Prosecutors say Sean 'DD' Combs 'couldn't pay his way out of jail'

Federal prosecutors on Wednesday opposed Sean Combs' bid for release from prison, insisting that the music mogul should not be allowed to use his resources to set a proposed bail release package that would include hiring a private security detail to protect him.

Mr. Combs, who is being held in a Brooklyn jail ahead of his trial in May on racketeering and sex-trafficking charges, has appealed a court's decision to deny him bail, based in part on the grounds that he posed a witness danger. Tampering

His lawyers proposed an elaborate arrangement – effectively a private version of house arrest – in which Mr Combs would be monitored at all times by security staff, have no access to phones or the internet and could only be visited by an approved list of guests. . They recommended setting a bond at $50 million.

In response to Mr. Combs' appeal to the US Court for the Second Circuit, prosecutors pushed back on Mr. Combs' argument for release.

“The district court properly rejected Combs's attempt to release him from custody,” the prosecution wrote, “when the record established that no set of conditions could ensure the safety of the community.”

The government accused Mr. Combs, 54, of running a “criminal enterprise” that leveraged the mogul's power in the entertainment industry to commit crimes, including forcing women to engage in sexual activity with male prostitutes in drug-fueled encounters. Lawyers for Mr Combs, who has pleaded not guilty, have denied the allegations, claiming the sexual activity involved consenting adults.

Mr. Combs' lawyers said in their appeal that the government's argument that their client posed a risk of obstruction of justice was based on speculation, not evidence that he tried to interfere with the investigation into his conduct.

Prosecutors pushed back, citing Mr. Combs' communications with a witness connected to a case filed shortly before his arrest. They asserted that the core of the complaint is their position that Mr. Combs is guilty of obstruction, bribery and witness tampering. In the indictment, for example, the government accused Mr. Combs of using recordings of forced sexual activity as “collateral” to help ensure the silence of participants.

“Combs' long-standing and sophisticated methods of obstructing justice and silencing witnesses more than establish his dangerousness,” prosecutors wrote.

Mr. Combs' lawyers have tried to poke holes in the government's contention that Mr. Combs attempted to obstruct justice in the case. For example, they argued that while their client may have had contact with two grand jury witnesses, the government, they said, found no evidence of threats or intimidation in those encounters.

Oral arguments on the appeal are scheduled for Nov. 4. But on Thursday, Mr Coombs' lawyers asked the appeals court to suspend the proceedings because they wanted to present a new release application to the lower court based on “some relevant new information”. The filing did not mention new information.

This week, the defense asked the court to order the government to identify the alleged victims cited in the indictment, writing that lawyers were forced to play a “guessing game” about the details of the prosecution's case — which they said was complicated by a cascade of civil lawsuits, some from anonymous plaintiffs. from

The defense said it anticipated that discovery in the case would include videos of consensual sexual activity involving Mr. Combs, “making it difficult to ascertain which of his previous sexual partners now claim, years later, they felt coerced.”