A decision on whether Sean “Diddy” Combs’ will be released on bail was pushed back to next week by the judge overseeing his sex-trafficking case.
During a hearing Friday in Manhattan federal court, US District Judge Aran Subramanian asked Combs’ attorneys and prosecutors to file paperwork by Monday outlining specific terms of his release.
Combs, who appeared thin, waved and blew kisses to his mother and children seated in the second row of the gallery.
Prosecutor Christy Slavik argued in the hearing that it would be dangerous to grant the music mogul’s request.
“He is paying his way out of custody and continues to flout the rules, he is a risk of flight, a danger to the community, he’s obstructing and trying to subvert the integrity of these proceedings,” Slavik said.
Defense attorney Marc Agnifilo said that if Combs were released, he would stay in a three-bedroom apartment on Manhattan’s Upper East Side. He would be guarded by Patriot Security, a private company, and would be allowed to call only his attorneys. Only counsel and family members could visit.
Subramanian said he was concerned about family or security, paid for by Combs, reaching out to victims or witnesses on his behalf and wanted more clarification on how Combs would communicate and what means of communications he would be allowed to use.
Combs, 55, who is being held at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center as he awaits his trial scheduled for May 5, has pleaded not guilty. He is charged with racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.
Agnifilo argued in court that his client should be released on bail because other high-profile defendants with similar charges, like former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mark Jeffrieswho was charged last month by New York prosecutors with sex trafficking, have been granted it.
But prosecutors argue that Combs has been witness tampering from behind bars.
In a recent filing, prosecutors said Combs has continued to try to “evade law enforcement monitoring, corruptly influence testimony, and further attack the integrity of these proceedings.”
Combs’ bail hearing comes two days after Subramanian ordered prosecutors to get rid of 19 pages of notes taken from his jail cell in a recent sweep because it was protected under attorney-client privilege.
Scrutiny of Combs began last year when his former romantic partner Casandra Ventura, known as Cassie, filed a lawsuit alleging Combs raped and beat her in fits of “uncontrollable rage” and exerted a “tight hold over her life.”
The suit also alleged that he forced her to engage in sexual acts he called “freak offs” with other men while he watched. The other men were often sex workers whom he’d pay to travel with them, the suit said.
Ventura settled with Combs a day after the lawsuit became public, and Combs denied all the allegations. But surveillance video surfaced that showed Combs beating Cassie in a hotel hallway in 2016.
Alicia Victoria Lozano contributed.