Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs denied bail ahead of sentencing in October

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs has been denied bail as he waits to be sentenced in October.

A judge ruled yesterday (August 4) that the rapper and music mogul will not be allowed to return home after a request to release him on a $50million (£37.4million) bond was submitted last week.

US District Judge Arun Subramanian wrote that Combs had failed to prove there were any “exceptional” reasons as to why he should be released ahead of his October 3 sentencing.

The rapper’s pleas “might have traction in a case that didn’t involve evidence of violence, coercion, or subjugation in connection with the acts of prostitution at issue, but the record here contains evidence of all three,” Subramanian added, pointing to how at trial the mogul’s defence had admitted to Combs’s past “violence in his personal relationships.”

The rapper is currently awaiting sentencing at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York, where he has been held since his arrest last September.

He was found guilty on two counts of transportation for engaging in prostitution, but was acquitted of racketeering and sex trafficking last month. He pleaded not guilty to all five charges.

Combs faces a maximum sentence of 20 years behind bars on the two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. However, he could receive less than this because it is a first-time conviction.

Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump recently said it would be “difficult” to pardon Combs as he was “very hostile” towards him.

In June, Trump said that he would look into a potential pardon for Combs, and that he would “certainly look at the facts”.

Last week, though, he weighed in again, calling Combs “half-innocent” and saying it’s “more likely a no” that he would be pardoned.

“Well, he was essentially, I guess, sort of half-innocent,” Trump told Newsmax host Rob Finnerty last Friday (August 1). “[He’s] still in jail or something, but he was celebrating a victory. But I guess it wasn’t as good of a victory.”

Trump went on to recall that he was “very friendly with him. I got along with him great, and [he] seemed like a nice guy. I didn’t know him well. But when I ran for office, he was very hostile. It’s hard, you know? We’re human beings. And we don’t like to have things cloud our judgment, right? But when you knew someone and you were fine, and then you run for office, and he made some terrible statements. So I don’t know …. it makes it more difficult to do.”

For help, advice or more information regarding sexual harassment, assault and rape in the UK, visit the Rape Crisis charity website. In the US, visit RAINN.

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