Rap mogul and alleged sex trafficker Sean “Diddy” Combs has signaled his plan to fight court orders to keep him behind bars ahead of his trial.
Combs’ attorneys filed a two-page notice of appeal with the federal 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals late Monday after his arrest on 16 September and failed attempts to remain out of jail on a $50 million bond and under electronic monitoring. He is currently incarcerated in Brooklyn’s scandal-plagued Metropolitan Detention Center.
The 54-year-old founder of Bad Boy Records has pleaded not guilty to sex trafficking, extortion and transportation to engage in prostitution and facing several lawsuits contains allegations that he sexually exploited and abused women.
After a court judge denied Combs’ initial request for bail, Manhattan federal judge Andrew Carter sided with prosecutors on September 18 by denying his second questionand found him to be a flight risk and danger to the community.
Carter also acknowledged the concerns of witnesses who have “universally expressed their widespread fear” of Combs, saying, “His influence makes it difficult to share their experiences and trust the government to protect them.”
Combs was this week taken by the Suicide Squad and has been visited by several relatives, where his children “briefly” spoke to him in prison, according to People journal.
The disgraced rapper is being held at the same facility like convicted crypto fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried and former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, The News previously reported.
Attorneys for Combs, including two new members of his enhanced defense team who filed the appeal, Anthony Ricco and Alexandra Shapiro, did not immediately respond to requests for comment.