Liberal Federal Judge Rejects Puff Daddy's Fourth Request for Pre-Trial Release, Claims Witness Tampering Concerns

From [HERE] A federal judge appointed by President Biden on Wednesday afternoon denied entertainment mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs’ latest motion for release from jail on a $50 million bail package due to “compelling evidence of Combs’ propensity for violence” and a strong risk of witness tampering.

Echoing the rulings of three other judges who also denied Combs’ requests for bail, U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian cited in his five-page opinion a 2016 episode at the InterContinental Hotel in Los Angeles where Combs was captured on surveillance video violently assaulting his then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura in a hotel hallway, in addition to separate evidence “supporting a serious risk of witness tampering.”

Subramanian also noted that even in federal pretrial custody while has bail motions were pending, Combs had violated Bureau of Prisons regulations to obscure his communications with third parties.

Prosecutors had notified the judge that Combs paid other inmates at the Metropolitan Detention Center, Brooklyn to use their Phone Access Code (PAC) numbers to make calls to those not on his approved contact list, instructed family members and defense counsel to add other people to three-way calls so that their communications were more difficult to trace, and used a third-party messaging program called ContactMeASAP.

“His willingness to skirt BOP rules in a way that would make it more difficult for his communications to be monitored is strong evidence that the court cannot be ‘reasonably assure[d]’ as to the sufficiency of any conditions of release, especially given that they occurred when Combs was seeking bail, and when he knew the government’s concerns about witness tampering and obstruction were front and center.”

Combs, also known as Puff Daddy or Diddy, has been in federal pretrial detention since he was arrested in a Manhattan hotel lobby in September, six months after federal investigators searched his luxury homes in Los Angeles and Miami.

He was charged in a three-count indictment, accusing him of racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.

At a bail hearing this past Friday, Combs’ defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo told Subramanian that his legal team had secured a three-bedroom apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. He said Combs could be confined there under “a very, very rigorous set of conditions,” including strict 24/7 monitoring by a private security firm.

His attorneys argued the current conditions of confinement infringe his constitutional rights to participate in his own defense. [MORE]