Diddy Denied Bail Again Ahead of Thanksgiving Holiday

Sean “Diddy” Combs will spend Thanksgiving in jail as his bail has been denied for the fourth time by a New York City judge. The disgraced hip hop mogul has been behind bars since September, months after the feds raided his Miami and Los Angeles homes, and nearly a year since his ex-girlfriend, singer Cassie Ventura, filed a $30 million lawsuit against him for rape and sex trafficking. He settled the suit within 24 hours and is in jail on charges of sex trafficking and racketeering, with much of the evidence linked to Cassie’s lawsuit and dozens of other alleged victims who allege years of sexual misconduct.

A judge agrees that the Bad Boy Records founder is a flight risk and a danger to his community. The Hollywood Reports reports a judge denied his $50 million proposed bail package, citing Diddy’s alleged history of violence, use of firearms, kidnapping and arson claims, witness tampering, and evidence indicating that he’s tried to obscure communications with people he’s been barred from contacting on his approved call list.

The judge cited a leaked 2016 video of Combs assaulting Ventura at a Los Angeles hotel and text messages between the two following the incident in which she called him out for his actions. She wrote: “I have a black eye and a fat lip. I still have crazy bruising.” In her lawsuit, Cassie reported that she attempted to escape the relationship multiple times, but he always lured her back with his power and fear. The final time she left in 2018, she accuses him of breaking into her NYC apartment and raping her. Diddy initially denied all claims, even after the settlement, until he was forced to apologize after the leaked video. In his apology, he cited drug abuse and being in “a dark place.”

Cassie has been subpoenaed to testify before the grand jury. The judge says Diddy has deleted their text messaging history in an effort to conceal the alleged tampering. Phone records confirmed that Combs and Cassie exchanged multiple messages from June to August, but they were unable to be recovered from his phone due to his actions. Diddy’s legal team denies he reached out to any witnesses in the case.

Also in the judge’s bail denial is evidence of him speaking with people he was not approved to do so while incarcerated. He reportedly paid other inmates to use their phone access code numbers to contact people he was barred from talking to. Diddy took things a step further by instructing family members and his lawyers to add others to three-way calls so that their communications were more difficult to trace, per the order.