Music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs will continue to be held in federal custody after a judge denied his bail appeal on Wednesday, September 18.
This decision came one day after he pleaded not guilty to three criminal counts, including sex trafficking and racketeering, amid a backdrop of sexual assault allegations and an ongoing federal investigation.
Combs’ legal team sought bail, citing “horrific” conditions at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, where he is being held. However, their appeal was denied by a magistrate judge who highlighted the seriousness of the charges and allegations of witness tampering against Combs.
He was initially denied bail on Tuesday after being indicted on three counts: racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking by force, and transportation to engage in prostitution. These charges stem from actions allegedly occurring between 2009 and 2018 for sex trafficking and between 2009 and 2024 for prostitution.
The indictment claims that Combs “abused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct.” It alleges he used his business empire to create a criminal enterprise involving sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice.
Prosecutors described a “persistent and pervasive pattern of abuse,” including verbal, emotional, sexual, and physical violence. They accuse Combs of physically assaulting women and claim his employees helped facilitate and cover up his actions.
Additionally, the indictment alleges that Combs manipulated women into engaging in “extended sex acts with male commercial sex workers,” referred to by him as “Freak Offs.” Prosecutors assert that he and his associates transported sex workers across state lines, constituting sex trafficking and prostitution, and that he drugged women to ensure they remained “obedient and compliant.”
Combs was arrested Monday night in Manhattan, with the charges unsealed the following morning. His lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, has denied any wrongdoing, stating that Combs “voluntarily relocated to New York last week in anticipation of these charges” and has “nothing to hide.”
