Looking ahead to life in prison if convicted of sex trafficking and other crimes, Sean “Diddy” Combs and his lawyers are currently on the offensive against the Department of Homeland Security.
In a dangerous tactic, Combs’ defense is accusing DHS officials of leaking grand jury information and orchestrating a smear campaign against the cast of “All About the Benjamins.” As Combs’ bail is denied at Brooklyn’s noisy Metropolitan Detention Center, his team of Mark Agnifilo and Tennie Geragos appear before Judge Arun Subramanian regarding alleged DHS “misconduct.” We are requesting that an important hearing be held as soon as possible.
“Defendant Sean Combs is seeking four remedies related to what the defense believes to be a series of illegal leaks by the government that tainted the jury pool and compromised Mr. Combs’ rights. The potentially disruptive motion for an evidentiary hearing filed late Wednesday in federal court says it has led to harmful and highly prejudicial pretrial publicity that only serves to deprive the “right to a fair trial.” A memorandum of understanding has been declared.
Read Sean Combs’ defense memorandum accusing DHS of wrongdoing here
The newly filed documents come a day after the Bad Boy Records founder, who was arrested on Sept. 16, filed a lawsuit seeking pretrial release alleging that federal authorities suppressed evidence. are playing very similar drums. But unlike Hail Mary appeals, which escape the wrath of the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York, this application is almost entirely about DHS. In fact, Combs’ team used the usual bureaucratic gamesmanship and infighting to argue that “the reason we need a hearing is because we need to know what DHS did or didn’t do regarding these leaks, and what the U.S. Attorney’s office did.” in order to determine exactly what the person did.” And we didn’t do anything to stop them. ”
Lamenting “covert tactics” by the Department of Homeland Security, today’s filing calls the March 25 raids by federal authorities on Combs’ Miami and Los Angeles homes “specifically designed as a public spectacle of brutality.” “and was not primarily focused solely on obtaining potential evidence.”
In that vein, the defense claims that Combs’ ex-girlfriend, Kathy Ventura, committed rape, abuse and other horrors against the rapper in a lawsuit that was quickly settled in November of last year. The claim is supported. Ms. Combs is said to have paid Ms. Ventura approximately $30 million to end the case, but Ms. Combs has always denied her claims about what happened during their years together. was. That facade quickly disintegrated when surveillance footage of Combs attacking and punching Ventura in the hallway of a luxury Los Angeles hotel in 2016 was broadcast on CNN and other networks in May.
At the time, Combs apologized for his “unacceptable behavior” and said he was “disgusted” by what was shown in the video. Currently, the defense is calling for a gag order and the suppression of leaked evidence by public officials, citing the release of surveillance video from eight years ago as the “most egregious example” of a government trial based on public opinion.
In an attempt to keep the brutal video away from the jury, the defense said: “The videotape was leaked to CNN for one reason only: to fatally tarnish his reputation and undermine Sean Combs’ chances of successfully defending against these allegations.” Investigators Rather than use the videotape as trial evidence, along with other evidence that would give it context and meaning, he misused it in the most prejudicial and harmful way possible. The government knew what it was about. It was a frankly deplorable video recording of a towel-clad Sean Combs punching, kicking, and dragging a woman in full view of the camera in a hotel hallway. ”
“The potential problem for the government is that if the agents provided this videotape to CNN, this would be a breach of grand jury secrecy,” Combs’ team added with a Shiv Roy Cohn-style insistence. Ta.
But the problem is, it’s not clear from today’s filings whether the defense really thinks DHS is getting away with it. “After the undersigned notified the government that they would be filing this complaint, prosecutors stated that the video broadcast by CNN was not obtained through grand jury proceedings and that DHS was unable to release the videotape before CNN released it.” “He did not own it,” a footnote Wednesday’s 17-page memo states. “However, government lawyers have given no indication that they have investigated any leaks related to this case.”
In response, neither representatives from SDNY U.S. Attorney Damien Williams’ office nor DHS responded to requests from Deadline regarding today’s filing and the allegations contained within. This post will be updated if either organization responds.
With all this going on and the bail appeal process beginning, Mr. Combs, his attorney and prosecutors will be back in court tomorrow for a pre-trial status conference.
Among the issues that could be raised are discovery of evidence, the sealing of certain evidence, and the scheduling of Combs’ trial. “Mr. Combs continues to assert his right to a speedy trial and intends to request a trial date of April or May 2025, consistent with the court’s trial schedule,” Agnifilo and Geragos said in a statement to Subramanian. stated in a letter to the judge.
Given these new charges by the defense and the state of the bail appeal, the trial start date may be too optimistic.
