A New York federal judge has denied Sean “Diddy” Combs‘ renewed bail request. The hip-hop mogul who was convicted last month on prostitution-related charges — but acquitted of sex trafficking and racketeering — will remain in jail until his sentencing in October.
Judge Arun Subramanian said Monday that Combs “fails to satisfy his burden to demonstrate an entitlement to release.” He noted that increasing the bond or adding conditions doesn’t “change the calculus,” bringing up Combs’ violence in his personal relationships that he cited on the day of the verdict.
In his decision, the judge also wrote that Combs “doesn’t contest that detention is mandatory for his crimes of conviction.”
Regarding the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn where Combs is detained, which has been scrutinized by Combs’ attorneys and public officials for what they say are dangerous and inhumane conditions, the judge said there has been “an incident of threatened violence from an inmate.”
However, Subramanian said corrections staff “has been able to keep him safe and attend to his needs.” The judge did acknowledge “public outcry … from all corners” about the conditions there.
“While Combs may contend at sentencing that this evidence should be discounted and that what happened was nothing more than a case of willing ‘swingers’ utilizing the voluntary services of escorts for their mutual pleasure, the Government takes the opposite view: that Cassie Ventura and Jane were beaten, coerced, threatened, lied to, and victimized by Combs as part of their participation in these events,” Subramanian wrote in his ruling. “That makes this case unlike any of the cases Combs points to and places it outside the narrow exception to detention that Congress otherwise deemed mandatory.”
Combs, 55, was convicted in early July of two counts of the prostitution-related charge. Each count carries a potential maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. Prosecutors said their preliminary calculations indicate Combs should get at least 51 to 63 months imprisonment on the two convictions, or a sentence of roughly four to five years. Combs had pleaded not guilty to all the charges.
Combs will get 10 months credit for time served so far. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Oct. 3.
Alex Sundby
contributed to this report.
