Judge says Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs must stay in jail until his October sentencing

Disgraced rapper and music mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs must stay in jail while he waits for his sentencing, a judge said, denying his latest bid for bail.

Combs, 55, has been behind bars since his September arrest. He faced federal charges of coercing girlfriends into having drug-fuelled sex marathons with male sex workers while he watched and filmed them.

He was acquitted last month of the top charges - racketeering and sex trafficking - while being convicted of two counts of a prostitution-related offense.

In denying Combs' $50 million bond proposal, Judge Arun Subramanian said the hip-hop impresario hadn't proven that he did not pose a flight risk or danger, nor shown an “exceptional circumstance” that would justify his release after a conviction that otherwise requires detention. 

Combs’ arguments “might have traction in a case that didn’t involve evidence of violence, coercion or subjugation in connection with the acts of prostitution at issue, but the record here contains evidence of all three,” the judge wrote.

Combs’ conviction carries the potential for up to 10 years in prison. However, there are complicated federal guidelines for calculating sentences in any given case, and prosecutors and Combs’ lawyers disagree on how the guidelines come out for his case.

The guidelines aren’t mandatory, and Subramanian will have wide latitude in deciding Combs’ punishment.

Since the verdict, Combs’ lawyers have repeatedly renewed their efforts to get him out on bail until his sentencing, which is set for October.

They have argued that the acquittals undercut the rationale for holding him, and they have pointed to other people who were released before sentencing on similar convictions.

In a recent interview, Donald Trump called Combs “half-innocent”, but said that it’s “more likely a no” that the rapper would get a presidential pardon.  

“Well, he was essentially, I guess, sort of half-innocent,” Trump told Newsmax host Rob Finnerty, adding: “[He’s] still in jail or something, but he was celebrating a victory. But I guess it wasn’t as good of a victory.” 

When asked whether he would consider pardoning Combs, Trump recalled that he was “very friendly” with the rapper and that he “got along with him great.” 

Indeed, Trump reportedly attended some of Combs’ VIP parties in New York City and once called the rapper “a good friend” during a 2012 episode of The Apprentice. 

However, Trump added: “But when I ran for office, he was very hostile. It’s hard, you know? We’re human beings. And we don’t like to have things cloud our judgment, right? But when you knew someone and you were fine, and then you run for office, and he made some terrible statements. So I don’t know…. it makes it more difficult to do.”