Source: Sonia Moskowitz / Getty
The Sean “Diddy” Combs trial captivated social media and music industry observers for months before a verdict came in on July 2. Combs was acquitted on the major charges of racketeering, conspiracy, and sex trafficking, but was convicted on two counts of prostitution under the Mann Act.
On Monday, despite a letter from an ex-girlfriend, the disgraced rap music mogul was denied bond for a fifth time. Judge Arun Subramanian, who was the trial judge in the six-week-long trial, said Combs had shown no “exceptional circumstances” that would lead to his early release.
“Increasing the amount of the bond or devising additional conditions doesn’t change the calculus given the circumstances and heavy burden of proof that Combs bears,” Subramanian said in his ruling.
Combs is being held at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center on a $50M bond. That’s where he’s been since Sept. 2024, when federal agents arrested him at a Manhattan hotel. He’d traveled to New York from his Miami mansion, in expectation of the arrest.
Despite his acknowledged history of violence, a former girlfriend asked the court for leniency. Virginia “Gina” Huynh was expected to testify against Combs as “Victim #3,” but could not be located during the trial.
The jury instead heard from Cassie Ventura, his ex-girlfriend, who participated in “freak-offs” with Combs where she slept with other men to satisfy Combs’ sexual urges, and “Jane Doe.” Doe also testified to participation in what she called “hotel nights” but admitted at trial that Diddy also paid her rent and legal fees.
Huynh says during their relationship, which overlapped with Ventura’s, that she saw a change in her former partner and that his years of violence are behind him.
“Over the years that followed, he made visible efforts to become a better person and to address the harm he had caused,” she said in a letter to the court.
That tracks, at least publicly, with Diddy changing his name to “Love” on social media and espousing an ethos of positivity reflected in his last project, The Love Album: Off the Grid. But in 2023, another ex, Misa Hylton, said that she was tired of covering for Combs’ behavior. In a since-deleted post after their son Justin’s DUI arrest, Hylton said, “Everyone has to sit around and act like nothing’s wrong with you. This is where the buck stops for me.”
Hylton did appear in support of Combs during his trial, along with their son.
Despite the trauma other girlfriends experienced, Huynh told the court she saw changes in Combs over time.
“By the time our relationship ended, he embodied an energy of love, patience, and gentleness that was markedly different from his past behavior,” Huynh said. “To my knowledge, he has not been violent for many years, and he has been committed to being a father first.”
She added in her letter that, “I am writing because I do not view Mr. Combs as a danger to me or to the community. Allowing him to be at home will also support the healing process for all involved.”
Diddy is not expected to serve a lengthy prison sentence in the case, as most defendants convicted of the Mann Act do not serve more than two years on average, per multiple reports. But while Huynh is defending Combs, his ex, Cassie Ventura, is not. In a letter she sent to the judge, Ventura says that given Combs’s history of violence, which she documented in her civil lawsuit and during her trial testimony, he should not be released ahead of his sentencing.
In her letter, Ventura said Combs “was likely to prove to be a danger to those who testified in this case.”
Combs’ eight-lawyer team argued in their filing that Combs has done his best to show he’s aware of the pain he’s caused in the past and is trying to find redemption.
“… Combs has not participated in any violence for the past 11 months, demonstrating to the Court that even in the conditions he is currently subject to, where there is ‘unchecked violence’ surrounding him, he will not commit assault,” his lawyers said in the latest appeal. “He is sober, has been committed to bettering himself with therapy (as established in the trial record), and is committed to doing everything possible to support himself and his family.”
Combs will remain in MDC until his sentencing on Oct. 3, which may come down to time served.
See social media’s response to Diddy’s latest denial and his ex’s letter to the court below.
