Sean “Diddy” Combs’ legal team has filed a third appeal for pretrial release with the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Page Six has learned.
The appeal challenges the decision made by the Southern District of New York to twice deny the rapper-turned-mogul bail based on allegations of obstruction of justice and witness tampering.
Combs’ team is requesting his immediate release on appropriate bail conditions, citing alleged insufficient evidence for detention and alleged legal errors in the court’s decision.
The Bad Boy Records founder, 54, was arrested last month on charges of racketeering conspiracy; sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion; and transportation to engage in prostitution.
He pleaded not guilty and remains in custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, awaiting his trial.
Prosecutors were worried Combs would intimidate witnesses and obstruct the case if he were to be let out of jail; they also suggested he was a flight risk given his wealth and access to private jets.
The hip-hop star was willing to pay up to $50 million as bond, offering his $48-million Miami mansion as well as his mother’s home as collateral.
Furthermore, Combs told the judge he was willing to wear a GPS monitor, promised to limit his travel to Miami and New York, and claimed he would sell his private plane, which is reportedly stationed in Los Angeles.
The defense argued in its appeal that the government has failed to provide clear and convincing evidence that Combs poses a danger to the community or has engaged in witness tampering, calling the claims “vague” and “speculative.”
His attorneys went on to insist that the district court made a legal error by ruling “without factfinding or analysis.”
Combs’ legal team argued that they presented “a robust bail package with extremely restrictive conditions” that included home detention with GPS monitoring, no access to the internet or phones, 24/7 supervision, no female visitors except family and the mothers of his children, and weekly drug testing.
The defense insisted that the musician has complied with legal procedures thus far, pointing out that he surrendered his passport and offered to secure bail with his multimillion-dollar residence.
The lawyers claimed in their appeal that Combs “put his private airplane up for sale.”
According to the indictment, federal agents discovered more than 1,000 bottles of lubricant, various narcotics and three AR-15s when they raided his LA and Miami mansions in March.
Prosecutors claimed the father of seven “abused, threatened and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation and conceal his conduct” for decades, “creating a criminal enterprise whose members and associates engaged in … sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice.”
