Diddy denied bail on sex trafficking and racketeering charges

He pleaded not guilty to the charges levied against him and would appear in court on Wednesday, September 25, 2024.

After being arrested by law enforcement on Monday, September 16, 2024, American rapper Sean Combs, popularly known as Diddy, has been charged with sex trafficking and racketeering.

During his court appearance, the prosecutors accused the rapper of running a criminal enterprise from at least 2008, which relied on drugs and violence to force women to allegedly “fulfil his sexual desires.”

A 14-page indictment charges him with racketeering, kidnapping, sex trafficking by force, and transportation to engage in prostitution.

According to CNN, Combs will be held by himself at the Special Housing Unit in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, until his next court appearance Wednesday afternoon, according to a law enforcement official.

Diddy’s team of lawyers had filed an offer of $50 million for his bail with the federal court, and according to the documents, Diddy offered his mansion on Miami’s Star Island, worth $48 million, as collateral alongside his mother’s Miami to cover the remaining $2 million. However, the court denied his bid for bond as he was deemed a flight risk.

It is worthy of note that if the rapper is convicted on all three counts, the rapper and record producer could face a sentence of 15 years up to life in prison.

Combs’ arrest in Manhattan follows raids on two of his properties in Los Angeles and Miami in March 2024 as part of the ongoing investigations. During the raids, the feds discovered 1,000 bottles of lubricant and three AR-15s in the hip-hop mogul’s mansions.

The singer also faced a barrage of sexual assault allegations and lawsuits against him, most recently in May 2024 by a fashion student named April Lampros.