Federal prosecutors are urging a Manhattan court to keep defendant Sean “Diddy” Combs in detention ahead of his trial, calling him a flight risk and a “significant risk” to obstruction of justice.
“There is no condition, or combination of conditions, that will reasonably assure the appearance of the defendant as required and the safety of others and the community, not to mention the integrity of the proceedings,” prosecutors wrote in their letter Tuesday.
Combs was charged in a three-count criminal indictment, unsealed on Tuesday, with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.
The indictment alleges Combs “abused, threatened, and coerced women and others,” since 2008, and oversaw a criminal enterprise that relied on employees and the influence of Combs’s business empire to attempt to “engage in, among other crimes, sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice.”
Combs was arrested late Monday in New York and is expected in court Tuesday afternoon.
“As reflected by the gravity of the charges in the Indictment, the defendant is dangerous and poses an ongoing threat to the safety of the community. If released, he remains a serious risk of flight, despite the conditions offered by his counsel. Most glaringly, the defendant also poses a significant risk of obstructing justice,” the prosecution’s letter reads.
The prosecutors note that the indictment accuses Combs of attempting to bribe security staff and with threatening and interfering with witnesses to his alleged criminal conduct.
“He has already tried to obstruct the Government’s investigation of this case, repeatedly contacting victims and witnesses and feeding them false narratives of events, as described in detail below. There are simply no conditions that would ensure that the defendant’s efforts to obstruct and tamper with witnesses will stop,” the letter reads.
The letter then details Combs’s alleged use of threats, violence and brandishing of firearms “to intimidate and threaten others.” It notes the defendant still has access to gun, including illegal firearms.
They argue Combs’s “violent tendencies are widely known,” but “at no point during the past few decades has the threat of public exposure or law enforcement intervention deterred the defendant from continuing his abuse.”
The prosecutors note the extent of the evidence against Combs, pointing to the 50 interviews conducted with victims or witnesses and records obtained pursuant to more than 300 grand jury subpoenas or by voluntary means.
Prosecutors argue that the terms posed by the defense counsel, including home detention with electronic monitoring and a $50 million bond secured by Combs’s Miami home, are “plainly insufficient” especially “given the defendant’s history of engaging in obstructive conduct.”
Prosecutors further note that the proposed conditions don’t include limitations on access to digital devices.
In a statement Monday night, Combs’s attorney, Marc Agnifilo, said he and his client were “disappointed” by the “unjust prosecution” of Combs, whom Agnifilo praised as a “music icon, self-made entrepreneur, loving family man, and proven philanthropist.”
“He is an imperfect person, but he is not a criminal,” Agnifilo continued in his statement. “To his credit Mr. Combs has been nothing but cooperative with this investigation and he voluntarily relocated to New York last week in anticipation of these charges. Please reserve your judgment until you have all the facts.”
“These are the acts of an innocent man with nothing to hide, and he looks forward to clearing his name in court,” he added.
