Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - P. Diddy's Brand New Pitch to Get Out of Jail: Case is 'Thin'

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. Sean Combs asks for bail again as the judge presiding over his case shuts down one of his requests to stop people in the case from talking. I'll tell you about that and how Combs' lawyers hope another high-profile case might help him get out of jail. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Anjanette Levy.

Starting point is 00:00:29 Sean Combs is not giving up on his fight to be released on bail as he awaits trial on sex trafficking charges. His request for release has been denied twice, so he's hoping the third time will be a charm. Combs has pleaded not guilty to racketeering and sex trafficking charges. He's been in custody at the Metropolitan Detention Center since September. In his new filing, he's calling the government's case thin based on the evidence his lawyers say they've received in discovery. Combs says he needs to be released on bail because the conditions at the MDC where he's being held just aren't adequate enough for him to prepare for trial. They cite a recent sweep of the MDC where drugs and weapons were seized. That didn't have anything to do with Combs.

Starting point is 00:01:11 Mr. Combs' release on the proposed conditions is necessary so that he can review the discovery and prepare for trial. Despite the MDC's best efforts to facilitate the defense team's needs, the current arrangement makes trial preparation impossible, as evidenced by the recent multi-agency sweep of the facility and resulting lockdown. Combs' lawyers also discussed the discovery they've received and the bombshell video of Combs beating Cassie Ventura in a hotel hallway in 2016.

Starting point is 00:01:40 They appear to shrug off the beating. It confirms the defense's initial description of the events depicted in the March 2016 video recording. The video is not evidence of a coerced freak-off, but rather a minutes-long glimpse into a complex but decade-long consensual relationship between Mr. Combs and victim one. Additionally, the new evidence refutes the government's proffer at the initial hearing regarding a potential second alleged victim, and the new evidence confirms that the government's obstruction and witness tampering allegations at the initial bail hearings lacked a factual basis. So Combs' lawyers are saying, based on what they've seen, there doesn't appear to be a second sex trafficking victim. Combs' lawyers have maintained the threesomes between Cassie Combs and male sex workers were consensual. Combs' lawyers also point to Cassie Ventura and information about her that's included in the discovery. Combs' attorneys say so far they've received 23.5 terabytes of discovery. That's a lot of material, and they say it supports

Starting point is 00:02:43 their position. The new material demonstrates that the government previously misrepresented the weight of the evidence and it undermines the government's claim that Mr. Combs presents a danger. They also say the discovery includes information that is redacted that refutes the government's core sex trafficking allegations. Much of what Alex Shapiro, the attorney for Combs, writes about Cassie is redacted in the motion. But Shapiro says the evidence shows Cassie's allegations of sex trafficking and sexual assault were a way to obtain a financial windfall from Combs five years after their relationship ended. In fact, Shapiro claims Cassie Ventura,

Starting point is 00:03:21 in the spring of 2023, needed money to support her family. So she started writing a book about her relationship with Sean Combs and then had a lawyer contact his lawyer to see if he would buy the exclusive rights to it for $30 million. Combs' lawyers claim Ventura only filed a lawsuit claiming she was sexually assaulted and sex trafficked after Combs refused to pay up. Of course, Combs settled the suit within a day, and then Combs' troubles with the feds began and an avalanche of other civil suits followed. Combs' lawyers also point to former Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Michael Jeffries, who's also charged with sex trafficking, and the case includes allegations of witness intimidation. Jeffries

Starting point is 00:04:01 posted $10 million in bail and is on GPS monitoring. One of his employees, James Jacobson, is also on home confinement and GPS monitoring, and his bail was set at $500,000. Combs has also proposed an updated but similar bail package to what he proposed before, including posting a $50 million bond secured by his home and his mother's, 24-hour monitoring by a private security company he pays for, and full home GPS monitoring, drug testing, counseling, and a promise to continue to try to sell his private jet. Combs' lawyers say his family members, including Combs' mother, Janice, and daughters Chance, Delilah, and Jesse, will also surrender their passports. The cases I cover for you here on Crime Fix each day show you

Starting point is 00:04:51 just how scary the world can be. And one of the scariest things that can happen is if you ever get hurt. And if you are hurt in an accident, your case could be worth millions. That's where Morgan & Morgan comes in. The firm has more than 1,000 attorneys who will fight for what you deserve, and they have the track record to prove it. In the past few months, Morgan & Morgan won big verdicts like $12 million in Florida, $26 million in Philly, and $6.8 million in New York. All were much higher than the highest insurance company offer. Seeing if you have a case can be done in eight clicks or less on your phone, and only pay morgan and morgan if you win there are no upfront fees how great is that so if you're ever heard you can easily start a claim at forthepeople.com crime fix i want to bring in larry levine he is the director and founder of

Starting point is 00:05:36 wall street prison consultants he did some time in federal prison so larry thanks for coming on your first thoughts on this latest request for bail from Sean Combs. It's not going to happen. Why should they give him bail? See, he thinks he's special. He's just another inmate. That's all he is. Doesn't matter if he has or had billions of dollars. He's a record producer. You know, they're holding him in there because they're concerned i don't want to say afraid the feds are concerned that he may threaten people who are victims do you know undue influence i read that he put a new bail package together so what you know there's nowhere in the world that he could hide so it's not a matter of him being a flight risk. It's a matter of him being

Starting point is 00:06:25 a threat to the community. And, you know, these lawyers, they know he's not going to get it. What is a lawyer's job? A lawyer's job is essentially to create billable hours. So that's what they're doing here. Puffy is desperate for obvious reasons he wants to get out of custody so the lawyers will sell him a bill of goods charge them I don't know five thousand dollars an hour ten thousand dollars an hour who knows then they'll have two or three paralegal paralegals read it that that bail motion could cost fifty thousand dollars. So they're selling him a bill of goods, putting together a bail motion that they know isn't going to happen. I mean, we've seen this before, haven't we? Well, they point to this Michael Jeffries, the former CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch, and they say, well, look, he is charged with, you know, sex trafficking in a neighboring district.

Starting point is 00:07:27 He faces similar charges with allegations of sex trafficking and witness intimidation. And yet they let him go on bail. And he's at home with GPS monitoring. So they're looking at that in a neighboring federal district and saying that's an example of why he should get out. Your thoughts on that? Well, I don't believe this other guy, Jeffries, was playing with nine-year-old children, was he? I don't believe he has. Well, this is an allegation.

Starting point is 00:07:54 I didn't follow that case, but were there 120-plus victims? No. Were there children? No. I mean, this guy's a CHOMO. That's a prison term for all the viewers here chomo stands for child molester okay they're the most hated people in any prison next to informants so he could be a security risk when he's out there someone may try to take him out

Starting point is 00:08:19 now imagine this he's safe where he's at an mC. He's sitting up there in the SHU, the special housing unit. Nobody's going to get to him. He hits the street however he does it. Somebody pays someone off on the outside. Because remember, Coombs got a lot of information on a lot of people. Things that you and I will never hear about. Maybe some of the viewers know, but things that we will never know. So somebody wants to take him out. Somebody pays somebody. Okay, and boom, they put a bullet in his head, whatever it may be. They poison his food. You know, they turn him off like a light switch. So he's probably better off being in there. And the lawyer would be, well, the lawyer, I believe, should spend more time being honest with Coombs instead of selling him a pipe dream.

Starting point is 00:09:18 I mean, this is not, I've read all kinds of reports. He's not happy with this. He's not happy with that. Hey, people, this is not a hotel. This is a detention center. He's really not even a federal inmate because he belongs to the U.S. Marshal Service. He's what's known as a pretrial detainee.

Starting point is 00:09:36 But it's not supposed to be fun. It's not supposed to be comfortable. I spent 10 years in federal custody. I was in 11 different federal prisons. High security, medium, low security, minimum. They bounced me around a lot because they were a little pissed off at me helping people get out early, medical care transfers and such. I spent two years at MDC in Los Angeles, and I filtered through MDC New York. I flew on Conair. So I kind of know what happens and what the setup

Starting point is 00:10:07 is so to reiterate back to my original statement why should they let him out because he's uncomfortable nobody cares nobody at all well Larry one thing I do want to point out is that he he's not charged with um doing anything to children I mean these, these are civil allegations. These are civil states, but... Okay, hold on. I know where you're going with this. There's something that I think you and maybe some of the viewers should look up. It's called relevant conduct.

Starting point is 00:10:36 It doesn't matter whether he's charged with it or not. Let's say that you and I go and we commit a bank robbery and we use a gun. That'd be a hell of a robbery, wouldn't it? And in our plea agreement, we sign something or the government signs something that says, well, we're going to dismiss the gun charge, but we're going to get you on the robbery charge. It sounds all well and fine. But at the time of sentencing, they're going to bring the gun back in as relevant

Starting point is 00:11:06 conduct. So what the DOJ does is they take things that you weren't necessarily charged with or events that were dismissed and they use that against you. Let's put it like this. This guy has public safety factors. He's a threat to the community and he's a potential flight risk. Although people all over the world, I mean, recognize him or they should recognize who he is. So where's he going to hide? These factors all based together, they're not going to let him go. It's not going to happen. Well, one thing I wanted to point to, Larry, was the fact that in the motion for bail or in the request for bail, all they talk about is sex trafficking. They don't talk about the racketeering charge at all.

Starting point is 00:11:52 And the feds have said repeatedly that there's more to this than just Cassie and the sex trafficking allegation. They're saying that he ran an organized crime enter you know an enterprise through his businesses and that he committed other crimes so they're saying there's more to this well than just the sex trafficking and they found guns with scratched off serial numbers in his house so so that's all about money heard in this uh equation isn't, okay. All that money he obtained, however he obtained it. First thing they're going to do is they're going to seize that. They're going to create a victim's fund for all these victims. Then what they'll do, any money left over, hell, maybe they'll do it now. They're going to call this ill-gotten gains and they're going to do a forfeiture on that.

Starting point is 00:12:43 That and combined with the guns, I guess those are maybe ghost guns. Well, they're going to do a forfeiture on that. That and combined with the guns, I guess those are maybe ghost guns. Well, they're not ghost guns because nobody made them with a 3D printer, but they'll get him for arms trafficking, attempting to alter a serial number. They will tack charges on. There's something called a,

Starting point is 00:13:00 have you ever heard of a superseding indictment? Do you know what that is? Okay. Yes, and they're hearing more testimony, allegedly, in front of the grand jury now. The investigation's ongoing and they're saying that's a possibility. They'll sue. Not a possibility. It's more likely than a possibility. They'll just supersede the indictment. They'll just stack more charges on this guy. And remember, this is not just New York. He's got outstanding potential charges in Los Angeles and in Miami.

Starting point is 00:13:33 And you really think that the federal prosecutor in LA and Miami are going to want to give this case up to New York? They're going to want to try him themselves. So when and if, I wouldn't necessarily say if, when he's convicted, because they got plenty of stuff on him, when he's convicted in New York, most likely he's going to take a jet plane ride. They're going to put him on Conair. They're going to send him down to LA so the LA US attorney can get some press time. They're going to convict him here and then they'll shoot him down to Miami. And what will happen is, remember, he's not a federal inmate. He's not in a federal prison. Not really. Although the BOP runs MDC New York, but he'll stay in the shoe wherever he goes because they can't send him to general population.

Starting point is 00:14:29 You know, in this combined, I don't see him getting a life sentence. I really do not. Remember, I'm not a lawyer. I spent 10 years in the feds. I turned it into a business, but I've been helping people. I run Wall Street prison consultants. You can look me up. I've been doing this for 20 some years on the inside and the outside. So I know a lot of things about really how it works. So let's say they don't give them a life sentence, but gee,

Starting point is 00:14:53 we're going to give you 20 years for this. We're going to give you 10 years for that. Well, let's give them another 20 years for this. And they stack the charges on top of each other it's called a consecutive sentence opposed to a concurrent sentence so theoretically he could be in there for the rest of his life but it's not a life sentence so his lawyer really should start being honest with him instead of looking to get more ben franklin's passed over to him because that's what lawyers not just this lawyer, all lawyers, remember their job is billable hours to collect money. And this guy's got deep pockets.

Starting point is 00:15:31 What happens here when the money runs out? I mean, it's a good question. Larry Levine, thank you so much. I appreciate you coming on. Certainly, anytime. Now, last week, I told you about Sean Combs wanting a gag order for witnesses in the case. The request came after a man named Courtney Burgess claimed he testified in front of the grand

Starting point is 00:15:50 jury and that he has tapes showing Combs having sex with other celebrities, two who were minors. Combs' lawyers say those tapes do not exist. Burgess appearing in front of the grand jury isn't the issue. Combs' lawyers take issue with him doing interviews with his lawyer, Ariel Mitchell. Cassie Ventura, who is victim one in the indictment, her lawyer, Douglas Wigdor, opposed Combs' request for a gag order. Judge Submarinium has denied the request for a gag order of witnesses in the case. The court has an affirmative constitutional duty to ensure that Combs receives a fair trial, but this essential Sixth Amendment requirement must be balanced with the protections the First Amendment affords to those claiming to be Combs' victims, especially because prior restraint on speech are the most serious and the least tolerable infringement on First Amendment rights.

Starting point is 00:16:51 Last week, I spoke with First Amendment lawyer Jack Greiner, who doubted the gag order request would be granted. It's an uphill battle for him, I think, because of the First Amendment and because of the notion that we try cases, you know, cases are a public matter and they take place in the public view. And so the idea that witnesses, in the first instance, are somehow to be gagged and not allowed to talk about their testimony, particularly when they are the victims, the alleged victims of this activity, it inhibits their ability potentially to seek justice, whether that be in the court system or in the court of public opinion. As to the lawyers, there's a little bit lesser standard in my experience. Courts will be a little more willing to impose gag orders on the attorneys because they are officers of the court and it's kind of considered within that realm. However, there are protections without gag orders. So lawyers are bound by ethical rules and there is an ethical rule that says that you can't make extra judicial comments,

Starting point is 00:18:06 out-of-court comments, if you have reason to believe that that will substantially prejudice the proceedings. Now, that's a rule. I mean, we all, as lawyers, we all have to abide by it. It's also a fairly high standard because just because I say something, you something, I come out of the court and I say, my client was terribly traumatized by the experience at this party or whatever. That doesn't really mean that I don't think that that's going to substantially prejudice a proceeding. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy. Thanks so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.

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Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - P. Diddy's Brand New Pitch to Get Out of Jail: Case is 'Thin'

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Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - P. Diddy's Brand New Pitch to Get Out of Jail: Case is 'Thin'

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