Diddy’s Prosecutors Cite Alleged ‘Witness Tampering,’ ‘Threatening’ Staff as Reasons to Deny Bail
Prosecutors in the ongoing case against Sean “Diddy” Combs are citing his alleged “witness tampering” behind bars, “threatening” and punching his personal staff and more among the reasons to deny him bail.
In court documents obtained Tuesday, November 25 by Us Weekly, U.S. Attorney Damian Williams and his legal team responded to Diddy’s latest request to be released on $50 million bail as he awaits trial on sex trafficking and racketeering charges.
“A holistic view of his obstructive and violent conduct — conduct that is still happening presently — makes clear that there is no way to rebut the applicable presumption of detention in this case,” the attorneys argued in a letter sent to the U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian, who’s expected to make a bail decision in the coming days.
They continued: “The bail package presented by the defendant does not come close to ensuring the safety of the community, including from the defendant’s ongoing efforts to obstruct this case, nor does it adequately protect from risk of flight. For all of these reasons, the defendant’s renewed application for bail must be denied.”
The prosecution stated that Diddy’s “obstructive acts” have demonstrated “a persistent, brazen effort to improperly interfere with this criminal case.” They cited examples of his alleged misconduct, including the use of “multiple unauthorized means of communications” while in pre-trial detention at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center, known as the MDC. Diddy allegedly used another inmate’s ContactMeASAP account to communicate with a family member as recently as Monday, November 24.
“While at the MDC, the defendant has instructed family members and third parties to contact multiple potential victims and witnesses,” the prosecutors claimed, noting that the latter group includes “former romantic partners and former employees, most of whom have experienced or witnessed the defendant perpetrate significant violence.”
They alleged that Diddy, 55, often used “coded language” in his illicit messages, and had “orchestrated a social media campaign around his birthday [on November 4] for the express purpose of influencing the jury in this criminal case. In the multiple calls leading up to the birthday post — all of which occurred on unauthorized communication channels — the defendant meticulously planned out the post. The video, depicting six of the defendant’s children singing him happy birthday while speaking to the defendant by phone, was initially posted to the defendant’s children’s pages, but the defendant was not satisfied that it would reach the correct demographic.”
According to prosecutors, Diddy “told a family member that he had been tracking the ‘analytics’” and instructed a family member to instead post the video on his personal account “for the explicit reason that he wanted to better taint the jury pool.”
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They argued that Diddy’s “intent could not be clearer: he expressly wanted to interfere with the jury pool in this case through a targeted, public, social media post and he caused his family members to make the post,” therefore violating a court rule barring a defendant from issuing statements “regarding his ‘character or reputation.’”
The prosecution also cited Diddy’s alleged reaction after a victim filed a civil lawsuit against him in 2023, claiming that their “participation in Freak Offs was not consensual.” Afterward Diddy allegedly “made multiple efforts to interfere with victims and witnesses by feeding those individuals false narratives regarding [his] criminal conduct.” The prosecutors claimed that he used “former and current ‘security’ staff” to harass an ex-employee who had witnessed him abusing the victim. Meanwhile, Diddy had allegedly recorded two phone calls with a different victim in an attempt to “feed [the victim] a false narrative regarding [their] involvement in Freak Offs — namely that they were consensual.”
As another example of obstruction, the prosecutors stated that Diddy “has evidently deleted messages between himself and key witnesses” including “a male commercial sex worker who participated in Freak Offs, and received a grand jury subpoena during the investigation” of Diddy.
They also alleged that Diddy’s pattern of dangerous behavior should bar him from being released from jail.
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“Over the years, the defendant’s physical and sexual abuse has taken many forms, often in the context of long-term romantic relationships,” the letter claimed. “Throughout, there was a common theme: the defendant repeatedly and consistently forced and coerced women to satisfy his sexual desires. Often behind closed doors, the defendant engaged in acts of violence against women, including throwing them to the ground, dragging them by their hair, kicking, shoving, punching, and slapping them.”
The prosecutors stated of Diddy: “He manipulated, coerced, and extorted women, including by plying them with drugs, threatening to withhold financial support, and threatening to disseminate sex tapes that the defendant had made of their sexual encounters. He [intimidated] women, including by displaying firearms, threatening them, showing up at their homes unannounced, and attempting to beat down the door—on one occasion with a hammer.”
They continued, “Beyond his romantic partners, the defendant also physically abused his personal staff. Former staff members have described the defendant threatening to kill them, throwing objects at them, and being struck, punched, and shoved by the defendant, and seeing him do the same to others.”
Diddy’s defense team also issued Judge Subramanian a letter on Monday, arguing that “the nonstop drumbeat of negative publicity has destroyed his reputation and will make it virtually impossible for him to receive a fair trial. Mr. Combs is not required to sit idly by and acquiesce to all of this. He has a right to a fair trial and a constitutional right to speak out on his own behalf. The government’s arguments that asking his children to post birthday wishes on Instagram and that he is not entitled to publicly express his opinion that this prosecution is racially motivated are, quite simply, an unconstitutional effort to silence him.”
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In response, prosecutors claimed that Diddy’s efforts to interfere with his trial are not protected by the First Amendment.
Us has reached out to Diddy’s team for comment.
Us was in a New York City courtroom on Friday, November 22, when prosecutors alleged that a 2016 video showing Diddy assaulting ex-girlfriend Cassie (real name Casandra Ventura) exposed him as a violent abuser who is a danger to society. One day before the hearing, Diddy’s attorneys argued that prosecutors were using a “manipulated version” of the video, which first aired on CNN.
The prosecution, meanwhile, argued in court that there is no dispute as to what actually happened in the footage. They also pointed to Diddy acknowledging the video publicly on Instagram in May.
“It’s so difficult to reflect on the darkest times in your life,” he said via an Instagram video without naming Cassie, 38. “Sometimes you gotta do that. I was f—ed up. I mean I hit rock bottom but I make no excuses. My behavior on that video is inexcusable. I take full responsibility for my actions in that video.”
Diddy was arrested and charged on counts of sex trafficking, racketeering conspiracy and transportation to engage in prostitution in September. He pleaded not guilty and has denied the charges. His trial is set to begin in May 2025. After being denied bail three times, his legal team proposed a $50 million bail package earlier this month.
With reporting by Molly McGuigan
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
If you or someone you know is a human trafficking victim, contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline at 1-888-373-7888.
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