On Monday, a federal judge denied Sean Combs' request to be released on bail pending his sentencing hearing scheduled for Oct. 3. Last month, the hip-hop tycoon was convicted on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, which each carry a maximum sentence of 10 years. He was acquitted on the more serious charges of sex trafficking and racketeering conspiracy.
Combs has been denied bail multiple times, both before the trial and after the verdict. On July 29, Combs' defense attorneys filed a motion for his release on new conditions, including a $50 million bond secured by his Miami residence, where he would reside until the hearing, and turning over his passport to the U.S. Pretrial Services Agency. In the request, Combs' attorneys argued their client does not pose a danger to the safety of others and there was no legal precedent for keeping Combs in custody solely on the prostitution convictions, otherwise known as the Mann Act.
"Combs and two of his long-time girlfriends had a private, intimate life that is not uncommon today," the defense letter reads. "It may not have been common on June 25, 1910, when the Mann Act, or as it was originally called, the White-Slave Traffic Act, was passed. But attitudes about sex and morality have come a long way in the last 115 years."
In his response, Judge Arun Subramanian stated that Combs' circumstances had not changed since he was last denied bail following the verdict. During the trial, prosecutors presented evidence of Combs' physical assaulting his ex-girlfriends — including a hotel security footage that showed Combs hitting, kicking and dragging the singer Cassie Ventura — and Combs' defense team conceded that their client had committed domestic violence. For this reason, Judge Subramanian wrote, Combs did not meet the conditions for release.
"Combs's Mann Act 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," Judge Arun Subramanian wrote.
The judge stated that Combs also presented a flight risk. He addressed the mogul's concerns about conditions within the Metropolitan Detention Center, the jail where he is being held in Brooklyn, but ruled it was not sufficient reason for release.
"As Combs acknowledges, MDC staff has been able to keep him safe and attend to his needs, even during an incident of threatened violence from an inmate," Judge Subramanian wrote.
Combs' defense attorneys have also filed a motion for acquittal or retrial on the Mann Act charges; Judge Subramanian has not yet responded to the request.
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