Sean “Diddy” Combs, who is awaiting his sex trafficking trial behind bars, was taken from a Brooklyn prison to a nearby hospital late Thursday night, Page Six can confirm.
via: E! News
The 55-year-old was transported from Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, the federal prison where was sent following his September arrest, late Jan. 30 to undergo an MRI and was then soon returned to police custody later that night, Page Six reported. The outlet cited a source as saying that the medical scan was authorized because his "knee was bothering him."
TMZ cited sources with direct knowledge as saying Combs was taken to a Brooklyn hospital from the Metropolitan Detention Center that day after experiencing pain with his knee.
E! News has reached out to reps for Combs and the Federal Bureau of Prisons for comment and has not heard back.
The Grammy winner's attorney Marc Agnifilo told TMZ, "I cannot comment on anything related to prisoner movements. Also, I’m not commenting on anything related to possible medical issues."
Combs had shared in a since-deleted Instagram post in 2017 that he had undergone his third knee surgery in a year.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons has neither confirmed nor denied the reports about Combs' hospital visit. "For privacy, safety, and security reasons," a spokesperson for the government agency told the New York Post, which operates Page Six, "we do not comment on the conditions of confinement for anyone in our custody to include medical status or medical trips."
The hospital visit allegedly took place hours after federal prosecutors filed a new criminal indictment against Combs, accusing him of coercing two additional women into commercial sex acts. No additional charges are included in the new filing. The original September indictment had referenced one female victim.
"Combs manipulated women to participate in orchestrated performances of sexual activity with Combs," read the document. "Combs ensured participation from the women by, among other things, obtaining and distributing narcotics to them, controlling their careers, leveraging his financial support and threatening to cut off the same, and using intimidation and violence."
Following his September arrest, Combs pleaded not guilty to all three federal charges filed against him—racketeering, sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion and transportation to engage in prostitution. In December, he wrote on Instagram that the allegations made against him are "sickening," adding, "I did not do any of the awful things being alleged."
His lawyer has accused the prosecutors of making a major error in the new indictment.
"The prosecution's theory remains flawed," the attorney said in a statement to E! News Jan. 30. "The government has added the ridiculous theory that two of Mr. Combs’ former girlfriends were not girlfriends at all but were prostitutes."
The lawyer added, "Mr. Combs is as committed as ever to fighting these charges and winning at trial."
The trial is set to begin May 5.
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