Sean “Diddy” Combs appeared in a New York court on Friday as he seeks bail in his federal sex-trafficking case.
Reuters reported that Combs wore a beige jail-issued outfit as he appeared before U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian. While Combs’ legal team proposed a $50-million bail package that uses his Florida mansion as collateral, prosecutors said he could not be trusted to follow the outlined parameters of his bail.
Combs has sought bail three times, though this is the first time Judge Subramanian will rule on the matter. Judge Andrew Carter, who was overseeing the case, twice denied bail for Combs before reassigning the case to Subramanian. Carter stepped down from the case, claiming he could not accommodate Combs’ trial date.
In addition to using Combs’ $50 million home as collateral, his lawyers offered for Combs to undergo home confinement and to be watched by security personnel. However, prosecutors said Combs is an active threat to the community as he has tampered with possible witnesses.
On September 16, Combs was arrested outside a Manhattan hotel on federal charges of racketeering, sex trafficking, and transportation to engage in prostitution.
In March, feral 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.
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 30 lawsuits. His trial is scheduled to begin in May 2025.
This story is developing…
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[Feature Photo: Mark Von Holden/Invision/AP, File]
