live updates:

Sean “Diddy” Combs was denied bail again on Wednesday, Sept. 18, a day after a federal judge in Manhattan remanded him to await trial at a jail in Brooklyn.

• Sean “Diddy” Combs is expected Wednesday afternoon (Sept. 18) to appeal a federal judge’s decision to hold Diddy without bail after he pleaded not guilty in federal court to charges of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution Tuesday.
• Until the court appearance in New York in front of US District Court Judge Andrew Carter at 3:30 p.m. ET, Combs will be held by himself at the Special Housing Unit in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, according to a law enforcement official.
• The judge has denied bail for Diddy, who will remain in custody.
• “I thank your family members for coming, but I cannot release him.”
• Sean “Diddy” Combs pleads not guilty to sex trafficking and racketeering charges.

 

 

Feds seek to keep ‘Diddy’ behind bars as rapper accused of using violence to force women to have ‘Freak Offs’ with male prostitutes

Williams said during a press conference that the investigation is still ongoing and said he “can’t take anything off the table” when asked if others would be indicted in the sweeping case.

Williams said the hip-hop mogul “used his business and employees of that business … to get his way” with victims that he forced into “Freak Off” sex-sessions with male prostitutes.

Manhattan US Attorney Damian Williams says his office will be asking a judge to keep Sean “Diddy” Combs behind bars when he’s arraigned later Tuesday.

“We are going to be seeking detention,” Williams said during a press conference, noting he thinks the alleged crimes are serious enough for such a request.

Combs is set to appear in court sometime Tuesday afternoon.

 

---

 

WATCH USA Williams announcing the federal indictment of Sean Combs

 

Diddy 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. He was due in court Tuesday afternoon

Prosecutors said they would seek to have Combs detained pending trial. His lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, said outside the courthouse Tuesday morning that he’d fight to keep him free, and that Combs is innocent and would plead not guilty.

“His spirits are good. He’s confident,” said the attorney, who said Combs came to New York voluntarily to “engage the court system and start the case.”

The indictment describes Combs, the 54-year-old founder of Bad Boy Records, as the head of a criminal enterprise that engaged or attempted to engage in sex trafficking, forced labor, interstate transportation for purposes of prostitution, drug offenses, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice. He’s accused of striking, punching and dragging women on numerous occasions, throwing objects and kicking them — and enlisting his personal assistants, security and household staff to help him hide it all.

Combs and his associates wielded his “power and prestige” to “intimidate, threaten, and lure” women into his orbit, “often under the pretense of a romantic relationship,” the indictment says. It says he then would use force, threats and coercion to get the women to engage with male sex workers in the “Freak Offs” — “elaborate and produced sex performances” that Combs arranged, directed, masturbated during and often recorded.

He sometimes arranged to fly the women in and ensured their participation by procuring and providing drugs, controlling their careers, leveraging his financial support, and using intimidation and violence, according to the indictment.

The events could last for days, and Combs and victims would often receive IV fluids “to recover from the physical exertion and drug use” from “Freak Offs,” the indictment said. It said his employees facilitated “Freak Offs” by arranging travel, booking hotel rooms where they would take place and stocking those rooms with supplies, including drugs, baby oil, lubricants, extra linens and lighting, scheduling the delivery of IV fluids, and then cleaning the rooms afterward.

During a search of Combs’ homes in Miami and Los Angeles this year, law enforcement seized narcotics and more than a thousand bottles of baby oil and lubricant, according to the indictment. Agents also seized firearms and ammunition, including three AR-15s with defaced serial numbers, the indictment said.

The document portrays Combs as a violent man who choked and shoved people, hit and kicked victims and sometimes dragged them by their hair, causing injuries that often took days or weeks to heal. His employees and associates sometimes witnessed his violence and kept victims from leaving or tracked down those who tried, the indictment said.

It alleges that Combs sometimes kept videos of victims engaging in sex acts and used the recordings as “collateral” to ensure the women’s continued obedience and silence. He also exerted control over victims by promising career opportunities, providing and threatening to withhold financial support, dictating how they looked, monitoring their health records and controlling where they lived, according to the indictment.

“The victims did not believe that they could refuse Combs without risking their security or facing more abuse,” U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said at a news conference Tuesday. His office is bringing the case.

As the threat of criminal charges loomed, Combs and his associates pressured witnesses and victims to stay silent, offering bribes and supplying false narratives of what happened, the indictment says.

All of this, prosecutors allege, was happening behind the facade of Combs’ global music, lifestyle and clothing empire.

Combs was recognized as one of the most influential figures in hip-hop before a flood of allegations that emerged over the past year turned him into an industry pariah. S: AP