‘He Did Not Even Have Sex With the Escort Himself’: Lawyer for Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Seeks Rapper’s Release From Notorious Jail, Says He’s ‘Just a John’

The music producer Sean “Diddy” Combs, who was convicted of two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution at a federal court in Manhattan on July 2 — but found not guilty of the far more serious racketeering and sex-trafficking charges — asked the judge to release him on bail while he awaits sentencing, offering to put up a $50 million bond secured by his mansion in Miami. Tuesday’s request marked the fifth time that Mr. Combs asked to leave the federal government’s notorious Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, where he has been incarcerated since his arrest in September 2024. Three different district judges, including the one who presided over his trial, denied the requests, citing concerns about violence, potential witness intimidation, and flight risk. Yet the defense team keeps pushing for his release. “Sean Combs should not be in jail for this conduct,” his lead defense attorney, Marc Agnifilo, wrote in his 12-page letter filed on Tuesday, arguing that the conviction does not warrant his client’s continued incarceration.Federal prosecutors had charged Mr. Combs with one count of racketeering conspiracy, two counts of sex trafficking, and two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution, a crime laid out in the Mann Act, a federal law that prohibits the interstate or foreign transportation of individuals “for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose.” Cassie Ventura and Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs appear at the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute benefit gala celebrating ‘China: Through the Looking Glass’ on May 4, 2015. Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, fileAt the heart of the case was the accusation that Mr. Combs hired male prostitutes to have sex with his then-girlfriends during hours-long, drug-fueled sex sessions he called “Freak Offs,” which Mr. Combs would watch and film while he pleasured himself. Prosecutors alleged that Mr. Combs coerced his then-girlfriends into having sex with the male escorts by using means of violence, blackmail, threats, and other coercion tactics. Mr. Combs, who pleaded not guilty to all charges, claimed that the sexual encounters were consensual and that he and his girlfriends led the lifestyle of “swingers,” and willingly engaged in threesomes, or even foursomes frequently. After the eight week-long trial that included testimony from more than 30 witnesses, including two former girlfriends, Cassandra Ventura and a woman who testified under the pseudonym Jane, the jury acquitted Mr. Combs of the most serious counts, racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking, and convicted Mr. Combs solely of the Mann Act charges, thus sparing the rapper the possibility of being sentenced to life in prison. The prostitution conviction will likely yield a far lesser sentence. The then-lead prosecutor Maurene Comey, who was abruptly fired earlier this month, had said in a bail letter that the government may seek a prison sentence of at least four to five years, specifically asking for a sentence ranging between 51 and 63 months, though it could ask for more. Mr. Combs’s attorneys argued that Mr. Combs should receive “21 to 27 months,” adding that their client has “already been incarcerated for 10 months.” This frame grab taken from hotel security camera video and aired by CNN appears to show Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs attacking singer Cassie in a Los Angeles hotel hallway in March 2016. Hotel Security Camera Video/CNN via AP, fileThe New York Times reported that another defense attorney, Nicole Westmoreland, said the defense team plans to appeal the Mann Act convictions. On the day of the verdict and before the trial, his attorneys raised similar arguments as they did in their Tuesday letter, saying that their client had been wrongfully “prosecuted and incarcerated” for having “consensual sexual relations” with his “adult long-term” girlfriends “as part of a demonstrated ‘swingers’ lifestyle” and therefore deserved to be free on bail. “Combs and two of his long-time girlfriends had a private, intimate life that is not uncommon today.” Mr. Agnifilo, who signed the letter, wrote on Tuesday. He also pointed out that since the Mann Act was passed in 1910, “attitudes about sex and morality have come a long way in the last 115 years.”Then-Assistant U.S. Attorney Maurene Comey is outside court during the Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ sex-trafficking trial, June 3, 2025. AP/Ted Shaffrey, File“It is worth noting that when the Mann Act was passed to protect the morals and decency of America’s women, America’s women were not allowed to vote,” Mr. Agnifilo said, adding that the statute, which used to be called the White-Slave Traffic Act, has a “troubling background,” and a history that is “rich with both racism and misogyny.” The Department of Justice, the attorney went on to argue, “has limited” the application of the statute “to those people profiting financially from the business of prostitution and not using it to prosecute consensual adults for their own lifestyles.” Someone, who is not financially benefiting from the prostitution, but is instead a so-called John merely using the services, the attorney wrote, should not be incarcerated. According to the case law Mr. Agnifilo cited, “there has literally never been a case” where a person who “arranged for adult men” to have consensual sexual relations was held in jail while he awaited his sentence. Marc Agnifilo, attorney for Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, gives a statement at Manhattan federal court after Combs’s bail hearing on July 2, 2025. Michael M. Santiago/Getty ImagesMaking the circumstance even more “exceptional,” the attorney claimed that Mr. Combs did not actually have sex with the male prostitutes. “In fact, he may be the only person currently in a United States jail for being any sort of John, and certainly the only person in jail for hiring adult male escorts for him and his girlfriend, when he did not even have sex with the escort himself,” Mr. Agnifilo argued. During the bail hearing after the verdict, a district judge, Arun Subramanian, reasoned that Mr. Combs should not be released because his proven violent behavior posed a threat to the community.Numerous witnesses testified to Mr. Combs’s erratic and violent behavior. The defense had even admitted his physical abuse in both its opening and closing arguments, saying that if Mr. Combs had been charged with domestic violence, he would have pleaded guilty. Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, center, motions a heart sign to his family in attendance as he is escorted out of lock-up by U.S. marshals, on the first day of trial on May 12, 2025, in New York. Elizabeth Williams via AP, FileThe world watched Mr. Combs hit Ms. Ventura in a surveillance video that recorded an incident in an elevator bank of the InterContinental in Los Angeles in March 2016. The video, which was first aired by CNN, depicts Mr. Combs, wearing only a towel, kicking and dragging a cowering Ms. Ventura through the hotel hallway. “Domestic violence is violence,” Judge Subramanian said. But in his letter, Mr. Agnifilo argued that since the breakup of Ms. Ventura and Mr. Combs in 2018, there had been “no evidence at trial of any physical altercations between Combs and anyone else” except for one “altercation with Jane in June of 2024.” Jane testified in detail about that June night, alleging that Mr. Combs punched her in the face, kicked her while she was on the ground, and slapped her so hard in the bathroom that she fell onto the tiles. Judge Arun Subramanian is presiding over the case. Twitter / XThe defense attorney, however, argued that Jane had started the fight, when she smashed Mr. Combs’s head into her kitchen counter in a fit of jealousy, and that the incident was the only violence in their entire three-year relationship. The defense proposed a “bail package,” which would include “mental health treatment” and “substance abuse treatment” as well as posting a $50 million bond, “secured by Mr. Combs’ home in Miami.” “The bond will be co-signed by three financially responsible people;” the attorney wrote, and his client would reside in Miami, and limit his travel to the Southern District of Florida and the Southern District of New York for attorney meetings. Mr. Combs would also surrender his passport and be placed under express supervision of the U.S. Pretrial Services Agency. Prosecutors have yet to file their answer. Defense attorneys for Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, from left, Brian Steel, Alexandra Shapiro, Marc Agnifilo, and Teny Garagos, Anna Estevao, Nicole Westmoreland, Jason Driscoll and Xavier Donaldson, far right, outside Manhattan federal court after Combs was denied bail after being convicted of prostitution-related offenses but acquitted of sex-trafficking and racketeering charges, July 2, 2025. AP/Yuki IwamuraMs. Comey, the lead prosecutor who is also the daughter of a former FBI director, James Comey, was fired by the Department of Justice from the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York on July 16. Ms. Comey’s termination is most likely unrelated to Mr. Combs’s trial. Besides being related to Mr. Comey, whom President Trump despises for his role in the Russia investigation, for starters, Ms. Comey also prosecuted Jeffrey Epstein as well as his longtime associate, Ghislaine Maxwell, and likely had access to the FBI’s dossier on Epstein. She has not been charged with any wrongdoing and wrote, in a farewell statement to her colleagues, that no reason for her termination was given.It’s unclear which attorney will now lead the prosecution against Mr. Combs. Each Mann Act count carries a maximum of 10 years in prison, but according to legal analysts most people receive anywhere between one and four years. The sentencing date has been set for October 3.

‘He Did Not Even Have Sex With the Escort Himself’: Lawyer for Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Seeks Rapper’s Release From Notorious Jail, Says He’s ‘Just a John’

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