Sean “Diddy” Combs has been moved to a section of the New York City jail where convicted cryptocurrency fraudster Sam Bankman-Fried is being held, sources confirmed to NBC News.
The area of the detention center is reserved for detainees who require special protection, three sources familiar with the matter said Tuesday.
Combs, 54, was arrested last week and is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, a federal jail that has a notorious reputation for violence and poor care.
Also in that special section is Bankman-Fried, 32, who the chief federal prosecutor in Manhattan said orchestrated one of the largest financial frauds in history, stealing more than $8 billion, the sources said.
The unit is described as a barracks-style area housing 18 to 20 inmates who require special protection, according to the sources, from high-profile defendants to people who cooperate with investigations. It is considered general population in nature, but with added security.
A spokesperson for the Federal Bureau of Prisons said in a statement, “For privacy, safety, and security reasons the (FBOP) does not provide information about conditions of confinement, including housing assignments or internal security practices for any particular incarcerated individual."
Bankman-Fried was convicted in November and was sentenced in March to 25 years in federal prison.
Prosecutors said that he misused billions of customers’ dollars that were placed with his cryptocurrency exchange, FTX, and that he also defrauded FTX investors and lenders to another entity, Alameda Research.
Bankman-Fried is appealing his conviction, and in May the court recommended to the Federal Bureau of Prisons that he be kept at the MDC so he can have access to his lawyers, even though he has been sentenced, records show.
Combs was jailed at MDC last week after he was arrested on a federal indictment accusing him of a racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and other crimes, allegations that center on the sexual abuse of women.
Combs has pleaded not guilty. A federal judge on Sept. 17 ordered that he be held pending trial.
The MDC, on 29th Street in eastern Brooklyn, has 1,616 total inmates, according to its website.
