Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs arrest live updates: Rapper pleads not guilty to sex trafficking and racketeering

Marc Agnifilo, the lawyer for Combs, said on Tuesday afternoon that his client was “innocent” and planned to “fight” the charges until the very end.

“Mr. Combs is a fighter, he’s going to fight this to the end. He’s innocent,” Agnifilo said outside of the courthouse after a long day of preliminary hearings.

Agnifilo said his client was “not afraid of the charges” and had voluntarily come to New York ahead of the arrest to cooperate with authorities.

“He’s been looking forward to this day, he’s been looking forward to clearing his name,” Agnifilo said.

The lawyers added that Combs plans to appeal the judge’s decision to order him to jail.

Sean “Diddy” Combs will jailed until his sex trafficking trial, a judge in New York City ruled on Tuesday afternoon following Combs’ arraignment.

Magistrate Judge Robyn Tarnofsky found that Combs’ defense team did not provide a convincing enough argument to allow Combs to remain on house arrest until his trial.

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams urged the judge to jail Combs, claiming he was a danger to others, a flight risk and posed a threat to obstruction of justice.

Combs’ attorneys refuted that, offering $50 million in bond and assuring he would hand over his passport. But the judge was unconvinced.

“I don’t know that you can trust yourself. I don’t think that counsel has the ability to control you based on substance abuse and what seems like anger issues,” Judge Tarnofsky said.

Federal prosecutors described some of the violent acts that Combs and his associates used to intimidate victims, including an instance where they kidnapped an individual and set fire to their car.

Prosecutors said in their detainment request that in December 2011, Combs and a co-conspirator kidnapped an individual at gunpoint in order to facilitate breaking into the residence of “individual-1”.

Two weeks later, Combs and the co-conspirator allegedly set fire to “individual-1’s” vehicle by “slicing open the car’s convertible top and dropping a Molotov cocktail inside”. Federal prosecutors say police reports extensively document the arson and concluded that the fire was intentionally set.

Witnesses also testified to a grand jury that Combs bragged about his role in destroying the car.

Combs relied on those close to him to help orchestrate and maintain a decades-long pattern of sexual abuse, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York said.

“He used his business and employees of that business and other close associates to get his way,” Damian Williams said on Tuesday during a press conference.

That included “high-ranking supervisors, personal assistants, security staff and household staff.”

Sean “Diddy” Combs pleaded not guilty to all three federal criminal charges on Tuesday afternoon.

When victims refused to comply with Combs’ requests for them to participate in “Freak Outs” or attempted to flee, he became violent, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York said on Tuesday.

Attorney Damian Williams described how Combs would kick, hit, throw items at and sometimes drag victims by their hair when he “didn’t get his way.”

Some of the injuries that victims sustained took days or weeks to heal.

Combs is charged with three federal crimes.

- One count of racketeering conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison.

- One count of sex trafficking by force, fraud, or coercion, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison and a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison

- One count of transportation for purposes of prostitution, which carries a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison.

Attorneys for music mogul Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs have proposed to a federal judge a $50 million bond package for his release after being charged with three federal crimes.

Combs proposed the multi-million dollar bond, secured by his equity in his Miami residence and his mother’s home in Miami.

Additionally, it would be co-signed by his three adult sons, Quincy Brown, Justin Combs and Christian Combs; his mother Janice Combs; sister Keisha Combs; and the mother of his eldest daughter, Sarah Chapman.

Combs’ attorney said his passport has been surrendered since April 1, 2024, as well as the passports of his mother and four daughters. They said he has agreed to a home detention with GPS monitoring.

The U.S. Attorney is asking the judge to detain Diddy until his trial begins, claiming he is dangerous and poses a flight risk.

According to the indictment, Combs did not act alone in allegedly coercing female victims into participating in “Freak Outs” and concealing physical, sexual and emotional abuse from the world. However, he is the only one charged.

But others could be charged and may currently be under investigation, U.S. attorney Damian Williams said on Tuesday.

“We are not done,” Williams said telling reporters the investigation remains ongoing.

This means Combs could also be charged with other crimes in a superseding indictment should prosecutors find more evidence of wrongdoing.