Diddy Denied Bail Again, Sent Back to Jail His Lawyers Describe as 'Horrific' to Await Trial

Mar. 15, 2025

Sean Combs, defense attorney Marc Agnifilo.Photo:Elizabeth Williams via AP

Elizabeth Williams via AP

Sean “Diddy” Combswas denied bail again on Wednesday, Sept. 18, a day after a federal judge in Manhattanremanded himto await trial at a jail in Brooklyn.

The rapper was initially deniedbailduring his arraignment in Manhattan’s federal court on Tuesday, Sept. 17, and remanded to jail. A different judge denied his request for bail on Wednesday.

Combs’ legal team promptly appealed the judge’s decision to deny bail, and returned to court the following afternoon. In a Sept. 17 letter to the judge, Combs' lawyers described conditions at Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn as “horrific” and “not fit for pre-trial detention.”

His defense proposed in court Wednesday that Combs live at home alone in Florida with a 24/7 security team that would monitor a pre-approved guest list. He offered to give up any access to his cell phone or internet, and in the words of his lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, “do nothing but prepare for his trial.”

But Judge Andrew L. Carter, Jr. said that “there is no condition or combination of conditions to ensure he will not obstruct justice or tamper with witnesses.”

Combs, dressed in the same black shirt and gray striped sweatpants he wore during his first bail hearing on Tuesday, dipped his head, looking down at the defense table when he heard the judge’s decision.

Sean Combs in Washington, D.C. on Oct. 20, 2023.Shareif Ziyadat/Getty

Shareif Ziyadat/Getty

Those secret recordings were then allegedly used as “collateral to ensure the continued obedience and silence of the victims,” threatening their “careers and livelihoods, including if they resisted participating in Freak Offs,” per the indictment.

Marc Agnifilo, left, and Sean “Diddy” Combs, right.Elizabeth Williams via AP

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Johnson told the judge Tuesday that the alleged “freak offs” were “core” to the case, claiming that the singer “has the propensity to become violent at the slightest provocation.”

She said prosecutors had spoken with more than 50 witnesses, many of whom had witnessed the alleged violence, and that law enforcement had gathered more than 90 cell phones, laptops and iCloud accounts, along with  additional thumb drives and other technological devices which supported the charges in the indictment.

During March raids of his homes in Florida and California, law enforcement allegedly recovered three AR15s – disassembled and with the serial numbers filed off – Johnson said Tuesday.

R. Kelly at Leighton Criminal Court Building in Chicago on June 6, 2019.E. JASON WAMBSGANS/AFP via Getty

E. JASON WAMBSGANS/AFP via Getty

In court Tuesday, Johnson likened the rapper’s case to that of R&B artistR. Kelly, as well as financierJeffrey Epsteinand cult leaderKeith Raniere.

Agnifilo – who previously represented Raniere at his 2019 federal trial in Brooklyn – called Combs’ case “night and day different,” telling the judge that unlike the other three men, Combs is not accused of sexually abusing minors.

He further argued that the sexual interactions had been between consenting adults and that the singer should not be shamed for his desires.

“Is it sex trafficking?” Agnifilo asked Tuesday. “Not if everyone wants to be there.”

“I don’t know that you can trust yourself” not to harm people, she said.

Leaving court Tuesday, Combs turned tohis family seated in the third rowand touched his hand to his heart, as a pair of U.S. Marshals escorted him out.

source: people.com