NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs was headed to jail Tuesday to await trial in his federal sex trafficking case, after a magistrate ordered him to be held without bail in a case that accuses him of presiding over a sordid empire of sexual crimes. The music mogul pleaded not guilty Tuesday to racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking. He's accused of inducing female victims and male sex workers into drugged-up, sometimes dayslong sexual performances dubbed “Freak Offs.
" The indictment against him also alleges he coerced and abused women for years while using blackmail and shocking acts of violence to keep his victims in line. It refers obliquely to an attack on his former girlfriend, the R&B singer Cassie , that was captured on video. Prosecutors wanted him jailed.
His attorneys proposed that he be released on a $50 million bond to home detention with electronic monitoring. U.S.
Magistrate Judge Robyn Tarnofsky sided with the government. Combs, 54, took a long swig from a water bottle, then was led out of court without handcuffs. As he walked out, he turned toward family members in the audience.
“Mr. Combs is a fighter. He’s going to fight this to the end.
He’s innocent,” his lawyer, Marc Agnifilo, said after court. As a start, he said he would appeal the bail decision. The Bad Boy Records founder is accused of striking, punching and dragging women, throwing objects and kicking them — and getting his personal assistants, security and household staff to hel.