By Luc Cohen and Jonathan Stempel
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Sean “Diddy” Combs used his fame as one of hip-hop’s biggest names to coerce women into demeaning sexual acts as part of a long-running scheme of sex trafficking and racketeering, prosecutors said on Tuesday in bringing three criminal charges against him.
Combs, 54, pleaded not guilty in Manhattan federal court hours after the 14-page indictment was unsealed. U.S. Magistrate Judge Robyn Tarnofsky denied bail for Combs, granting a prosecution request for continued detention before trial following the music mogul’s arrest on Monday.
The rapper and producer used his business empire including his record label Bad Boy Entertainment to transport women, as well as male sex workers, across state lines to take part in recorded sexual performances called “Freak Offs” in which the music mogul would watch and masturbate, prosecutors said.
In a possible preview of defense strategy, Combs’ lawyer Marc Agnifilo called the sexual activity described by prosecutors consensual.
“Does everybody have experience with being intimate this way? No. Is it sex trafficking? No. Not if everybody wants to be there,” Agnifilo told the judge.
Combs faces a sentence of up to life in prison, and a minimum of 15 years, if convicted of the three felony counts: racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.
Prosecutors said Combs enticed women by giving them drugs such as ketamine and ecstasy, financial support, or promises of career support or a romantic relationship. Combs then used the surreptitious recordings of the sex acts as “collateral” to ensure that the women would remain silent, and sometimes displayed weapons to intimidate abuse victims and witnesses, prosecutors said.
The indictment did not specify how many women were alleged victims. It contained no allegation that Combs himself directly engaged in unwanted sexual contact with women, though he was accused of assaulting them by punching, kicking, dragging and throwing objects. Combs and his associates used bribery and violence such as arson and kidnapping to try to keep his conduct secret, prosecutors said.
When Tarnofsky asked how he wished to plead, Combs – wearing a black T-shirt and gray sweatpants – stood up, pulled a thin microphone on the defense table upward, and said, “Not guilty.”
“My concern is that this is a crime that happens behind closed doors,” the judge said in denying bail, before Combs was led out of the courtroom by members of the U.S. Marshals Service.
Defense lawyer Marc Agnifilo said he will appeal his client’s continued detention at a hearing on Wednesday before U.S. District Judge Andrew Carter, who will oversee the rest of the case.
Also known during his career as P. Diddy and Puff Daddy, Combs founded Bad Boy records and is credited with helping turn rappers and R&B singers such as Mary J. Blige, Faith Evans, Notorious B.I.G. and Usher into stars in the 1990s and 2000s.
‘EXTREMELY DANGEROUS’
Prosecutors accused Combs of running a criminal enterprise to facilitate his exploitation of women, dating back at least 16 years, in a case brought by the office of Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams.
“The defendant Sean Combs physically and sexually abused victims for decades,” prosecutor Emily Johnson, arguing for continued detention, told the judge. “He is extremely dangerous to the community.”
The defense had sought to have Combs released on $50 million bond secured by his Miami home. Agnifilo acknowledged that Combs has a history of drug use and toxic relationships, and said he was getting treatment and therapy, without going into specifics.
Combs is the highest-profile music industry figure charged with sexual misconduct since R&B singer R. Kelly was sentenced to a combined 31 years in prison after being convicted in New York in 2021 and Chicago in 2022 sex trafficking, racketeering, child sex crimes and other counts.
Hit with a series of civil lawsuits accusing him of sexual and other misconduct as well as a federal criminal investigation, Combs’ career has been derailed in the past year.
Last November, his former girlfriend Casandra Ventura, an R&B singer known as Cassie, accused him in a lawsuit of serial physical abuse, sexual slavery and rape. She agreed to an undisclosed settlement one day after suing. Combs denied her allegations.
In a March 2016 incident that resembles Cassie’s description of his alleged attack, prosecutors said Combs was captured on a hotel security video striking and dragging a woman trying to leave a “Freak Off.” Combs then offered a stack of cash to a hotel security officer who intervened, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said Combs’ employees helped arrange the “Freak Offs” by booking hotel rooms and buying controlled substances and other items used during sex, according to the indictment.
During raids of his homes in Los Angeles and Miami Beach, Florida six months ago, authorities found drugs and 1,000 bottles of baby oil and lubricant, along with AR-15 rifles with defaced serial numbers, the indictment said.
(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; Additional reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Will Dunham)