Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs latest: Rapper sent back to jail as shocking texts after Cassie hotel attack revealed
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs has faced a series of civil lawsuits accusing him of sexual abuse over the last year
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Sean “Diddy” Combs will remain in jail until his federal trial on sex trafficking and racketeering charges, as shocking text messages following his attack on ex-girlfriend Cassie Ventura were revealed in court.
The rapper appeared again in a New York City courthouse to propose a $50 million bail package to avoid the notorious Metropolitan Detention Center.
Diddy’s lawyers told District Court Judge Andrew Carter that he was not a flight risk or dangerous, but the request was denied, with the judge reasoning there is “no condition or set of conditions” that would ensure the safety of the community or that Diddy would not contact witnesses.
The prosecution shared alleged text messages from Diddy to his ex to strengthen the argument that he should remain behind bars until trial.
The court heard Diddy allegedly text Ventura: “Call me, the cops are here. I got six kids. You, please call. I’m surrounded. You gonna abandon me all alone.”
Diddy pleaded not guilty to racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. His lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, insisted his client is “an innocent man with nothing to hide”.
What is Diddy’s net worth?
In 1999 Diddy said in an interview he “wanted to be very, very rich”. He accomplished that, but his millions couldn’t keep him out of jail.
According to Forbes, Diddy’s estimated net worth is approximately $400 million. As the string of shocking allegations have come out against him in the last year, his wealth has dropped. In 2019 his net worth was an estimated $740 million.
His lawyers said he was trying to sell his private jet - dubbed “Combs Air” - which set him back $60 million.
He purchased his sprawling Miami mansion - which he has now switched for the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn - for $14.5 million in 2003. It is now worth upwards of $48 million, his lawyers said.
Legal win in one of Diddy’s sexual assault lawsuits
Diddy and his team can celebrate one legal win amid the drama in New York.
Yesterday a judge in Michigan dismissed a default judgement that required Diddy pay $100 million to a Michigan inmate who is suing him over sexual assault.
Last week Diddy was ordered to pay $10 million a month to accuser Derrick Lee Cardello-Smith, starting in October, after the rapper failed to show up for a civil court hearing.
The judgement was set aside after Diddy’s legal team filed a 83-page motion to vacate it. His attorneys argued Cardello-Smith did not properly serve Diddy in accordance with Michigan law, the LA Times reported.
Cardello Smith, who is serving time for a number of criminal sexual offenses, sued Diddy in June. He alleged the music mogul drugged and sexually assaulted him in 1997 while at a gathering at a Michigan Holiday Inn.
Damning texts Diddy allegedly sent his ex Cassie following brutal assault
Damning text messages Diddy allegedly sent his ex, Cassie Ventura, following the brutal assault in 2016 were revealed in court.
At Wednesday’s hearing, prosecutor Emily Johnson shared alleged messages from Diddy to Ventura in a bid to strengthen her argument that he should remain behind bars until trial.
While Ventura’s name was not mentioned in court, the attack on her was referenced by the date - March 5, 2016 - which was made public by CNN earlier this year.
Diddy allegedly text Ventura: “Call me, the cops are here. I got six kids. You, please call. I’m surrounded. You gonna abandon me all alone.”
She replied: “I have a black eye and a fat lip. You are sick for thinking it’s okay to do what you’ve done. I still have crazy bruising.”
Video shows grim conditions inside prison where Diddy is held
Video gives a glimpse of the grim conditions inside the notorious Metropolitan Center in Brooklyn.
The rapper is being held in the prison on pretrial detention.
The footage, obtained by Spectrum News NY1, shows cockroaches in the cereal and mold growing in the showers.
Watch here.
RECAP: Diddy is a ‘serious flight risk’
On Wednesday, Diddy was refused bail for a second time.
A New York federal judge remanded the rapper into custody after prosecutors argued he was a “serious flight risk”.
Lawyers argued for Diddy to remain under house arrest, but yesterday he was sent back to the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
The bail package his lawyers put forward included: $50 million bond co-signed by the musician’s family members, the surrender of his passport, for him to undergo a weekly drug test, and a visitor log that would be submitted to pretrial services every night.
But Judge Andrew Carter slapped it down.
“My bigger concern deals with the danger of obstruction of justice and the danger of witness tampering,” he said. “That is a real concern that I have here.”
Watch: Jimmy Kimmel brings up how Trump once called Diddy a 'good guy'
‘He’s a good friend’: Jimmy Kimmel brings up Trump’s glowing past comments about Diddy
Jimmy Kimmel has reminded Donald Trump of the glowing comments he previously made about Sean “Diddy” Combs, who was arrested by federal agents in New York on Monday following months of civil lawsuits accusing him of sex trafficking, sexual abuse and rape.
After the judge denied the rapper bail on Tuesday, the Jimmy Kimmel Live host said: “in the meantime, he’s getting his character references lined up.”
Kimmel then played a clip from Trump’s days hosting The Celebrity Apprentice (a spin-off of his original show The Apprentice), showing viewers then-contestant Aubrey O’Day explaining to the business mogul that she was “a very strict and focused businesswoman because working for Diddy for six years trained me to have to be perfect.”
“Working for Diddy?” Trump interjected.
“Absolutely,” O’Day said.
“I love Diddy. You know he’s a good friend of mine, he’s a good guy,” Trump responded. “Is he a good guy?”
O’Day briefly looked to the side before sheepishly replying, “I don’t want to answer that question.”
“Oh well I think he’s a good guy, I’m gonna stick up for him,” the former president said.
“To be fair he also thinks Kim Jong-Un is a good guy,” Kimmel cracked. “Only the best people.”
In depth: The epic fall from grace of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs
More than three decades after Sean Combs named his label Bad Boy Records, he’s been arrested on federal racketeering and sex trafficking charges, accused of everything from arson to kidnapping. As authorities outline the shocking activities allegedly carried out at Combs’ direction by his “criminal enterprise,” Sheila Flynn charts the star’s epic fall from grace
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs and the rise of his ‘criminal enterprise’
More than three decades after Sean Combs named his label Bad Boy Records, he’s been arrested on federal racketeering and sex trafficking charges, accused of everything from arson to kidnapping. As authorities outline the shocking activities allegedly carried out at Combs’ direction by his “criminal enterprise,” Sheila Flynn charts the star’s epic fall from grace
Woman who claims Diddy shot her in face at NYC club celebrates arrest
A woman who claims Sean “Diddy“ Combs shot her in the face in a New York City nightclub back in 1999 has described the news of his arrest as “one of the best days ever.”
Natania Reuben was at Club New York in Manhattan in December 1999 when gunfire broke out, injuring three people. She miraculously survived, but the bullet scarred her brain.
Diddy was acquitted in 2001, but Reuben is hopeful that the latest charges against him – sex trafficking and racketeering, which he denies – means he might finally face justice, even if it’s not in her own case.
Reuben described the moment that her teenage daughter, Nirvana, broke the news of Diddy’s arrest to her on Monday. Reuben told The Daily Beast: “I said, ‘Are you kidding me, really?’ She said, ‘Yes!’ I just screamed out to God, ‘Thank you, merciful father!’”
“One of the best days ever,” she added.
Watch: Diddy is ‘a fighter and not afraid of charges’ says lawyer
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