Despite new defense filings this week saying he should be released from jail, Sean “Diddy” Combs has suffered a devastating legal setback courtesy of federal prosecutors.
The prosecution sent a blistering 11-page letter to the judge in the case late Thursday, July 31, saying it opposes the music mogul’s $50 million request for bail ahead of his Oct. 3 sentencing on prostitution-related charges.
On July 2, jurors found Combs guilty on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution involving his ex-girlfriends Cassie Ventura and a woman using the pseudonym “Jane Doe.” He was acquitted on three racketeering and sex trafficking counts, but the judge denied him bail.
Related: Diddy’s Former Chef Fears ‘Retaliation’ After ‘Devastating’ Verdict
In their letter on Thursday to Judge Arun Subramanian, prosecutors said Combs poses a “danger” to others and should remain jailed at Brooklyn’s notorious Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC).
“The defendant fails to establish by clear and convincing evidence that he is not a danger to the community,” the letter stated, adding that Combs has shown a “disregard for the rule of law” and the mogul is a “flight risk.”
Even worse for the Bad Boy Records founder, prosecutors said they now think he should get a “substantially higher” sentence than the four to five years they previously suggested for his conviction.
Prosecutors also said the argument that MDC is too much of a hellhole for the wealthy mogul won’t fly, insisting the jail has undergone improvements.
“Staffing at the MDC has increased dramatically: the correctional services department at the MDC is staffed at 94.2%, compared to 55% in January 2024… Medical staffing has also increased, with the health department currently being staffed at 84.6%, as compared to 69% in January 2024,” the letter read.
The prosecution filing comes after the defense on July 30, filed a motion in Manhattan federal court asking Judge Subramanian to “either grant a judgment of acquittal or, at a minimum, a new trial.”
In that filing obtained by Urban Hollywood 411, the music mogul’s attorneys said the government “has painted him as a monster,” since he was arrested in September 2024.
“For months, prosecutors accused him of running a 20-year racketeering enterprise and of sex trafficking multiple women. But his 2-month trial showed these charges were not supported by credible evidence, and the jury rejected them,” the filing stated.
The filing said Combs is “the only person” ever convicted of violating the federal Mann Act sex trafficking law, who did not make money off of prostitution.
“Sean Combs sits in jail based on evidence that he paid adult male escorts and entertainers who engaged in consensual sexual activities with his former girlfriends, which he videotaped and later watched with the girlfriends. That is not prostitution, and if it is, his conviction is unconstitutional,” the defense filing said.
The document argued that he was a John and voyeur, but not a trafficker, and if the court “declines to acquit” Combs, he at least “deserves a new trial.”
On July 29, the mogul’s attorneys filed another motion requesting he be released on $50 million bond ahead of his sentencing. The filing said the bond would be backed by Combs’ Florida estate, along with signatures by “three financially responsible” co-signers, and he would surrender his passport.
The attorneys argued that it is unfair he remains jailed while others “involved in this identical conduct — his girlfriends, the ‘cowboys,’ the agency’s leaders, the porn stars and others — walk free, as they should.”
As the prosecution and defense debate Combs’ future, new reports have surfaced saying President Donald Trump is seriously considering granting the music mogul a pardon.
On July 29, Hollywood trade Deadline.com reported “Trump is heavily weighing giving Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs a full presidential pardon ahead of the convicted Bad Boy Records founder’s sentencing later this year.”
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