Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Inside P. Diddy's Life Locked Up in Jail as He Awaits Trial

Starting point is 00:00:00 Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this law and crimes series ad-free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify. This office is determined to investigate and prosecute anyone who engages in sex trafficking, no matter how powerful or wealthy or famous you may be. No one should doubt our commitment on that. The feds take Sean Diddy Combs into custody, accusing him of racketeering and sex trafficking. The music mogul spending the night behind bars with his attorney vowing to fight for him. I'm going to fight like hell to get him released and he should be released with all that he's done and come here voluntarily.

Starting point is 00:00:39 I take a look at what life behind bars could be like for Combs and why prosecutors want to keep him locked up. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Telling you that Sean Combs has been indicted on racketeering and sex trafficking charges really isn't a shock. We've been telling you for months that he was under investigation by the Department of Homeland Security, which investigates sex trafficking. But for someone like Combs to go from living in the lap of luxury to being behind bars, that has to be an absolute shock to him. Combs has apparently been in New York since late last week in anticipation of the indictment. News Nation obtained exclusive video of him talking with his attorney and one of his sons in a park over the weekend. Here's Combs'

Starting point is 00:01:23 lawyer, Mark Agnefilou outside of court. This is what we've been expecting since the searches in March. He, to his great credit, he voluntarily came to New York. Not a lot of defendants do that. He came to New York to basically engage the court system and start the case. So Mark Agnefilou said he believes Sean Combs should be released, but federal prosecutors wanted him detained. They claim he's a flight risk, and they wrote in a detention letter, Most glaringly, the defendant also poses a significant risk of obstructing justice. Indeed, and as set forth below, during the course of the charged conduct, the defendant has attempted to bribe security staff and threatened and interfered with witnesses to

Starting point is 00:02:05 his criminal conduct. He has already tried to obstruct the government's investigation of this case, repeatedly contacting victims and witnesses and feeding them false narratives of events, as described in detail below. Federal prosecutors claim Combs created and ran a criminal enterprise through his businesses, including Combs Global. Here's U.S. Attorney Damian Williams. The indictment alleges that between at least 2008 and the present, Combs abused, threatened, and coerced victims to fulfill his sexual desires, protect his reputation, and conceal his conduct. As alleged in the indictment, to carry out this conduct,

Starting point is 00:02:43 Sean Combs led and participated in a racketeering conspiracy that used the business empire he controlled to carry out criminal activity, including sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and the obstruction of justice. Federal prosecutors claim Combs used his businesses to host freak-offs, which are elaborate sex parties in which sex workers were employed and sometimes were transported across state lines. As alleged, Combs used force, threats of force, and coercion to cause victims to engage in extended sexual performances with male commercial sex workers, some of whom he transported or caused to be transported over state lines. Combs allegedly planned and controlled the sex performances, which he called freak-offs, and he often electronically recorded them. The freak-offs sometimes lasted days at a time, involved multiple commercial sex workers, and often involved a variety

Starting point is 00:03:45 of narcotics such as ketamine, ecstasy, and GHB, which Combs distributed to the victims to keep them obedient and compliant. As alleged, when Combs didn't get his way, he was violent, and he subjected victims of physical, emotional, and verbal abuse so that they would participate in the freak-offs. And that Combs hit, kicked, threw objects at, and dragged victims, at times by their hair. Now, one of those incidents of hitting and kicking involved Cassie Ventura, Combs' ex-girlfriend, whose bombshell civil suit really seemed to open the floodgates for other lawsuits and possibly even led to this investigation. Cassie Ventura's attorney has said in the past that she was willing to cooperate with

Starting point is 00:04:30 federal investigators. But now that Combs has been indicted, Ventura and her attorney, Douglas Wigder, are not commenting at all. The U.S. attorney went on to detail the incident involving Ventura, which was also detailed in a letter asking the judge to keep Combs behind bars until his trial. Combs kicked, dragged, and threw a vase at a victim in a Los Angeles hotel when the victim was attempting to flee. As alleged, these assaults often resulted in injuries to the victims, which took days or weeks to heal. In addition to the violence, the indictment alleges that Combs threatened and coerced victims to get them to participate in the freak offs. He used the embarrassing and sensitive recordings he made of the freak offs as

Starting point is 00:05:18 collateral against the victims. And the indictment alleges that he maintained control over the victims in several ways, including by giving them drugs, by giving and threatening to take away financial support or housing, by promising them career opportunities, by monitoring their whereabouts, and even by dictating their physical appearance. Because of all of this, the indictment alleges that the victims did not believe they could refuse Combs without risking their security or facing more abuse. Federal prosecutors referenced that 2016 hotel incident with Cassie Ventura when asking the

Starting point is 00:05:56 judge to keep Combs in jail, writing that he has a history of trying to bribe people. They wrote, when a member of hotel security staff intervened, the defendant attempted to offer the hotel security officer a stack of cash to ensure his silence. After the security guard refused the defendant's bribe and after coordination between the defendant and his employees, the defendant's staff contacted other members of hotel security. At the same time, staff members were in close communication with the victim of the assault as well, all in an effort to cover up the defendant's assault and to prevent the incident from being publicly disclosed. Within days of the incident,

Starting point is 00:06:34 the surveillance video disappeared from the hotel's server. Combs is also accused of transporting women sex workers across state lines for the freak-offs. Federal prosecutors also noted an incident from 2011, where they claimed Combs and a co-conspirator kidnapped a person. Then, according to the letter, approximately two weeks later, the defendant's co-conspirators set fire to individual one's vehicle by slicing open the car's convertible top and dropping a Molotov cocktail inside the interior. Police and fire department reports extensively document the arson and conclude that the fire was intentionally set.

Starting point is 00:07:11 Multiple witnesses would also testify the defendant bragged about his role in destroying individual one's car. Federal prosecutors also argued that Combs owned guns and has used them to threaten and intimidate people, and they cited photos of guns in magazines that they found in Combs' home. But Combs' lawyer argued he should be allowed to post bail, calling him eminently trustworthy. Mark Agnefilo proposed a $50 million bond package using Combs' Miami home as collateral. Agnefilo noted that Combs has been trying to sell his jet since April of this year and has actually signed an agreement to do so. Combs also made a reservation to stay at a hotel

Starting point is 00:07:50 in New York as he awaits trial, but the judge was not persuaded. He ordered that Sean Combs will remain detained until his trial on these charges. I want to take just a moment to tell you about Upside. It's a free app that will give you cash back on things like food and gas. This is not a confusing rewards program. Upside will give you actual money that you can transfer right into your bank account. Download Upside and claim an offer for whatever you're buying. You pay as usual using a debit or credit card. I've used Upside and gotten nine bucks back on gas and pizza. You can't beat that. You can use Upside at places like Shell, Exxon, 7-Eleven, and at restaurants like Chipotle, Dairy Queen, Domino's, and Taco Bell, just to name a few. So to find out how much you could earn, click the link in the

Starting point is 00:08:36 description or download Upside using the QR code on your screen and use our promo code CRIMEFIX to get an extra 25 cents back on every gallon on your first tank of gas. That's promo code CRIMEFIX to get an extra 25 cents back on every gallon on your first tank of gas. That's promo code CRIMEFIX for an extra 25 cents back on your first gallon of gas. Justin Paperny is a prison consultant. He often advises people on how to handle going to prison. So Justin, first off, your thoughts on Sean Combs being scooped up on a Monday night at a hotel when he was expected to turn himself in on Tuesday. Well, he's in real trouble. This case has gone on or the conduct has gone on for a very long time, 2008 and continuing till today, according to the government. Clearly, they think he's at risk to the community, which is why they're going to ask that he remain in detention. And I know part of the reason they like to arrest defendants who very willingly would go and

Starting point is 00:09:28 surrender and turn themselves in. They like headlines, they like attention, and they want people to know if you break the law, we're going to come and get you regardless of the time, day, or how much privilege or wealth you might have, we're coming to get you. They like the show that accompanies arresting people, especially in high profile cases. Even if Sean Combs knew he was going to be walking into a courthouse on a Tuesday, it still has to be a little bit of a shock. Maybe he thought, I'm going to walk into that courthouse. I'm going to surrender. I'll make my initial appearance. I'll make bail. Maybe I'll get a GPS bracelet. But the U.S. attorney wants him to stay behind bars, and I'm assuming they will get what they're asking for. So this has to be a shock to somebody like

Starting point is 00:10:11 Sean Combs, who is used to living in the lap of luxury. It's a shock for anyone, whether you're rich or not. But certainly when you have that level of wealth and things have gone your way for so long, and you tend to have when you're rich and famous, a lot of enablers around you who tell you what you want to hear, including potentially lawyers who are telling him what he may want to hear. They might have seen, make it seem like it's a formality he's going to get bond. He may still get bond with very heavy restrictions and inability to leave New York with an ankle bracelet monitoring at all times in his, in his mansion. Some people make fun of home confinement because you can be in a mansion. This is not like a white collar crime. When people get indicted in a white

Starting point is 00:10:49 collar crime, the headline will say they're looking at 40, 50 years in prison. Then they get sentenced and it's 18 months or two years. They love the headlines in this case with racketeering and fraud and arson and everything that's been alleged. When they say 30 or 40 years, that's no joke. It could be 30 or 40 years in prison if convicted. And not in these cushy minimum security camps, he will be on a higher security prison labeled a sex offender, which presents a whole slew of problems. So his only goal right now is somehow some way to remain free because the risk of serving time in that detention center, being isolated because of his status, would be devastating.

Starting point is 00:11:25 And I'll also say part of the reason the government is arguing that he should be confined immediately is the obstruction charge, which alleges that after he knew that he was a target, he continued to make choices that exacerbated his struggles. They say he's a menace, Your Honor. We need him in custody. The racketeering conspiracy charge alone carries a life sentence or a maximum penalty of up to life in prison. So, I mean, this is about as serious as it gets. I think a lot of people, though, after this long of an investigation, I mean, it had been going on since March. The feds have more than a 90 percent conviction rate. So they always have their ducks in a row when they issue an indictment.

Starting point is 00:12:04 I think a lot of people were wondering, wow, three charges. It's three charges. Maybe they were expecting more. So were you expecting more to come out of this other than what we're seeing right here? Well, first I'll say a federal investigation since March isn't that long. So they prioritized this. They got there pretty quickly. It doesn't surprise me that it's three charges. What will not surprise me is his continuing to fight. And there is very little willingness of people who are high profile to actually accept responsibility. He has a presumption of innocence. He has every right to go to trial. Though with the evidence and what we're seeing, if convicted, he's looking at like the R. Kelly scenario, decades in prison. And I hope at some point, if the evidence is so overwhelming,

Starting point is 00:12:50 he can say, if I've done something wrong and created victims, how can I make amends beyond just scratching checks? This is also devastating for my family. Is there some path to accept responsibility and plead guilty? Because if he's able to do that, he sets himself up for a scenario where he might not spend the rest of his life in prison. He can actually have some freedom and begin to get on the right side of the law and identify with people that he's hurt. The issue is Sam Baikman Freed, Elizabeth Holmes, so many people, R. Kelly, despite overwhelming evidence, they continue to go down this path of going to trial, claim that they are the victim. And if, and when they lose a sentence that could be 10 or 15 years,

Starting point is 00:13:31 I'm not saying 10 or 15 years isn't a long time, but it's not 40 years or 30 years, which could be in his path and things will, they'll really get tight for him. I suspect in time, once a lot of these enablers, you read all about him in the indictment, enabled the conduct, turn the other way, his partners, business partners, they didn't want to lose their job, the fame that accompanies working with him. When some of those people begin, as they say, to roll over and cooperate, because they don't have his resources. So at some point, they need to say, I need to get on with my life and I don't want to serve 10 or 20 years in prison. What can I do to potentially get a shorter sentence except responsibility? And if that means cooperating against Sean Combs, so be it. And you can expect those things to happen.

Starting point is 00:14:10 The government's very good at getting people to cooperate, and that can induce some people to plead guilty, though I suspect he's taken it all the way to trial. Well, and I was going to ask you about that, about the so-called enablers mentioned in the indictment. I mean, he didn't, according to the U.S. attorney, do this by himself. There was an enterprise that takes more than one person. And he's having, according to the U.S. attorney, people shipped in for these freak-offs. I mean, the freak-offs feature very prominently in this indictment. So he didn't do all of this by himself. He wasn't handing out drugs by himself to participants, giving IV fluids to freak off participants. I mean, this was going on with

Starting point is 00:14:51 the assistance and the help of a lot of people. We already know that Brendan Paul, the guy accused of being his drug mule, has entered a plea in Florida. So he may be cooperating. Do you expect that other people already are cooperating if they aren't or will be soon? Because this has got to send a chill down the spine of a lot of people who were in his orbit. You said that you expect people to be cooperating, but do you think there may already be people cooperating? I think people are already cooperating and help them build their case so quickly. When the FBI shows up, I know because they showed up to my home, one of the first questions they'll ask is, is there anything you'd like to tell us? That's an opportunity to give the government everything you possibly have with the hopes of getting what's called a 5k1 in the

Starting point is 00:15:37 federal system, a cooperation letter to the judge expressing why this defendant is worthy of a shorter sentence. So certainly people are cooperating. And we can't forget people are enamored with celebrity and stardom in this country. When you have power and influence and you have people who sense an opportunity to make a living and live a lifestyle they never could have imagined, it's easy to rationalize their conduct. I work for him. It's his decisions. I don't want to lose the payday. These people are complicit. They're a part of it. And oftentimes these people, in retrospect, will say, I made bad decisions. So they're going to get a shorter sentence because they cooperated and they did what so many high profile people fail to do, apologize.

Starting point is 00:16:15 In these statements from lawyers and Sean Combs, there is very little identification with victims. Even his former girlfriend, he only eventually apologized after it came out on film that he had beat her. Even in that, it was self-serving. I think he said God or someone forgave him. So it tends to all be about him. And it doesn't help when you have the lawyers enabling the conduct. The lawyer said with all he's done, he should remain free. What has he done since 2008 to demonstrate that he lives as a law abiding citizen, according to the government. And lastly, I'll say, oftentimes people will plead guilty in federal court,

Starting point is 00:16:49 get a shorter sentence because the judge will say this went on over a month or two was a crime of passion. You embezzled money three times. It was wrong. You're going to be held accountable. They're alleging 16 years to you can't allege this is out of character for him. Here's what the government's going to say. This is his character to victimize other people. And worse, he fails to accept responsibility. He makes it all about himself. And that's why he's looking at decades in prison. Do you expect more to come out of this?

Starting point is 00:17:16 The U.S. attorney said this is an ongoing investigation, urged people to come forward. Do you expect a superseding indictment? Is this just the beginning? I can't predict if more superseding indictment? Is this just the beginning? I can't predict if more superseding indictments are coming, but certainly I think people are, they're cooperating and therefore they're lawyering up. They're sitting in their home somewhere thinking, do I go to them? Are they going to come to me? Are they going to come and raid my home at 6 a.m. with the guns and the helicopters and take me into detention? And maybe they don't have the resources to postpone or the lawyers advocating on their behalf. So more is coming. And I can tell you from having just a

Starting point is 00:17:51 dude that served a measly 18 months in a minimum security camp a long time ago, the hardest part is the waiting and wondering, are they coming? And if they come, what does that mean? And if they arrest me and I plead guilty, how long will I serve in prison? And I will say again, these sorts of crimes, look at where R. Kelly is serving time. It's not in a camp. They're in higher security prisons where you're locked down, oftentimes isolated because the stigma that accompanies this sort of crime. So yes, people are freaked out and they're worried about what's coming next. Well, we will watch. We will continue to watch. Justin Paperny, thank you so much.

Starting point is 00:18:26 Thank you for having me on. And that's it for this edition of Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy. Thank you so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.

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Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Inside P. Diddy's Life Locked Up in Jail as He Awaits Trial

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Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Inside P. Diddy's Life Locked Up in Jail as He Awaits Trial

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