A federal appeals court ruled on Friday for Sean “Diddy” Combs to remain jailed as he appeals two rulings that denied him bond as he awaits trial in New York for sex trafficking.
Combs appealed the rulings to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on September 30, about a week before a new judge was assigned to his federal case. In turn, Circuit Judge William J. Nardini denied Combs’ bid to be released from custody while the three-judge panel reviewed his new bail request, according to the Associated Press.
The new judge in Combs’ case is Arun Subramanian, who is also presiding over the Department of Justice’s antitrust case against Ticketmaster. The defense has asked Judge Subramanian to release Combs on bail as he awaits trial, but the issue was not addressed during Thursday’s hearing.
However, Judge Subramanian ruled on Thursday that Combs’ trial will begin on May 5.
Combs’ attorneys also asked to have nor did the defense push to have Combs moved from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn to a federal jail in Essex County, New Jersey. That issue was also not discussed during Thursday’s hearing.
Combs’ lawyers said in their filing to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that prosecutors’ claims that Combs will intimidate key witnesses are speculative.
On September 16, Combs was arrested outside a Manhattan hotel on federal charges of racketeering, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution. Combs has been denied bail twice, as Judge Andrew L. Carter determined he should remain in custody.
Combs’ legal team sought home detention with GPS monitoring. In exchange, they offered to post $50 million bail and to use Combs’ home as collateral.
“The government has proven the defendant is a danger. The bail package is insufficient even on risk of flight,” Carter said while denying Combs’ bail a second time.
In March, federal authorities raided Combs’ homes in Holmby Hills, California, and Miami. Reports indicated that the raid was connected to an ongoing sex trafficking investigation that resulted in his arrest months later. Prosecutors revealed on Thursday that they have seized 100 devices from which they are obtaining data.
The reported raids also occurred four months after his ex-girlfriend, R&B singer Cassie Ventura, accused him of sex trafficking and abuse. In a multimillion-dollar lawsuit, she alleged that Combs drugged her and forced her to have sex with other men. The pair settled the lawsuit a day after its filing.
However, in May, a video surfaced showing Combs assaulting Ventura at a California hotel in 2016. After the video was released, Combs put out a video expressing remorse for his behavior. That video is mentioned in the criminal charges filed this week against Combs.
Two more accusers came forward a week after Ventura’s lawsuit. One of the women claimed Combs drugged and raped her at Syracuse University in New York in 1991. Combs denied those allegations before a third accuser, Liza Gardner, levied similar allegations against him.
In that case, Gardner claimed Combs and singer-songwriter Aaron Hall drugged and raped her and a friend following an Uptown Records event in 1990. Gardner said she was 16 at the time of the incident. She also accused Combs of choking her a day after the assault.
Days after footage of the 2016 assault was publicized, two more women filed lawsuits against Combs. One of those women was April Lampros, a New York Fashion Institute of Technology student who reportedly met Combs in 1994. Lampros accused Combs of sexually assaulting her on four instances between the mid-1990s and the early 2000s.
Lampros claimed Combs promised to mentor her and connect her with executives in the fashion industry. Instead, Combs allegedly forced her to drink before raping her in a hotel room. Lampros recalled another instance in which Combs forced her to perform oral sex on her in a parking garage while a parking attendant watched.
Combs has been accused of committing or facilitating sexual abuse in at least eight lawsuits. He has denied those allegations.
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[Feature Photo: Mark Von Holden/Invision/AP, File]
