Combs has pleaded not guilty to racketeering and sex trafficking charges and has made several requests to be released on bail with conditions.
Prosecutors have fought the request at every turn.
The request for bail comes as the judge presiding over his case ruled on Combs’ latest request for a gag order barring witnesses and their lawyers from commenting on the case.
Law&Crime’s Angenette Levy looks at the latest developments in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.
Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Lawyers File New Motion for Bail, Claiming Evidence Depicts a Consensual Relationship
A month after Sean “Diddy” Combs was denied bail again, his attorneys filed a new motion Nov. 8 to release him from jail ahead of his May 5 trial.
Sean “Diddy” Combs is pushing back with his new filing.
One month after the rapper was denied bail for the second time, his attorneys filed a motion Nov. 8 requesting bail once again, arguing that “changed circumstances” and new evidence should allow him to be released from jail ahead of his May 5 trial, according to documents obtained by E! News.
The motion for bail claims that new evidence makes it “clear that the government’s case is thin.”
The defense alleged that new evidence refutes the prosecution’s claim that the March 2016 video of Combs physically assaulting a woman in a hotel occurred during a “coerced ‘Freak Off'” or elaborate sex performance, as cited in the initial indictment.
Instead, the motion claims that the video was “a minutes-long glimpse into a complex but decade-long consensual relationship between Mr. Combs and Victim-1.”
Combs—who was arrested in September on charges of racketeering, sex trafficking and using transportation to engage in prostitution—pleaded not guilty to the charges in his case.
His attorneys also argued that the new evidence refutes the prosecution’s notion there was a “potential second alleged victim,” per their motion.
Combs has remained in custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, since his arrest in September.
E! News has reached out to the Office of the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York for comment and has not yet heard back. Combs’ attorneys have declined to comment.
Rebecca Sapp/WireImage
During the September 17 hearing after Combs’ arrest, U.S. Assistant Attorney Emily Johnson cited a 2016 video that was released this May, in which she said the Bad Boy Records founder assaulted an unnamed victim.
“Following a Freak Off at the InterContinental Hotel, the defendant violently assaulted the victim who was trying to leave the hotel room and was walking down the hall to the elevators,” she continued. “He punched her, he threw her to the ground, he kicked her. He attempted to drag her back to the hotel room, and then later, he threw a vase at her. And it’s after this assault that the coverup started.”
Johnson argued that the incident and what she referred to as the subsequent disappearance of the footage was “critical to understanding both the physical danger of the defendant and the obstruction efforts that he goes to.”
Gilbert Carrasquillo/FilmMagic
She claimed that Combs “directed his staff to contact the hotel security staff in an apparent effort to obtain the surveillance video that recorded every moment of that assault” and that the video then disappeared, which she said was “not a coincidence.”
In May, a 2016 video of Combs physically assaulting his then-girlfriend Cassie Ventura was published by CNN. The incident matched the description that Ventura—who dated Combs on and off for 10 years until 2018—detailed in her November 2023 civil lawsuit, in which she accused him of rape and abuse. Combs denied the accusations at the time and settled one day after it was filed without an admission of wrongdoing by the music producer.
Paras Griffin/Getty Images
“It’s so difficult to reflect on the darkest times in your life, but sometimes you got to do that,” Combs said on Instagram in May. “I was f–ked up. 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.”
Keep reading for a full breakdown of Combs’ extensive legal battle.
GIORGIO VIERA/AFP via Getty Images
Search Warrants Executed on Sean “Diddy” Combs’ L.A. and Miami Properties
Federal agents with Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) executed search warrants at Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Los Angeles and Miami properties on March 25, multiple law enforcement sources confirmed to NBC News.
The sources told the outlet the warrant was out of the Southern District of New York, and a spokesperson for HSI New York confirmed to E! News it “executed law enforcement actions as part of an ongoing investigation, with assistance from HSI Los Angeles, HSI Miami, and our local law enforcement partners.”
Law enforcement sources told NBC News the music mogul was in the Miami area when the search warrants were executed.
Photo by Paras Griffin/Getty Images
News about the investigation broke after Combs faced allegations of sexual misconduct in lawsuits filed by multiple accusers starting in November, with the musician denying the allegations.
“Sickening allegations have been made against me by individuals looking for a quick payday,” he wrote in a December statement posted on Instagram. “Let me be absolutely clear: I did not do any of the awful things being alleged. I will fight for my name, my family and for the truth.”
The day after HSI executed the search warrants at Combs’ L.A. and Miami properties, his lawyer spoke out.
“Yesterday, there was a gross overuse of military-level force as search warrants were executed at Mr. Combs’ residences,” attorney Aaron Dyer said in a March 26 statement to E! News. “There is no excuse for the excessive show of force and hostility exhibited by authorities or the way his children and employees were treated.”
Dyer noted Combs “was never detained but spoke to and cooperated with authorities.”
“Despite media speculation, neither Mr. Combs nor any of his family members have been arrested nor has their ability to travel been restricted in any way,” his lawyer’s statement continued. “This unprecedented ambush—paired with an advanced, coordinated media presence—leads to a premature rush to judgment of Mr. Combs and is nothing more than a witch hunt based on meritless accusations made in civil lawsuits.”
