Sean “Diddy” Combs has appealed a Manhattan judge’s no-bail ruling, arguing he should be freed from jail ahead of his sex trafficking trial because the prosecutors’ push to keep him behind bars is “based on speculation.”
The disgraced hip hop mogul’s lawyers filed the brief with the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Tuesday as the Bad Boys Records founder has languished in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention since he was arrested last month on bombshell federal charges.
The Manhattan US Attorney’s office successfully argued to a judge that Combs, 54, was a “serial abuser and serial obstructer” who could intimidate witnesses or even flee before his trial.
But defense lawyer Alexandra Shapiro claimed the “government’s arguments about the risk of obstruction were based on speculation, resting mainly on untested allegations about communications with witnesses in civil cases and communications initiated by supposed witnesses and not Mr. Combs.”
“The sensationalism surrounding his arrest has distorted the bail analysis: Mr. Combs was not released pending trial, even though he offered to comply with restrictive conditions that would have prevented any conceivable risk of flight or danger,” Shapiro also wrote in Tuesday’s legal brief.
Combs’ camp failed to persuade a judge last month that home detention, electronic monitoring and other conditions on $50 million bail were enough to keep Combs out of the dingy jail.
“He traveled to New York to surrender because he knew he was going to be indicted,” his legal team wrote. “He took extraordinary steps to demonstrate that he intended to face and contest the charges, not flee.”
“He presented a bail package that would plainly stop him from posing a danger to anyone or contacting any witnesses.”
Combs pleaded not guilty to charges of racketeering and sex trafficking. He’s strongly denied any wrongdoing.
The global celebrity is accused of crafting disturbing orgies he dubbed “Freak Offs,” in which women would be drawn into his orbit, given drugs and forced into marathon sex sessions with male prostitutes, the feds said.
