Federal prosecutors have accused Sean “Diddy” Combs of breaking jail rules in an attempt to manipulate witness testimony and taint the potential jury pool in his case, according to a court document filed Friday.
Combs, 55, is currently in custody in Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center as he faces charges of racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. The music mogul entered a not guilty plea and has been denied bail in the case.
His legal team is fighting the decision to keep Combs in federal custody and has requested a new bail hearing. Prosecutors filed an opposition to the motion in the Southern District of New York, accusing Combs of engaging in obstruction even while he sits behind bars.
Combs has allegedly “continued to try to evade law enforcement monitoring, corruptly influence witness testimony, and further attack the integrity of these proceedings,” the filing said.
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According to prosecutors, Combs has ordered payments to fellow inmates to use their telephone accounts and has used three-way calling to contact people who are not on his approved contacts list against federal prison regulations.
A review of recorded calls also found that Combs instructed his family to contact potential victims and witnesses in his case, as well as promote narratives on social media to influence a potential jury pool in his upcoming May trial, the motion said.
“At the defendant’s carefully curated direction, the defendant’s children posted a video to their respective social media accounts showing the defendant’s children gathered to celebrate the defendant’s birthday,” the filing said.
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NBC News previously reported, along with numerous other outlets, that Combs’ children posted a video of themselves singing happy birthday to their father while on the phone.
Combs then monitored the analytics of the post’s engagement “and explicitly discussed with his family how to ensure that the video had his desired effect on potential jury members,” the filing said.
Some details in the prosecution’s filings were redacted, including excerpts of phone calls apparently made by Diddy and his “adult son” that the prosecution say showed “the clear inference that the defendant’s goal is to blackmail victims and witnesses either into silence or providing testimony helpful to his defense.”
Prosecutors wrote that there is “no condition” that could be set to assure Combs is not a flight risk or a threat to the safety of others.
“The defendant’s emphasis on 24/7 private security is also problematic,” the motion said. “The defendant has demonstrated an uncanny ability to get others to do his bidding — employees, family members, and MDC inmates alike.”
Representatives for Combs did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the prosecution’s filing to deny their client a new bail hearing.
Scrutiny around Combs first began last year when his former romantic partner Casandra Ventura, known as Cassie, filed a lawsuit that alleged Combs raped and beat her in fits of “uncontrollable rage” and exerted a “tight hold over her life.”
The suit also alleged that he forced her to engage in sexual acts he called “freak offs” with other men while he watched. The other men were often sex workers whom he’d pay to travel with them, the suit said.
Ventura settled with Combs a day after the lawsuit became public, and Combs denied all of the allegations in it. And although Combs issued a blanket denial of the allegations, surveillance video surfaced that showed Combs beating Cassie in a hotel hallway in 2016, similar to an incident that Cassie had described in her lawsuit.
Combs posted on Instagram a since-removed video apology for the assault, saying he took “full responsibility” for his actions and describing it as one of the “darkest times” of his life.
But since Ventura went public with her accusations against Combs, the music producer and entrepreneur has been hit with a wave of civil lawsuits accusing him of sexually abusing dozens of others. Combs has denied all of the allegations against him.
Combs was indicted in September, months after his properties were searched by Homeland Security Investigations agents in California, New York and Florida. The indictment alleged that Combs and his associates often lured women into his orbit “under the pretense of a romantic relationship.”
Once the women were in his world, Combs then used force, threats and coercion, including drugs to keep them “obedient and compliant” to push their participation in freak offs, the indictment said.
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