Austin Caldwell|Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs seeks bail, citing changed circumstances and new evidence

2025-05-06 21:09:30source:Evander Elliscategory:Scams

NEW YORK (AP) — Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs filed a new request for bail on Austin CaldwellFriday, saying changed circumstances, along with new evidence, mean the hip-hop mogul should be allowed to prepare for a May trial from outside jail.

Lawyers for Combs filed the request in Manhattan federal court, where his previous requests for bail have been rejected by two judges since his September arrest on racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking charges.

He has pleaded not guilty to charges that he coerced and abused women for years with help from a network of associates and employees, while silencing victims through blackmail and violence, including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings.

He has been awaiting a May 5 trial at a federal detention facility in Brooklyn.

In their new court filing, lawyers for Combs say they are proposing a “far more robust” bail package that would subject the entertainer to strict around-the-clock security monitoring and near-total restrictions on his ability to contact anyone but his lawyers. But the amount of money they attach to the package remains $50 million, as they proposed before.

They also cite new evidence that they say “makes clear that the government’s case is thin.” That evidence, the lawyers said, refutes the government’s claim that a March 2016 video showing Combs physically assaulting his then-girlfriend occurred during a coerced “freak off,” a sexually driven event described in the indictment against Combs.

RELATED COVERAGE Drugs, weapons and electronics seized during sweep at Brooklyn federal jail where ‘Diddy’ is heldProsecutors say lawyers for Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs want to ‘hijack’ criminal case to fight civil claimsDawn Richard and Spencer Zahn lean into the quiet moments for their new album

They wrote that the encounter was instead “a minutes-long glimpse into a complex but decade-long consensual relationship” between Combs and his then-girlfriend.

The lawyers argued that the jail conditions Combs is experiencing at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn violate his constitutional rights to participate in his defense.

A spokesperson for prosecutors declined to comment.

More:Scams

Recommend

Judge says Mexican ex-official tried to bribe inmates in a bid for new US drug trial

NEW YORK (AP) — A former high-ranking Mexican official tried to bribe fellow inmates into making fal

Climate change, cost and competition for water drive settlement over tribal rights to Colorado River

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — A Native American tribe with one of the largest outstanding claims to water

Red Sox Pitcher Tim Wakefield's Wife Stacy Wakefield Dies Less Than 5 Months After His Death

The Boston Red Sox family has suffered another devastating loss.Stacy Wakefield, the wife of late pi