The music mogul Sean Combs will remain in custody until the start of his trial, which was set for May 5 on Thursday afternoon.
Combs, founder of Bad Boy Records, the Sean John apparel label and other businesses, is being held in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. Thursday’s court appearance before Justice Arun Subramanian, who is now overseeing the case, was Combs’ first. His mother Janice and six of his seven children were reportedly in the courtroom.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Johnson challenged the defense’s claims in a legal submission that was filed Wednesday night that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security was allegedly responsible for leaking a surveillance video of Combs kicking his former girlfriend Cassie Ventura, a model and aspiring musician, in a hotel in 2016, according to the Associated Press.
The judge told Combs’ attorney Marc Agnifilo “to write a proposed order that he would sign instructing lawyers on both sides to comply with rules prohibiting the sharing of information publicly that could taint a jury,” according to the AP. In addition, Subramanian said he would issue an order restricting what both sides can say publicly about the charges or the investigation.
After being arrested on Sept. 16 and charged with multiple crimes including racketeering, conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution, the 54-year-old Combs pleaded not guilty. Between 2008 and the present, Combs allegedly “abused, threatened, and coerced women and others, and led a racketeering conspiracy that engaged in sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and obstruction of justice, among other crimes,” according to the federal indictment that was issued by the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams.
Ventura’s attorney Douglas Wigdor and representatives at his law firm Wigdor LLC declined to comment Thursday about the judge’s decision to continue to detain Combs or about claims that the hotel surveillance video of Ventura and Combs had been leaked.
A media request to Combs’ attorney Agnifilio of the New York City-based law firm Magnifilio Intrater was not acknowledged.
The indictment described the Combs Enterprise as a global business in media, entertainment and lifestyle industries that includes record labels, a recording studio, an apparel line, an alcoholic spirits business, a marketing agency, a television network and a media company. There are allegations of “unlawful activities” by staffers who were preserving, protecting, promoting and enhancing the power of Combs Enterprise, including its leader, “through violence, the use of firearms, coercion and verbal, emotional, physical and sexual abuse.”
Combs’ legal problems, as well as other allegations of abuse that have been made verbally, but not yet legally, continue to be chronicled by the international media and social media. The high level of interest has led to a special edition of the ABC News’ program “20/20” that was titled “The Secret Life of Diddy,” which debuted Wednesday. Executive producer Muriel Pearson and her team looked into the allegations against Combs which included an interview with Tiffany Red, a Grammy-winning producer and singer who is a friend of Ventura. In addition, The Daily Mail has debuted a podcast called “The Trial of Diddy.”
Earlier this week in a media interview, Ariel Mitchell-Kidd, an attorney for an unnamed accuser whom she said was allegedly raped by Combs, claimed that he threatened the victim with a knife and used a liquid substance beforehand. Mitchell-Kidd claimed oils can be used to administer the drug “GHB” during alleged sexual assaults. A media request to Mitchell-Kidd was not acknowledged Thursday afternoon.
Separately, the Houston-based attorney Tony Buzbee has spoken publicly about working with more than 100 alleged victims of Combs, who he claimed plan to be part of a class action suit against the former music mogul. A media request inquiring when the class action suit is expected to be filed was acknowledged Thursday by a representative at the Buzbee Law Firm who said that it had been received and forwarded to Buzbee. He had not responded early Thursday evening.
