Rap mogul and alleged sex trafficker Sean “Diddy” Combs has signaled his plan to fight court decisions to keep him behind bars before his trial.
Combs’ lawyers filed a two-page notice of appeal to the 2nd Circuit federal appeals court late Monday following his Sept. 16 arrest and failed efforts to remain out of jail on a $50 million bond and under electronic monitoring. He’s currently incarcerated at Brooklyn’s scandal-plagued Metropolitan Detention Center.
The 54-year-old founder of Bad Boy Records has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking, racketeering, and transportation to engage in prostitution and faces multiple lawsuits containing allegations he sexually abused and assaulted women.
After a magistrate court judge denied Combs’ initial request for bond, Manhattan Federal Judge Andrew Carter sided with prosecutors on Sept. 18 in denying his second ask, finding he posed a flight risk and danger to the community.
Carter also acknowledged the worries of witnesses who have “universally expressed their extensive fear” of Combs and said, “His influence makes it difficult to share their experiences and trust the government to protect them.”
Combs was this week taken off suicide watch and has received visits by several relatives, with his children “briefly” speaking with him in jail, according to People magazine.
The disgraced rapper is being held at the same facility as convicted crypto conman Sam Bankman-Fried and former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, The News previously reported.
Lawyers for Combs, including two new members of his beefed-up defense team who filed the notice of appeal, Anthony Ricco and Alexandra Shapiro, did not immediately respond to requests seeking comment.