Sean “Diddy” Combs, the music mogul, has been ordered to remain in jail pending trial on federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges.
US Magistrate Judge Robyn Tarnofsky denied bail on Tuesday after Combs pleaded not guilty to the charges.
According to a 14-page federal indictment, Combs allegedly used his business empire to coerce and manipulate women into engaging in sex acts to satisfy his desires and protect his public image.
The judge ruled that Combs posed a flight risk and a danger to the community.
Federal prosecutors, in the indictment, charged Diddy with sex trafficking by force, transportation to engage in prostitution, and racketeering conspiracy.
They alleged the rapper, with help from Combs Enterprise associates, ran an “enterprise that he engaged in sex trafficking, forced labor or, kidnapping, arson and other crimes”.
Combs was said to have “abused, threatened, and coerced women and others around him to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct” from 2008 to now.
Of the three charges against the rapper, two carry a maximum sentence of life in prison. Prosecutors had asked that he remain jailed until trial.
His lawyers, however, prayed that he be released on a $50 million bond to home detention with electronic monitoring.
Tarnofsky kicked against the bail request. The 54-year-old rapper was thereafter taken out of court without handcuffs.
Diddy is the highest-profile musician to face sexual misconduct charges since Robert Sylvester Kelly, the R&B singer popularly known as R. Kelly.
Kelly was sentenced in 2022 to more than 30 years in prison for sexually abusing fans, some of them children, racketeering, and sex trafficking.
