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 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 help him hide it all. “Not guilty,” Combs told a court, standing to speak after listening to the allegations with his uncuffed .