Prosecutors say music mogul Sean Combs is running the federal lockup where he is housed in New York. Combs was indicted in September on sëx trafficking and racketeering charges. He is awaiting trial in May 2025.
The government claims Combs is running the jail and using other inmates’ phone privileges to make calls to potential victims.
The accusations were made in a court filing late Friday by prosecutors who oppose Combs’s latest $50 million bail proposal. A bail hearing is scheduled for next Friday, Nov. 22.
In the bail proposal, defense attorneys said new evidence “undermines” the government’s case against Combs but prosecutors said “the defendant offers nothing new and material justifying a third bail hearing”.
Prosecutors reviewed recorded jail calls made by Combs that reveal he asked family members to reach out to potential victims and witnesses to influence the jury pool. They say he also has encouraged family members to post videos to their social media accounts to sway public opinion of him.
The government filing accused Combs of using the telephone accounts of at least eight other inmates at MDC-Brooklyn “seemingly to avoid law enforcement monitoring” and to make phone calls to people who are not on his approved contact list.
“The defendant has shown repeatedly — even while in custody — that he will flagrantly and repeatedly flout rules in order to improperly impact the outcome of his case. The defendant has shown, in other words, that he cannot be trusted to abide by rules or conditions,” prosecutors wrote.
Prosecutors say Combs is running the jail and other inmates in the 4 North unit of Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center are fighting over him. They say inmates are sweeping the floor of his cell and making his bed for him.
Convicted Crypto king Sam Bankman-Fried is among the inmates housed in the 4 North Unit along with Combs.
Combs was denied bail twice by 2 separate judges in September. As part of his $50 million bail proposal, Combs would have round-the-clock security, no access to the Internet, and no female visitors at his Star Island estate in Miami, Florida.
In early September, Combs flew to New York on a private jet to turn himself in on September 17 as agreed. But the feds arrested him a day early – on Sept. 16 – when his private jet landed in New York that same day. Combs summoned his jet because he believed he would be released on bond after he turned himself in. But federal agents feared Combs was preparing to skip town.
Combs has pleaded not guilty to racketeering conspiracy, sëx trafficking and prostitution charges. He denied using threats and coercion to force women to engage in sex acts with male prostitutes.
