
“The cell phone footage shows the exact same thing as the CNN video. I don’t think there is a discrepancy in what both videos show,” Slavik said in court.
Over the past couple of weeks, Diddy’s lawyers have argued the mogul is being treated unfairly because he is Black.
The defense cited the case of ex-Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Michael Jeffries — who is white — and was freed last month on $10 million bail following his arrest for allegedly operating a sex trafficking ring from 2008 to 2015.
Slavik said Jeffries, 80, was granted bail because of his age, he hasn’t been engaged in trafficking activity in a decade, and he has “non-public health issues.”
The judge in Diddy’s case gave both sides until noon on Monday to submit letters on the arguments they made in court.
Judge Subramanian said he would issue a decision about Diddy’s bail petition next week.
The mogul has pleaded not guilty to all charges against him.
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