By JENNIFER PELTZ Associated Press
NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs can’t go home from jail to await sentencing on his prostitution-related conviction, a judge said Monday, denying the rap and style mogul’s latest bid for bail.
Combs has been behind bars since his September arrest. He faced federal charges of coercing girlfriends into having drug-fueled sex marathons with male sex workers while he watched and filmed them.
He was acquitted last month of the top charges — racketeering and sex trafficking — while being convicted of two counts of a prostitution-related offense.
In denying Combs’ $50 million bond proposal, Judge Arun Subramanian said the hip hop impresario hadn’t proven that he did not pose a flight risk or danger, nor shown an “exceptional circumstance” that would justify his release after a conviction that otherwise requires detention.
Combs’ arguments “might have traction in a case that didn’t involve evidence of violence, coercion or subjugation in connection with the acts of prostitution at issue, but the record here contains evidence of all three,” the judge wrote.
Prosecutors declined to comment on the ruling. Messages seeking comment were sent to Combs’ lawyers.
The conviction carries the potential for up to 10 years in prison. But there are complicated federal guidelines for calculating sentences in any given case, and prosecutors and Combs’ lawyers disagree substantially on how the guidelines come out for his case.
The guidelines aren’t mandatory, and Subramanian will have wide latitude in deciding Combs’ punishment.
The Bad Boy Records founder, now 55, was for decades a protean figure in pop culture. A Grammy-winning hip hop artist and entrepreneur with a flair for finding and launching big talents, he presided over a business empire that ranged from fashion to reality TV.
Prosecutors claimed he used his fame, wealth and violence to force and manipulate two now-ex-girlfriends into days-long, drugged-up sexual performances he called “freak-offs” or “hotel nights.”
During the trial, four women testified that Combs had beaten or sexually assaulted them. Jurors also watched video of Combs hurling one of his former girlfriends, R&B singer Cassie, to the floor, repeatedly kicking her and then and dragging her down a hotel hallway.
His lawyers argued that the government tried to criminalize consensual, if unconventional, sexual tastes that played out in complicated relationships. The defense acknowledged that Combs had violent outbursts but said nothing he did came amounted to the crimes with which he was charged.
Since the verdict, his lawyers have repeatedly renewed their efforts to get him out on bail until his sentencing, set for October. They have argued that the acquittals undercut the rationale for holding him, and they have pointed to other people who were released before sentencing on similar convictions.
Defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo suggested in a court filing that Combs was the United States’ “only person in jail for hiring adult male escorts for him and his girlfriend.”
Agnifilo also raised concerns about squalor and danger at the Metropolitan Detention Center, the notorious federal lockup where Combs is being held. The judge wrote Monday that those conditions were a “serious” consideration, but he said Combs hadn’t shown that unique circumstances –- such as advanced age or medical issues –- would warrant his release.
The defense’s most recent proposal included the $50 million bond, plus travel restrictions, and expressed openness to adding on house arrest at his Miami home, electronic monitoring, private security guards and other requirements.
Prosecutors opposed releasing Combs. They wrote that his “extensive history of violence — and his continued attempt to minimize his recent violent conduct — demonstrates his dangerousness.”
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Associated Press writer Jake Offenhartz contributed from Los Angeles.