Awaiting his sentencing fate after being found guilty on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, Sean “Diddy” Combs will not walk free today.
In a shocking move by Judge Arun Subramanian mere hours after a New York jury handed federal prosecutors a walloping defeat, the Bad Boy Records founder has been denied bond. Having failed repeatedly to secure a $50 million bail since being taken into custody by NYPD and federal agents in September, the “All About the Benjamins” performer has been in custody at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center the past nine months.
“Prior to trial the court denied bail, and I see no reason to reverse that now,” said Judge Subramanian. During the hearing, the judge again and again came back to the violence that Combs exhibited.
The two Mann Act counts under the engaging in prostitution charge carry a decade behind bars maximum sentence each. However, as a non-violent offender, Combs will likely not get more than a couple of years – if that. Coming off a rocky few days that looked late July 1 like it could veer into a mistrial or partial verdict, the eight men and four women jury earlier Wednesday found Combs not guilty of the poignant sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy charges.
In the lead-up to this afternoon’s bond decision, the federal judge had asked both the U.S. Attorney’s office of the Southern District of New York and the 10-lawyer-deep defense to submit arguments on why or, in the opinion of the feds, why not Combs should be released pending sentencing.
Declaring the “continued detention of Mr. Combs is inappropriate,” the defense Wednesday in correspondence to the judge (read it here) put forth the “following bail package”:
a. A $1,000,000 bond;
b. Co-signed by Sean Combs, his mother, his sister, and the mother of his oldest daughter;
c. Mr. Combs’s travel will be restricted to the Southern District of Florida, Central District of
California and the Southern District of New York (to attend Court and meet with his counsel) as well as the Eastern District of New York or the District of New Jersey (only to the extent that his travel to and from New York involves an airport in those Districts);d. Mr. Combs’s passport surrendered to Pretrial Services;
e. Drug testing as ordered by Pretrial Services.
f. All other standard conditions of pretrial supervision.
In an eight-page letter to the court today (read it here), the prosecution recommended strongly that Combs be denied bail.
The feds also recommended Combs be given at least “51 to 63 months imprisonment” under the current federal sentencing guidelines. Of course, with old Diddy pal Donald Trump teasing a potential pardon, that could all become moot if the right person gets in the former Celebrity Apprentice host’s ear at the right time.
After a very quickly settled ($20 million) abuse and assault suit from former girlfriend Cassie Ventura last November, months and months of extreme misconduct allegations, raids by Homeland Security, and a flood of ongoing civil suits, Combs was arrested on September at a NYC hotel. No stranger to the law over the years, the Grammy winner faced charges of racketeering, sex trafficking, transportation to engage in prostitution and more. Charges that could have led to life behind bars for Combs if found guilty — especially on the RICO claims.
Staying on brand, longtime Diddy rival Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson trolled the defendant earlier Wednesday as the verdicts were announced:
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