NEW YORK (AP) – Sean “Diddy” Combs was denied bail Wednesday while he awaits a sex-trafficking trial in May by a judge who cited evidence showing he is a “serious risk” of tampering with witnesses and evidence that he attempted to conceal prohibited. communications with third parties during incarceration.

U.S. District Judge Arun Subramanian ruled in a five-page order following a bond hearing last week. At the hearing, attorneys for the hip-hop mogul argued that a $50 million bail package they proposed would be enough to ensure that Combs does not flee or try to intimidate potential trial witnesses.

Two other judges previously agreed with prosecutors that the Bad Boy Records founder was a danger to the community if not behind bars. Subramanian agreed.

“There is compelling evidence of Combs’ propensity for violence,” Subramanian wrote.

Attorneys for Combs did not immediately respond to messages seeking comment on the decision. Nicholas Biase, a spokesman for prosecutors, declined to comment.

Combs, 55, has pleaded not guilty allegations that he coerced and abused women for years, helped by associates and employees. An indictment alleges he silenced victims through blackmail and violence, including kidnapping, arson and physical beatings.

A federal appeals court judge last month denied Combs’ immediate release, while a three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Manhattan considers the bail request. The appeal was suspended while Subramanian, newly appointed to the case after a previous judge withdrew, considered the bail application for the first time.

Subramanian said he took a fresh look at all the bail arguments and the evidence supporting them to make the decision.

Prosecutors insisted no bail conditions would be enough to protect the public and prevent the “I’ll Be Missing You” singer from fleeing.

They say that even in federal custody in Brooklyn, Combs orchestrated social media campaigns designed to influence potential jurors and tried to publicly release material he believed could help his case. They say he also contacted potential witnesses through third parties.

Attorneys for Combs say any alleged sexual abuse described in the indictment occurred during consensual adult relationships and that new evidence refutes allegations that Combs used his “power and prestige” to induce female victims in drugged and elaborate sexual performances with male sex workers known as “Freak Offs”.

Subramanian said the evidence shows Combs is a “serious risk of witness tampering,” particularly after he communicated with a grand jury witness over the summer and deleted some of his texts with the witness.

The judge also cited evidence showing that Combs violated Bureau of Prisons regulations while in custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn when he paid other inmates to use their area code numbers so he could call people who didn’t they were on his approved contact list.

He said there was also evidence that he told family members and the defense to add other people to the three-way calls so that their communications would be more difficult to trace, and that he made efforts to influence the jury at his trial or to to reach potential witnesses.

Subramanian said his “willingness to ignore” prison rules to hide communications was “strong evidence” that any release conditions would not prevent similar behavior.

The judge said the defense’s claim that Combs had stopped using a certain phone technique criticized by prosecutors was belied by the fact that Combs used it again Sunday, two days after his bail hearing last week.

Even a bail proposal that would include the strictest form of home confinement seemed insufficient, the judge said.

“Given the nature of the allegations in this case and the information provided by the government, the Court doubts the sufficiency of any conditions trusting Combs and the individuals employed — as a private security detail — to comply with those conditions,” Subramanian. he wrote.